The warm weather is here and it’s officially grilling season. That means plenty of Cabernet and Syrah for us as well as some nice refreshing whites. The summer months will probably bring less posts as we still enjoy our beer, sangria, and play sports in the evenings. With that said we tasted some great wines in May and have a few posts in the pipeline already for June.

Grapestorm Highest Rated Wines of May 2013:

2010 Louis Jadot Nuits-Saint-Georges – 92

2010 Domaine Schoffit Sommerberg Riesling – 92

Wines Rated:

2010 Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage – 85

2009 Chateau Rahoul Bordeaux – 84

Other Wines Enjoyed:

2011 Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone

2011 Byron Pinot Noir

2010 Domaine Monpertuis Chateauneuf du Pape

2011 Domaine Huet Le Haut-Lieu Vouvray

2009 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon

NV Benoit Lahaye Grand Cru Brut Essential

The weather was changing and the wine was flowing here at Grapestorm this April. We rated 7 bottles but enjoyed and discussed a whole lot more. The highlight of the month was a fantastic trip down to NJ to visit Aunt and UncleGrape. With the warm weather we’re getting back to grilling so expect to see more Cabernet and fun summer wines in the coming months.

Grapestorm Highest Rated Wine of April 2013:

1999 Martinetti Barbera d’Asti Montruc – 96

Honorable mention to the 1989 Parusso Bussia Barolo that UncleGrape opened on our trip. It was absolutely outstanding and easily the best Barolo we’ve ever had.

Wines Rated:

2010 Bosquet des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape – 92

2007 Recaredo Brut Cava – 90

2008 Chatom Vineyards Syrah – 86

2008 Cartlidge & Browne Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – 82

2011 Domaine de la Tonnellerie Sancerre – 77

2008 Marina Cvetic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – 73 (Moby Only)

Other Wines Enjoyed:

NV Guy Larmandier 1er Cru Champagne

2011 Gilbert Picq Chablis

2004 Paride Iaretti Gattinara

2011 La Scola Gavi Bianco Secco

2011 Fattoria di Magliano Pagliatura

NV Moutard Rose Champagne

2011 Anne Amie Pinot Gris

2008 Trimbach Gewurztraminer

1995 Domaine de Beaurenard Boisrenard CdP

1995 Chateau de Beaucastel CdP

1995 Domaine de la Janasse CdP

2010 Sottimano Langhe Nebbiolo

1989 Parusso Bussia Barolo

NV Cocchi Barolo Chinato

2009 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon

We had a delicious March full of highly rated wines and topped off the month with the grand opening tasting at Vin Bin. We’re looking forward to reviewing the wines we purchased at the tasting over the next couple months. Also stay tuned for another Grapestorm NJ wine dinner write up from Aunt and UncleGrape’s house in April. We will be opening a bottle of our 1995 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape as well as any treats UncleGrape has in store for us.

We had a four way tie atop our ratings for best wine of the month. Nothing was head and shoulders above the competition but they were all good:

Grapestorm Highest Rated Wines of March 2013:

2010 Domaine Galevan Chateauneuf du Pape – 92

2011 Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay – 92

2007 Torii Mor Temperence Hill Pinot Noir – 92

2007 Guido Porro Barolo Vigna Lazzairasco – 92

If I were to pick a favorite of these four I would pick the Torii Mor as it was definitely the most unique expression of it’s respective grape.

Wines Rated:

2009 Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d’Asti ‘Nizza’ Superiore – 91

NV Chambers Rosewood Muscadelle – 88

Other Wines Enjoyed:

Barefood Bubbly Pink Moscato

2010 Chateau Joinin Bordeaux

Sangria de MobyGrape

It was a very light month for us it terms of wine ratings. Vacation and busy schedules have kept us from rating as many wines as we would have liked but with the exception of the Hugel Pinot Gris, all the wines we tasted were excellent.

The 2006 La Font d’Estevenas and 2000 Chateau Haut-Bages deserve special mention as they were spectacular and would have certainly earned 90+ ratings.

Grapestorm Highest Rated Wine of February 2013:

2009 Cannonball Cabernet Sauvignon – 84

Wines Rated:

NV Jose Dhondt Blanc de Blancs Brut – 82

2008 Chateau Mont-Redon Cotes du Rhone – 80

2006 Les Vignes D’Alexandre Chateauneuf du Pape – 69

Other Wines Enjoyed:

2006 La Font d’Estevenas Domaine Alary Cote du Rhone Villages

2003 Le Benjamin de Beauregard Pomerol

2000 Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal Paulliac

2006 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

2009 Tradition Valais

2010 Domaine des Pasquiers Gigondas

2009 Hugel Pinot Gris – Not good, don’t waste your money.

Thank you for being patient with us this month. While there haven’t been any posts yet in February there has certainly been wine tasting…in Switzerland. Moby and I were away on a ski/food/wine trip last week and tasted some fantastic wine. Stay tuned for Switzerland blogs but for now let’s recap a fantastic month of January with some of our highest rated wines ever:

Grapestorm Highest Rated Wine of January 2012: 

2007 Chateau Mont-Redon Chateauneuf du Pape – 97

Wines Rated:

2010 Domaine Bechtold Silberberg Gewurztraminer – 94

2003 Saint Cosme Saint-Joseph – 92

2009 Louis Jadot Beaune 1er Cru Anniversary Edition – 92

2010 Louis Latour Chameroy Beaujolais-Villages – 91

2008 Trimbach Gewurztraminer – 91

2010 Renato Ratti Barbera d’Alba – 91

2007 Marina Cvetic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo – 89

2007 Silvio Giamello Vicenziana Barbaresco – 89

2011 Roagna Dolcetto d’Alba – 89

NV Baron D’auvergne Brut Privelege – 86

2009 Larose de Gruaurd Saint-Julien – 85

1998 Nobles Rives Hermitage – 84

2011 Barton and Guestier Vouvray – 84

2011 Bartenura Moscato – 84

What a great month! As you can see by the numbers we’d suggest trying any of these wines if you come across them. Hopefully we can keep the trend going in February!