The fruit for this Cabernet is sourced from several different sites.  Together, the appellations of Napa Valley, the Mendocino coast, Paso Robles, and Lake County create a balanced, well-structured wine with supple tannins and bright acidity.

The wine is a dark ruby color and aromas of blackberry, plum, & spicy oak spill out of the glass.  This is a full-bodied red with flavors of blueberries, black raspberry, & mocha. It was aged for 15 months in French and American oak, 25% new barrels.

I like to drink this wine with anything off the grill, steak, ribs, or even veggies.

Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, California $15.50

Many longtime Dedalus fans are, by now, also fans of Bruce Neyers and his wines. Vintage after vintage, the bottlings from Bruce’s Conn Valley Ranch in the heart of the Napa Valley, are a testament to what many of us consider Napa’s real potential. These wines aren’t fruit monsters. They don’t blow your face off with one big cooked cherry note. They have stuffing, balance, and complexity.

Winemaking at Neyers Vineyards is a collaborative effort. Bruce works closely with his winemaker Ehren Jordan to fashion each of the gems that bear the winery’s label.  When he’s not making beautiful Cabs for Bruce, Ehren’s “day job” finds him at the helm of the uber-culty Turley Cellars, where he turns out some of the finest Zin and Petite Sirah bottlings money can buy. That Ehren is a rockstar winemaker cannot me doubted. His style is informed by a stint in France at the legendary estate of Jean-Luc Colombo in Cornas. His wines, even in their biggest, most extracted state, communicate the essence of a place. His insistence on terroir-driven wines workes well for Bruce who, for his “day job”, is the National Sales Director for Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants – a job that finds him in the most renowned vineyards of France several times each year.

Their combined experience drives them to leave their wine alone. It is all handled minimally. They don’t filter, fine, micro-oxygenate or succumb to the use of designer yeasts and starters. They grow the best fruit, use the best barrels, and let nature take over until blending time rolls around. This is risky business, but with great risk come great reward. Neyers Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon has been compared – by some highly regarded wine critics – to the legendary estate of Chateau Margaux. For those of us lucky enough to have popped open a bottle of Margaux, the comparison hits the mark. But, as you can see by the modest price tag, you don’t have to auction you house or harvest your organs to put a case of this wine in your basement. Snap up a few bottles or a case before it evaporates.

Stop by the shop anytime between 5 and 8 on Wednesday, October 28^th for a taste of 5 of Bruce’s world class wines.

The Craft of Food & Wine – A Dinner

Featuring the wines of Robert Sinskey Vineyards

with guest speaker: Mark Neville

“the only way to truly be good at the craft  of winemaking is to know your materials…” Jeff Virnig – Winemaker, Robert Sinskey Vineyards

From vine to bottle, these wines are the embodiment of old world sensibility and new world terroir. Join us for what will be an unforgettable dinner featuring appetizers and five courses paired with 5 Sinskey wines.

Brought to you by the Dedalus Wine Shop in a happy partnership with the Bluebird Tavern, this evening will be a celebration of the craft of food & wine. Seating is limited, call to reserve yours today!

Thursday, October 1st  -  Reception @ 6pm  -  $70/person

Call (802) 428-2696 for reservations

The first impression is a deep purple and the smell of an oak barrel.  The taste is bold and composed of primary colors.  This is a wine like a late Gauguin — bare breasts and deep jungle greens and blacks.  “Spicy” or “peppery” does not really cover the ground. The taste is vivid and fruity in a dark, overweening style.  Despite a bias against Zinfandel, I liked it.

The question is how to serve it.  Not many meals would stand up to such a young monster.  It went beautifully with a gamey, soft cheese, especially after the second glass.  It could hold its own, I suppose, beside a hunter’s stew with garlic, tomatoes, and the shoulder of a beast.  But really, it ought to be drunk before dinner, with some bread, and admired for the sheer horsepower of the thing.

These wines are genuinely hard to find.  Dedalus will let you try this one for a (very reasonable) $21.50

Tuta  6/8/09

You’re going to love pouring these wines for your friends. Especially if you do any entertaining and extra-especially if you’re into grilling and relaxing outside. What could be better than having your own little selection of delicious, crowd pleasing wines? Well, knowing that everybody who gets a glass of them will be in awe of your insider’s connection to the tasty juice – and that only you will know what great bang-for-the-buck you’re getting!

Come down and uncover these little gems for yourself. You’ll be ahead of the curve when it comes to eye-popping artisan wines. If you don’t mind sharing, bring a few friends.

Stop in any time between 5:00 and 9:00 on Friday, April 17th.

This event is Sold Out.  Call or email the shop to be added to our waiting list.  We will be releasing another class series soon.

Durif or Petite Sirah is a cross between two Rhône varieties: the noble Syrah and the virtually extinct Peloursin. Its tight clusters of small dark grapes suffered from grey rot and powdery mildew in the humid summers of the Rhône valley. It never became popular, and today Petite Sirah is virtually unknown in Europe. (It survives in a single tiny appellation or wine-growing district — Palette — in Provence in the south of France.)

In the dry heat of Napa, the small, tough-skinned grape established a niche as a blending wine added to softer Zinfandel and Cabernet mixes. Skin and the resulting tannins are a major feature of Petite Sirah. The geometry of a small grape means that more surface area comes into contact with the juice. It is like buying milk by the half-pint – at the end of the day there are a lot of containers. Petite Sirah was first valued because it added tannic structure and acid. With the growth of interest in varietal wines (unblended), a handful of California producers have begun to produce Petite Sirah in its own right.

Fleur de California 2006 Petite Sirah North Coast is a fine example of this sturdy grape. The wine has an unmediated intensity. It is densely flavored – deep purple with a simple dark berry taste. Anyone who drank California jug red when the world was young in 1976 will recall the burnished sweet ring of Petite Sirah. The publicists like to speak of “explosions of taste.” I came away without being blown up, but I understood the metaphor. This is a strongly flavored Rhône-style wine which needs roasted or grilled meat rubbed with rosemary or thyme to show its best side. You could serve it confidently with young goat and mashed potatoes with garlic and oil. Not a bad plan in a cold, dark month.

Fleur de California Petite Sirah, 2006

$13.75/bottle

Tuta 12/9/08

How does a grape strangle a dog? That question comes from discovering that one of the names for Mourvedre is `estrangle-chien’ (others are monastell and Balzac). Whatever the case, we drink it much more than we realize, in Châteauneuf-du-Pape for instance, where it blends well with Grenache. Look out too for Australian blends of Shiraz and Mourvedre. But here we have it pure (or rather, 95% here, with a touch of Grenache) from Contra Costa County, just east of the Oakland Hills, which provides a lot of sun and water, to which it adds cool coastal winds coming from the west into the central valley. Plantings are old, having escaped Phylloxera thanks to growing in deep sandy soil-and this sets ones mind to work. For once free association seems to work. `Ancient vine’ brings to mind depth, density and strength-all that is here. You will find warmth, lots of berries, and something of a knockout from any wine of this type, most of which slightly resemble Italian ripasso. But this is the best known to me. Whilst most are a little too heavy and sweet, Jade Mountain is a little rounder and smoother, more European than new world. It is perfect now that summer is ending-with any stew. And it is an astonishing bargain at: $14.95. One question for the future: will the new plantings that are underway yield something so delicious?

-J.H.

Jade Mountain Mourvedre, Contra-Costa County, Evangelho Vineyard, 2005

$14.95

Michael Honig Talks Sustainability
Honig’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon smells and tastes of ripe red and black fruit, mocha, and Earl Grey tea. It is voluptuous, silky and can be cellared for a decade or enjoyed now (with a little bit of decanting). We won’t stop hunting for great Napa cab at a great price, but we’re happy to say that Honig’s wines definitely fit the bill. Stop down for a bottle or a case – we’ve also got it in magnums for all you large-format junkies!