One of my favorite wine shops is Napa's Backstreet Wines. Dan, the ownwr, has an annual "BYOB" event, and there were some great wines tonight! Some of my highlights included:
Scholium Project=a Sauvignon Blanc with bottrytis. Very interesting-not quite a desert wine, but the botrytis gave it an interesting flavor profile and a bit of spritz. Yum.
Olabisi Suisun Valley Syrah. What a great Syrah, full of meaty, savory, earthy character. Northern Rhone in Northern California!
Varozza 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. Leather, leather, leather-and delicious black fruit, I`'ve enjoyed this winery's Petit Sirah, so I'm happy to discover this lovely savory Cab.
Robert Sinsky Vineyards RSV Bordeaux Blend 1998 Magnum (my contribution). I was quite surprised by this wine-it's evolved quite a bit since summer 2006 when I last tried it. Very lean, red fruit, good acidity but stilll good fruit, tobacco, herbs. Outstanding-I would have probably guessed this wine was French if tasted blind.
1998 Tudal Cabernet Sauvignon. Another nice 1998. Not as much fruit as then RSV, but I loved the minty nose. This is a case of a wine smelling better than it tasted. Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit!