Wine Cliches....

Top of the list for me:
1. "Warm Days and Cool Nights.." ...can't think of any area in the world, including Manteca and Bakersfield, that doesn't have those conditions for producing great wines!!
2. "Great Wines Are Made In The Vineyard"...it just only takes a winemaker to screw it up.

And your additions to this short list??

Tom

"... an exceptional wine from a difficult/uneven/challenging vintage." Translation: Not very good, but could have been worse.

[David M. Bueker]

Low yields are the key to wine quality (cliché but not always true)

This vineyard is at the same latitude as (pick your favorite Grand Cru vineyard) so it must be good.

[David M. Bueker]

The vines are all from a cutting of the Pinot Noir vines in La Tache!

David,
I suspect there are more LaTache vines in Calif than there are in Burgundy!!
Tom

- Grapes from our vineyard go to make Penfolds Grange

- We've virtually eliminated TCA in cork

- Much better than most wines from XYZ appelation at a fraction of the price (a specialised comment utilised by the UK wine press)

- Carefully selected wine list

- Premium quality

- burgundian methods

Vintage of the century!

Of course, I go after closeouts of wine by good winemakers, but mediocre/poor vintages. The '02 Rayas I've tasted, beautiful, fabulous stuff. And available. And sometimes even cheap! I love it when I hear somewhere being touted as having a vintage of the century. That means it's time to be on the lookout for wine from the previous vintage(s) on closeout.

"Grown on the slopes of...."
"Late Harvest"
"Old Vines"
"...traditions dating to 1438..." (pick some ancient time)
"94 Points"
"Gold Medal at...."

RESERVE.

[Robin Garr]

Oh! Oh! I've got one!

"This wine is actually declassified <fill> ... "

"The grapes for this wine came from selected vineyard sites and were barrel-fermented in 100% new French oak. It sports notes of luscious tropical fruit, citrus, minerals, quince and kumquat with subtle hints of vanilla and spice. It will pair well with Sole Meunier and Chicken Kiev and, while approachable now, will improve with age for the next 5-10 years."

Mark Lipton

"This is our best vintage yet."

"It's supposed to taste like that!"

Reserve.

“Single vineyard”

Salute

Sue took mine.

Mike