in his own non-traditional way.

Match Vineyards will be there too!  We’ll be sampling and auctioning off 10 cases of 2009 Butterdragon Hill at the Auction Napa Valley Barrel Auction on June 3rd.

Well in 2011, and when the “kid” is 18, they show you the darndest things.  Here’s a head scratcher video from Japan…

Not wine related, but I am easily amused… video of Mishka, the singing husky.

A documentary made by Joe Wagner (Caymus), Joel Gott (Joel Gott Wines), and Dave Phinney (Orin Swift) about making a special wine blend to benefit their kids’ school.  The documentary is fake.

2007 Alpha Omega Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley (4/10/2011)

Blueberry and chocolate behind a formidable and (for now) insurmountable wall of rather rough tannins. Wine is currently showing rather angular. Some smoke, tobacco, and earthy notes peek out on the finish.  My wife didn’t like this wine but I think it shows some promise as a more traditional styled Cab.  It needs some years to smooth out. 89 now but will probably top a 90 for me in 3-4 years. (89 points)

Posted from CellarTracker

I had a chance to do a side-by-side tasting comparison of these two wines this past week.

The 2008 Butterdragon is fairly closed right now and needs hours of air to start to show its stuff.  I recorked a bottle and a couple of days later it was much more expressive.  The ’08 vintage, in my opinion, is going to display more depth than the ’07, but it is going to take some time.  My recommendation right now is to hold your 2008 Butterdragons for a few years.  Surprisingly for this vineyard, the 2007 Baconbrook was more open for business.  After just an hour of air, it’s really singing with a great, complex finish.  While cellar age is still the watchword with Baconbrook, you can enjoy the 2007 now with a bit of advance planning.

I’m going to try to regularly update drinkability reports in this Vintner’s Journal.

I took a short walk in the vineyards on Tuesday. Here are some photos and short video…

Butterdragon Hill

Baconbrook

I felt like I should be wearing a helmet just watching this…