2005 & 2006 Luna Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

     We had some friends over for dinner on Friday night. I had put out almonds, crackers, a mixed cheese plate and a basil/mozzarella/tomato Caprise salad to start off our evening. Crabcakes with a creamy tomato Creole sauce were the next course and then filet mignon with potatoes and broccoli were following. Dessert was chocolate covered strawberries and mini cannolli.
     Everyone wanted only red wine so we opened a bottle of 2005 to follow the 2006 Luna Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve from Napa Valley that we had already opened; this gave us the opportunity to do a mini vertical tasting. The two wines were very similar in color, aroma and flavor. Luna Vineyards definitely does an excellent job of maintaining their style through different vintages. They were each a deep, dark ruby in the glass with a ruby rim. They had the typical aromas and flavors of blackberry and black cherry with some minerality and cedar notes. They were both well-structured and full-bodied with each having slightly over 14% abv and high acidity balancing dusty tannins. Both were absolutely delicious with a lingering finish.
     While there was not a group consensus on which was best, if I was pressed to choose, I would say that I had a slight preference for the 2006. It had a bit more fruit and spiciness with extra notes of licorice and allspice. Overall, I was very happy with both of the offerings from Luna.

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Lust Zinfandel 2007

My husband loves this wine so he purchased quite a few bottles at a recent Michael~David dinner that we had attended. Last night, I decided to open a bottle to serve with dinner. I was making a roasted southwestern pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries (w/ chipolte ketchup) and a salad consisting of baby lettuce (fresh from my garden) with strawberries, red bell peppers, red onions and walnuts tossed with a white balsamic-raspberry vinaigrette. This turned out to be a great pairing. It is a bold wine that really stood up to the strong chipolte seasoning while complementing the fruit flavors. I opened the bottle a 1/2 hour before I served it as I have found this wine to be more enjoyable when I do so. The Lust Zinfandel by Michael~David 2007 was a dark purple color with a ruby rim. It has intense aromas of very ripe mixed berries and baking spices-both allspice and ginger with hints of cedar. It has flavors of creme de cassis, milk chocolate and also more of the baking

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Vine Connections and Pioneer Wine Company hosted a seminar and tasting event for Houston's wine trade and media at Backstreet Cafe yesterday. All but two of the wines were from the Salta Province of Argentina. Salta is the most northern wine region in Argentina lying close to the Bolivian border. The climate is very extreme due to the high altitude. Plantings start at 5,000 feet above sea level and climb to 9,000 feet, making these vineyards the highest in the world. The intense sunlight the area receives helps to create grapes with more anthocyanins, these are the color pigments which result in softer tannins, lower astringency and more intense flavor. The wines produced are extremely pure, concentrated and terroir specific. Torrontes Riojano which is considered the best of the three Torrontes clones is the most widely planted grape with plantings of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat increasing. The seminar started with a tasting of four Torrontes wines, three from diff

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