The Desert Wine Guy - M By Martellotto - 2012 Cabernet Franc

 

    Today we are going to do a quick review of what I think is a wonderful wine. That wine is the M by Martellotto 2012 Cabernet Franc. This is A slight departure from the Cabernet Sauvignons that I usually drink. While still a Red wine I thought I would delve into new territory :) I received this wine from The Wine Of The Month Club and you can check out my review on them here (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/search?q=wine+of+the+month+club).
   Martellotto wines (http://www.winedreamer.com/) is owned by Greg Martellotto who since his High School years in Jesuit High School had a passion for food and would even host Dinner events. Though Greg did love food he had always planned to go to Medical School. After graduating from Stanford University in Palo Alto California with a degree in Biology Greg ended up managing a restaurant. After taking a three year world vacation after graduating where he had the opportunity to taste many different wines as well as sample some of the worlds foods he returned to California. At 27 the dream of becoming a Doctor now seemed to be out of reach. Greg decided to look at the wine industry. One of the wine businesses that came out of this venture was Martellotto Cellars. In 2005 had its first release which was limited to 2,000 cases. Today the winery has expanded production to 6,000 cases. Greg has also leased a winery in Buellton along Highway 101.
  So now lets get down to what I think about this wine. On the pour, the M by Martellotto Cabernet Franc is an inky Red that also appears to blend in some nice overtones of a lighter Red to make for a very colorful pour. The wine maintains its inky appearance while it rests in the glass as well. For some reason seeing the pour and how the wine is in the glass strikes me as a wine that has a lot of promise along with complexity. Does the wine hold up to its appearance as well as my thoughts? Keep reading and find out.
                                

Greg Martellotto

When brought to the nose there is the mixture of a deep Blackberry with Oak and the slight hint of Carmel. The nose is finished off with a deep Black peppery spice.
  In the mouth we are talking  about a wine that first comes across with Blackberry notes followed by a deep Current. Black Cherry adds to the mix here along with ta hint of Caramel. The wine in my mouth is showing a full sense of complexity. All the different fruits are blended just right. There is a small sense of acidity that sort of fuses it all together. This wine is an intricately layered wine. Medium Tannins are in this Cabernet Franc so those of you who like a slightly tannic Red have no fear because there are some very pleasant Tannins. The Tannins are also not overdone by any stretch of the imagination. While tasting all these wonderful notes I noticed that the wine in one sense comes across as soft but on the other hand when the wine sits in the mouth for a short period the wine just seems to begin to power thru with a very complex, powerful mouth feel. This powerful mouth feel makes the wine awesome in my book. Let me see if I can explain a little further. While I was sitting in my Loft and doing the tasting of this wine the first notes I tasted were soft but almost immediately the wine came forward with a deep Cabernet Franc power. The wine finishes smooth at the end and always keeps your mouth full of rich Cabernet Franc (not sweet) flavor. The French Oak that it sits in for 18 months is really allowed to shine thru. This wine is one of those wines that I love to review that is NOT for the weak hearted, it is most definitely a deep Red and if you are looking for a mild or semi mild wine look elsewhere because this is not the wine for you. Between the spice and Oak this wine is made for those who love a deep, rich almost Bordeaux Red.
  Summing things up here. We are talking about a very nice wine indeed and one which I will be ordering more of. I highly recommend this wine to you guys. The one thing that might be a slight negative is the pricing on the wine which is $35. Yes it might be a little pricey but if you want to treat yourself to a super wine then I say go for it.
                                                                  
     On The Desert Wine Guy point rating scale I give it 91 points.  

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The Desert Wine Guy - Grape Street Cafe Wine Bar & Cellar - Summerlin Las Vegas

Today I want to do a short review of the Grape Street Cafe Wine Bar & Cellar (http://grapestreetvegas.com/) which is located at 2120 Festival Plaza Drive which is at the Summerlin Mall here in Las Vegas. It is unusually for me to do a review on a restaurant since I write about wine but the family and I were walking around the Summerlin mall the other day and I happened to see the name of the restaurant and figured this would be great considering the name. The Grape Street Cafe Wine Bar & Cellar was ranked "very Good to excellent" by Zagat for it's cuisine and named a "Top 10 Las Vegas Wine Bar Restaurant" by Gayot. So how do real people feel about it? When you walk up to ther restaurant you see a decent size open air patio. The restaurant has a very open feel, even inside since the whole front is open and faces into the mall which is built to look like an actual city square with shops all around. It is located next to Macy's, which by the way has the only Starbucks as well as being centrally located in the mall. When you first walk inside there at first glance appears to be a large wall of wine bottles (which is right behind the bar) stacked to the ceiling. When you take a further look at it however you see that only about one quarter of the wall is actually real wine the rest is clear bottles with nothing inside. This becomes rather noticeably and I thought, rather noticeable when you take the time to look around. To me it appeared that someone took a shortcut and was too lazy to finish what was going to be a nice project. Scattered throughout the restaurant is wine related items such as wine boxes used for display along a with a few half wine barrels as well. There was also a large wine fridge situated when you first walk in. Overall I must say that they do sell the whole "Grape" thing rather well and the decor was pleasing to the eye. Being that the whole face of the restaurant is open and as I said there is a decent sized patio with rails going around the perimeter and yet low enough at the same time where you can watch the people walk by as well as come and go to the stores, if you are a people watcher you will have plenty to watch. Remember the whole mall is set up like an actual city so it is almost like you are eating in the middle of a real neighborhood.
    
When we first arrived we were greeted very nicely by an employee who seemed genuinely happy to be there. The wait was about five minutes and which was nice. Our server was Miguel who was also very happy and welcoming and also appeared as if he wanted to be there. Miguel was also VERY accommodating. I'll give you an example. As I have told my fans my two four olds drink Welch's Grape juice which is sold in a bottle similar to wine bottles so they are under the impression that they are drinking kids wine. With this I am able to teach them the whole wine pouring / swirling bit. I quietly asked Miguel if there was a drink they had that could be served in a wine glasses to give the appearance of wine. He was quick to come up with suggestions and we agreed on Apple Cider.

When he came back he informed me that they did not have any Apple cider and he worked pleasantly with me to come up with another idea. Miguel then said he had an idea and off he went. When he came back this time it was with two wine glasses filled with Sprit. Since no one in my home drinks Soda I informed him that that would not be acceptable. Miguel (with a wonderful attitude) further talked with me about another substitute. We ended up settling on Cranberry juice which I told them was Cabernet Sauvignon and they loved it. The point here is that Miguel was GREAT and the restaurant should be glad he is an employee there. I went ahead ordered an appetizer which was the Crab stuffed Shrimp which arrived with 6 medium sized Shrimp with a small amount of what appeared to be a very lightly breaded crab mix on each Shrimp. All of this was laid out nicely in a sauce. The appetizer tasted very nice but I must say was pricey at $14. It was also just enough for one person so if you are thinking of splitting with someone think again. With the Crab I ordered a glass of the Swanson Estate Merlot which was priced at $15. I thought the wine was on the sweet side bit was more that drinkingable so I did just that. By the way there are over 80 wines by the glass sold here. For my entree I ordered the Jumbo Cheese Raviolis at $16.
  
As I am sure you can see now, this place is not inexpensive (http://grapestreetvegas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/grape-street-downtown-summerlin-cm.pdf). When the meal arrived the presentation was very nice and the Raviolis were seasoned very nicely with tons of flavor. One word of caution here, If you are expecting a portion size like that of an Olive Garden you are in the wrong place. If it weren't for the great bread and real Butter that was provided and some of my Daughters food I would have left hungry. I guess it is great for a nice Lunch. I will admit that I have a big appetite but I still felt that my portion was on the small side. My Wife had Spaghetti which came with Two large Meatballs. The babies had Mac & Cheese and my Wife's and all my Daughters portions were of nice size. My oldest Daughter had the Angel Hair Primavera and it arrived with some nice vegetables and Pine Nuts. I have to say that the food was very good. The restaurant was very clean and MOST of the staff (see next paragraph) seemed very happy and glad to be there so I think says something about the management.
             
 

I am going to place my final thoughts here on the restaurant in general and then move onto the a BIG issue and the only real drawback that I experienced. The restaurant was very nice. The atmosphere was very accommodating and welcoming for a family, there was no "partying" going on. This is a place you can take your Family and not be worried they will run into drunken fools. I cannot speak for night time or a weekend however. The food was very good and full of flavor and the Pasta was cooked to perfection. The glassware and Silverware were clean and very nice. The service and overall cleanliness was great, thanks Miguel. The decor was also appropriate for the name of the restaurant. In summary, if you have a little bit of cash laying around and want to treat the family then I highly recommend the Grape Street Cafe Wine Bar & Cellar in Summerlin Las Vegas. One thing to note is that there is no kids menu so they will either have to share. This place would also make a nice location for a night out with the Spouse as well. If you want guaranteed great service ask for miguel. 
  Now that I have gotten the good parts done there is one more thing that being The Desert Wine Guy I feel I need to mention. The restaurant has a Sommelier which I thought was a nice touch. Miguel during talking with him pointed out the Sommelier and I asked if he could let him know that I would like to talk with him. Miguel immediately went over and relayed my request. About 5 minutes later the Sommelier wonders (yes I said wonders) over to the table acting VERY uninterested, eyes and head everywhere but where they are supposed to be and that is on the person who is talking to him. When I introduced myself and handed him a card he still insisted on looking everywhere but at me, which should have been his focus. When I explained to him what I do he STILL CONSTANTLY had elsewhere to look and other things to pay attention to. I felt blown off. Not once throughout the one sided conversation did he act in the slightest bit interested in talking to me about wine or anything else. He had no idea if I was influential in the local wine scene or not or for that matter did he even appear to care. When I handed him a card he said that he would e-mail me but I am not holding out any thoughts of that. To say that I was insulted simply as a guest would be an understatement. To make matters even worse I watched him a present a bottle of wine to a table. The whole process of the presenting, opening & pouring of the wine was terrible and again done without any real interest or attention to his guests. There was no proper label facing to the person who ordered the wine, he simply acted like a Robot. He again simply acted uninterested in his customers. Looking at the wine list (which was very nice) you can see from the pictures of the wine menu I included that the prices per glass as well as the whole bottles were not inexpensive. The bottom line on the .....Sommelier is that he was TERRIBLE. Here is a restaurant that needs to fire their .....Sommelier RIGHT AWAY and replace him with someone who actually likes wine. I have one thing left to say. Grape Street.....your wine lovers and guests in general deserve more.



                                                                                                                    The Desert Wine Guy



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The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Revelation Cabernet-Merlot - A Hidden Treasure

  
                                         
   What a treat I have in store for you folks today. I am sure you have all heard of a little place named Trader Joe's (http://www.traderjoes.com/). If you have not and you are a wine drinker or even a Beer drinker for that matter, you should make yourself aware of Trader Joe's. For those of you who do know about the hidden wine gem named Trader Joe's than I am sure I don't have to tell you about their wine selection, it is pretty substantial in comparison to the actual size of the store and actually worthy of a review in and of itself. I actually also like the store myself because they seem to sell quality products that I have never seen anywhere before and i think are worth a try. I also buy my yearly Basil plants there for my garden. Well anyway back to this wine. The other day Mrs. Desert Wine Girl wanted to do a little shopping and since it was so beautiful here in Vegas (75 degrees) and I needed a break from the Vineyards I decided to tag along on this particular day......plus did I forget to mention that they have a nice wine section as well :) So there is The Desert Wine Guy looking in the wine section for some new and interesting wines to taste and share with you guys and one of the wines that I happened to came across was the 2012 Revelation Cabernet-Merlot. This wine is from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Northern France. This is an area that spans the Mediterranean coastline from the French border with Spain to the region of Provence. This area in general has around 700,000 acres of vines and is the single biggest wine producing region in the world. I'm sorry but there isn't any other information available about this wine, Vineyard or producer to learn or tell you about, I wish there was.
                                 
I guess the first thing that drew me to this wine was the price of $4.99 that was on the shelf. Maybe it was because it also looked, label wise like a serious bottle of wine or it could have been simply the combination of Cabernet Sauvignon (55%) and Merlot (45%). I am sorry guys but a wine that wants to be taken seriously should at least LOOK as if it wants to be taken seriously. I know what you are going to say here, "it's $4.99 Desert Wine Guy, how serious could it take itself or be taken". Yes , you are correct and I agree but in this case I was looking for a serious wine and the label I think convinced me to give it a try. Whatever the reason(s) was I decided that this was going to be one of the wines I was going to taste. There were a few other varietals of wine that I picked out that day as well and eventually I will get to do a review on all of those but for now sit back and enjoy this review. Oh, one other thing. There is a way to make this wine even more spectacular than it already is, do you want to know what that way is? Go out and buy a case and drink a bottle while reading this review. I am curious as well as to whether your opinion matches mine as well.
   Let's begin by talking about the nose on this wine. The wine opens up with Blackberry & Black Currants. These are simply beautiful together and in the amounts and manner they are put together with one another. The bouquet also lends itself to a very mineral/Oak aroma that is sure to please a rich Cabernet drinker. Deep spice is also apparent on the nose. Topping it off is a small amount of Cocoa and a ripe Dark Blackberry combo. While I am smelling the bouquet on this wine I am in amazement at how a $4.99 bottle of wine could offer all of this simply in the bouquet alone. I am thinking at this time that I might have possibly found a "sleeper".
   All right here we go. If you do have a bottle of this wine start enjoying it as you read now. The taste of Green Pepper is the first thing to hit your palete here and is sort of dominant but blended together, especially with the Blackberry and with everything else it does not overpower. I decanted this wine for about two hours (I would give it one more hour) in my new Wine & Spirits Decanter prior to this tasting and I think it's really cool how you can actually taste the combination of the Cab & Merlot as they on one hand are spicy because of the Cab but are quickly softened to an extent by the Merlot. You can almost sense the toning down but it isn't a distraction to your enjoyment by any means. It is almost as if the Cab is about to come on strong but it doesn't and is toned down but almost in a way where it is unnoticeable. While the Merlot does soften the Cab it does not kill it. Let me warn those of you who prefer a shy or soft Cab, this wine is not for the faint of heart. The Black Pepper in here insists on ensuring that the wine is very confident in where it is headed and toward which end of the spectrum of the Cab scale it is going. There is a feeling, or sense of earthiness as well in this wine that brings on a feeling of richness here. Tannins? you want Tannins? Have we got Tannins for you :) Very, very nice, medium bodied Tannins are wonderfully presented in this wine. While not soft by any means they do sit nicely in this wine and add to the spicy tasting. Folks, I am very impressed here. There is also a sufficient amount of Green Pepper here that will welcomed on the Palate
                                        
      In finishing this article up here I can say without question that the wine could sell for a lot more that it does. I would pay $20 for this wine, easily. How Trader Joe's pulls it off at $4.99 a bottle is beyond me but I do have plans to head back and buy more. I know that the holidays are over folks but if you are interested in a nice bottle of wine for friends or as a thank you for someone look no further because here is what you are looking for, just hope they don't shop at Trader Joe's and see the price. As for Decanting this wine I am going to tell you something that I have discovered in my experiences. I have come to the conclusion that ALL serious or semi-serious Red wines should be given at least three (3) hours to Decant and have a chance to open up. You might disagree but that is just my experience. This wine opened up and became a continued to excel from a nice wine to a very nice wine. I have reviewed much higher priced wine as well as  wine that has been reviewed and rated 92 points (Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon H3) by Wine Spectator Magazine (http://www.winespectator.com/)  that have paled in comparison to this wine. I highly recommend this wine and I am going to put  this wine at an 90 on The Desert Wine Guy point rating scale. I am going to place a bottle of this wine will be placed in my Cellar, as  should you.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy


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The Desert Wine Guy - Guest Post - 2012 Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon

 

                                             
   O.k fans of The Desert Wine Guy.  Today I have put up a guest post on the 2012 Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon that I received from a fan (thank you Donna) of my wine Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy). Donna was lucky enough to win a wine related contest on said Facebook and her prize was this review wine. I have posted her review exactly as she sent it to me, I hope you enjoy it and to Donna, thank you for taking the time to let me know what you think of the wine.
                                        

2012 Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon

            
   I was privileged with being able to try a Cabernet Sauvignon called H3, Horse Heaven Hills / 2012, Columbia Crest. I received this wine from Desert Wine Guy. It was a nice wine, that I paired with a sharp cheddar cheese ball. I found it had a full flavor. Hubby found it on the dry side, but I prefer drier wines. It is a lovely wine that you can enjoy with a meal, or just in the evening while relaxing. Personally I preferred to pair it with the cheese ball. It brought out the flavors in the wine much better. It brought out the deep berry flavors better, and it has a lovely cocoa finish. When you first open the bottle you will smell a lovely aroma of deep berry fruits and currants. If you like sweet wines, this wine is not for you. It is for people that really enjoy drier, finer wines.

The Desert WIne Guy - 2012 Cupcake Cabernet Sauvignon

                          

                                                                                                                             

   

   I don't know what you think about when you hear the word "Cupcake" but the first thoughts that comes to my mind are sugar, creamy, kids party's, baking etc; I know you can go on and on and conjure up memories of fun and games as well but does your mind at one time wonder to wine at all? Mine doesn't either so don't feel bad. The other day Mrs. Desert Wine Girl and one of my Daughters of Angel vineyards fame was at the grocery store and I was left home all by myself (I know right) and I decided to look around for a nice Cabernet Sauvignon to relax with. Well of course you already know that I have wine in the house but have you ever just been of the mindset that there is nothing that you are interested in drinking in the house? That's how I was this particular day. No matter what wine I looked at there was nothing that seemed to catch my eye or interest me. Well I decided to pick up the phone and call Mrs. Desert Wine Girl and ask her to pick up a Cabernet Sauvignon for me. When I was questioned as to which one or what year or Vineyard I wanted I simply replied “you pick it”. Now asking a person who doesn't know anything about wine (don't ask) to pick one is like asking someone who doesn't fish to throw you a hook while trout fishing, you can only imagine what size hook is coming your way. Well I was feeling adventures that day and was ready to take whatever was coming my way. When the Desert Wine Girls got home I saw that they had chosen for me the 2012 Cupcake Vineyards http://www.cupcakevineyards.com/about) Cabernet Sauvignon. “Cupcake, really” I said. I had heard of the brand name before and I had heard some decent things about it but those decent things that I did hear were from the average mom & pop so called wine drinker and I didn't place to much stock in their wine opinions. It also appears that everyone seems to carry Cupcake wines including the local gas station and Target stores, that seriously scared me. I then reminded myself that this was all my fault to begin with and that I would have to suffer and drink the wine that my wife and daughter were nice enough to bring back for me and be, or at least act grateful

 

                                                                                                                
   Before I go on let's learn a little bit about Cupcake Vineyards. This is one of those places that makes you believe that there is a real Vineyard(s) but there actually isn't any Vineyards that Cupcake owns or grows. Cupcake is one of those places that sources out their grapes from different vineyards "....from all over the world" as Beth Cohan A Senior Account Executive for Cupcake told me in an e-mail. While this is not necessarily a bad thing I do find it deceptive. Cupcake "Vineyards" also claims on their website to be "Americas number one premium wine brand by volume". Along with their "premium brands" they also make Mad Dog 20/20. For those of you who are unaware of that particular......beverage, consider yourself VERY lucky. When I was a young kid the name for a wine (?) along the lines of Mad Dog 20/20 was termed "Sneaky Pete". It was a group of various wines that people who lived in a house or apartment or for that matter did NOT live on the streets in an alley way simply did NOT drink. For all my Jewish readers you might recognize one of the other brands they own such as  "Mogen David". How many of you grew up having that wine at Passover? For my family it was Manischewitz by the way (yummy yummy). O.K it is time to get down to business. For those of you who follow me you already know what my next step is. With my wonderful Crystal wine glass, the wine, a pen and notepad I headed up to my Loft to play......ah I mean review the wine. Let's learn about this wine now and whether it truly is sweet as a Cupcake or is indeed a serious wine.

   As usual we begin with the pour of this wine which is simply medium Red nearly bordering more on Cranberry in color.  

   Moving on to the Bouquet here our nose is hit with the smell of Bing Cherry first, blending nicely with some nice Black Cherry and Molasses of all things. The Molasses is interesting although a little worrisome to be honest because of my initial worry of tasting a sweet wine due to what the name implies. The Bouquet is pretty nice however and at this point in the tasting I am interested in exactly what the wine has in store for me once it hits my pallette.
   This wine actually has a lot going on here as far as the mouth feel goes. For starters the wine opens in your mouth with Blackberry which seems to go with part of the Bouquet that was present. There is a bit of Black pepper thrown in and some acidity to the wine but I would have to say that this wine is more towards the lighter side of a Cabernet, it is almost like you would expect from a big Merlot. The tasting note of a nice, medium Bing Cherry makes an appearance here to liven things up. There is also a slightly Oakey finish that comes from the American Oak that is used in the making of this wine. When it comes down to it, everything except for the Bing Cherry is on the light side. The Bing Cherry does seem to pop more than the other flavors in the wine but the wine is overall kept very smooth indeed. There are very slight silky and polished Tannins that are present along with a hint of Cassis. The one flaw that I did notice in the wine is the fact that there is something in here that I can't put my finger on although I feel it may be the Blackberry that for some reason adds a slight amount of a bitterness and is more of an aftertaste to the wine. Don't let this scare you away though because on one hand it was nowhere near in the strength required to make the wine bad or to ruin it but on the other hand was present enough to taste.
                   

   O.K so overall this is a fairly decent wine and one that I would say goes very nicely with Hot Dogs or Hamburgers for the Summertime which is not far away now. If you are having friends over for a pool party I think this wine would go nicely. I would not, however call this a wine drinkers wine or even a Cabernet for a Cabernet drinker. This wine is really made for "Mom & Pop". It has it's place on the kitchen counter or on the the rack behind the couch or on the Coffee table. It is not a complex wine by any means although there are many different flavors to enjoy here and I don't think meant to be taken to seriously. As for the sweetness or sugary fear that I thought might crop up, that never materialized thankfully and the worries of an overpowering sweetness factor was a non issue. As for addressing the slight bitter taste. I did some research to see if I am the only reviewer to taste this and I discovered that I am not. There are actually at least two more blogs that report the same fault. Once again this aftertaste is in no way a reason not to drink this wine. Do allow this wine at least a couple of hours to come into it's own. The bottom line is this is NOT a bad wine BUT it does have it's place.  I would add this wine to the list of the many other wines of this type and enjoy it while the heat and the pool are up and running and that is coming soon especially here in the Desert of Las Vegas. 

   On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I would put it at a solid 86 points.

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - My Experience With Wine.Com - Not All That Positive.

                                                   

   So for the past two days I have been thinking about an recent experience that I had with an online wine retailer. Here is a short article on the experience that I had with the online site named Wine.com (http://www.wine.com/). The idea had never actually crossed my mind to sit down and write an article on them until I had a recent experience, a bad experience at that.  Let me go on and explain what happened. Wine.com sent me an e-mail to purchase the 2013 Twenty Rows Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. I had never heard of the wine so I Googled it and actually came across the Winery itself (https://www.twentyrows.com/wine.html) . I very quickly noticed that the Winery had the wine for CHEAPER than Wine.com. I went back to Wine.com and I was going to e-mail them to complain when a small window popped up in the lower right hand corner of the screen with an employee named "Chris" asking if he could be of assistance to me. Here is how the Chat went down:


    Chat has been opened from website: http://www.wine.com/customercare/submit.aspx?fromLogin=true

Chris     Mon, 02/02/15 02:57:52 pm America/Los_Angeles    
  Hello, can I help you find a great wine?
    
Customer     02:57:54 pm    
  You say that we get great deals using your company so why are you more expensive that the winery itself on the Twenty Rows Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2013?
https://www.twentyrows.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=view&category_id=27
   
 Chris     02:59:32 pm    
   that's not fair, how can we be cheaper than the producer? by law we have to buy it from a distributor
   
 Customer     03:00:46 pm    
   The winery sells EVERYTHING at a higher price. I have never seen a wine at a Winery that is cheaper than a store.
   
 Chris     03:01:01 pm    
   ok, i am sorry
   
 Customer     03:01:52 pm    
   That's it? No offer for a better price or anything?
   
 Chris     03:01:54 pm    
   what do you want from me? Why yell at me?
i am not the buyer, we are doing the best we can, if you find the wine at a cheaper price, than buy it there
We do our best, but we don't always have the best prices, I am sorry :-(
not to mention, you are wrong! our price is 3 dollars cheaper for the cab
we have 21.99 they have it for 25!
   
 Customer     03:10:53 pm    
 I am sending this chat to your corporate right now. Thank you
   
 Duration: 13m 9s

   Well as you can see I was not "yelling" or being rude in anyway to "Chris". Please keep in mind through all this that the very next day I was expecting around 10 bottles of wine totaling around $120 the next day and had also paid for a year of unlimited shipping for another $49. I was pissed to say the least and picked up my phone and contacted customer service and sent them a copy of the chat. The Costumer Service person who's e-mail starts off as "tblack" (I forgot her name) on the phone was very nice and told me that Chris's supervisor was looking at the chat with Chris as we spoke and was not at all pleased. The service rep on the phone was again very apologetic and placed a $25 credit on my account in order to assist me in getting over the insulting behavior of Chris. As I have said, this incident ate at me for the past couple of days and today I decided to use the same chat service to get the person in charge of media relations. Once again the person on their end of the chat was very nice and gave me the information I requested. So that is my story. Is Chris's behavior a fluke, I don't know but I can tell you that I have gained some connections in the wine industry in the process of developing The Desert Wine Guy and have almost 2,000 fans on my Desert Wine Guy Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy) as well as this wine blog which gets a few thousand hits a month and a Twitter account (https://twitter.com/desertwineguylv). I will reserve judgement for the time being since I am sure that I will have some more interactions with them and hopefully they will all be pleasant.

                                               
                                                 


                     
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The Desert Wine Guy - 2010 Stags Leap Napa Valley Merlot

               
                                                       

                                                               Let me start off this review with a simple question. What power does a name of a company or product have in influencing whether or not you buy or not buy something? What I am getting at is can a name alone influence you or make you buy a particular product that you are in the market for?  I will give you my answer and then at the end I will ask you these questions again. I will give you my answer right now and that answer is......sometimes. When I see a big name product I normally do expect (expectations) that product to be better than the generic one. This doesn't always hold true but generally it does. Now I know what your saying, come on Desert Wine Guy what are you getting at already. I ask this question because a name is what I used to pick our review wine. I was in the store and I was scanning the Merlot section and a name caught my eye and I bought the wine solely on the belief that I was getting a quality wine. I know what your saying, I can hear you guys now saying "OK Desert Wine Guy we are listening, go on" Well I went for a name and I put out $40 for our review wine and was expecting a really good wine to drink. Did I get a really good wine? To find that answer you will have to read on because today we will be reviewing the 2010 Stags leap Napa valley Merlot (http://stagsleap.com/theestate). To start off this review lets look at the pour of our wine.
   Let give you one bit of advice before you taste this wine and before I get into the review. This wine should, no MUST be decanted for at least three hours before you even think of siting down to enjoy it. If you attempt to drink this wine without Decanting and waiting you will find that the wine will come across overpowering with Cassis and pepper, you will of course not enjoy it. When not decanted the wine will be unapproachable to say the least. Now for the low down on the 2010 Stags Leap Napa Merlot.

                                                                   
  Starting off with the review we will open with the pour. This wine poured a beautiful Dark Black Cherry mixed with Ruby Red overtones. I want to ask you folks if have ever noticed that some wines seem to almost speak or whisper of a promise in your ear of of elegance and splendor. Simply by the color of the wine itself there is an unmistakable communication from the wine to you, the drinker. This dear readers happens to be one of those wines. This wine had an exciting, enticing, outstanding almost seductive color in the pour which  assisted in the elevation of my hopes for this wine.
   The Bouquet also had a beautiful bouquet and near perfect levels of Currant and of Clove Spice. Topping it off there was the bouquet of Black Cherry with a Carmel on the nose. You are saying "WOW" and so did I.
   In the mouth this wine laid out an almost masterpiece of Bold Black Pepper followed up by Cassis and Currant. This wine was looking very nice indeed and coated my mouth with a taste of spice and Dark Cherry. The wine finished with a slightly bitter taste at first however that disappeared as the wine opened further. The development of the wine also revealed a nice level of Caramel to share with the drinker. Now, just when you think the wine has given all it has to give and is done there is also a hidden flavor that waited almost till what you would normally think is the end just before you swallow and then out of nowhere, unexpectedly there is this incredible hint of Black Cherry. I remember sitting in my chair and thinking that I had finished with the first sip when out of left field, just before I swallowed there comes an unbelievable Black Cherry which adds a sudden lightening up of the taste to the wine. Have no worries though this "lightening up of the taste" of the wine is not by much and just barely enough to notice but it is indeed present and it is most certainly enjoyable. The point at which the Black Cherry decides to come thru is perfect in it's timing and kind of unusual at a point in my experience for a flavor to pop up. When you drink this wine, and you will, you will see what I mean. It comes at the point when you are just ready to swallow the wine. This Black Cherry also actually made me smile because it caught me off guard. Like everything else in the wine the Tannins were at perfect levels and combined together for a wonderfully and enjoyable wine.
    Looking at the description on the Stags Leap website (http://stagsleap.com/2010-Stags-Leap-Merlot-Block-20-Napa-Valley) you will see in the description "....everything a Merlot should be and more". I must say that they are right on here. This Merlot edges, I think quite a bit actually toward a Cabernet Sauvignon. A word to the wise here. If your preference is a normal Merlot and do not care for a more full bodied wine such as a Cabernet Sauvignon then I recommend that you stay away from this Merlot. This is indeed the epitome of a "bold red". Should you decide however to venture out and explore the bolder side of wine than you have found the perfect wine here.
   Well that is it folks. Have you come up with your answer to my questions yet? What power does a name of a product have to influence you to buy something or not buy something? You already have my answer and I would be curious as to what your is. Companies spend a lot of money maintaining their name or logo and people recognize or identify with certain names and logos instantly. How many company jingles do you know? How many company symbols do you know? How about the Pillsbury dough Boy or The Price Line Negotiator? How about The Desert Wine Guy? Identity for anyone or anything is important. If you would like to know a little more about this subject here (http://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/2011/01/10/the-power-of-a-name-branding-your-company-for-the-future/) is an interesting article for you. While you are reading the article pop the Cork on the 2010 Stags Leap Napa Valley Merlot and enjoy an awesome wine.

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                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy   

The Desert WIne Guy - 2009 Plantaze Cabernet Sauvignon

2009 Plantaze Cabernet Sauvignon

                                                      

  Well here we are again with the start of a new year and some more great (or not so great) wine industry related reviews and articles. I want to thank everyone for checking out my wine Blog, wine Facebook and Twitter last year. It was very exciting when I got a comment from you or a new "like" from you guys. Please spread the word and continue to be a fan I have some exciting things planned for this year that I think you will like. To start off with this year articles I have a short review for a Cabernet Sauvignon from Cemovsko, Montenegro named Plantaze. I was in Total Wine & Spirits the other day and wanted something different. I searched and searched and was coming up with nothing that really struck me as "different". Finally I saw this wine and it was from an older vintage and from a place that I had never had wine from so I figured, why not. The wine was fairly inexpensive ($9) and in the cart it went. After doing some errands I finally made it home and checking in with Mrs. Desert Wine Girl I grabbed the kids and headed upstairs to my tasting room......O.K my loft :) I was looking forward to tasting this Cabernet because it came from a part of the world that I usually don't buy Cabernet from. With hopes I wouldn't be disappointed I poured the first glass.
   Before I go on with the actual review I wanted to add a side note. I know that some of you might wonder why I would bring the kids with me to do some wine tasting. This would be a great opportunity for some alone time you might say. I guess if I had normal kids I would agree however my kids are kind of advanced for their age and seem, at least at this age to have some.....different interests than other kids some times. I don't know if it's because I always involved them in what I was doing from a very young age or what but they just seem to love to learn things that are beyond their age. My Two identical twins are four years old and seem to know know more about wine (including respecting Alcohol) then some adults do. As I said earlier, they go upstairs with me and after I review the wine we sit at a table and go over different aspects of the wine including varietal and proper pour. I guess you could say it is "our thing". No they don't taste or pour (I like the Carpet the color it was meant to be) but they do everything else. When we go to the garden or Vineyards they will help with cleaning and caring for them also. When the Skeltonizer (small purple moth pests) come in the Spring they have the mission to kill them. Seeing them run across the Backyard all day trying to swat them out of the air is great. Needles to say I am very blessed. O.K now lets get back to the review.
   This 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon started off nicely and had a very nice pour of dark Red Berry and reminded me of the nice dark skin of a Strawberry mixed with Bing Cherry skin. This was a nice start to what I had hoped  was going to be a great wine. The bouquet followed up the pour with nice strong aromas of Carmel and Blackberry which was followed by Green Pepper.  Oh boy this is going to be good I hoped. Things were starting to look really good here. Well folks ......you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice & men. I am afraid that things didn't work out as I had planned. The wine opened in my mouth to a very heavy Blackberry which was followed up by a very strong Cranberry. Both of these fruits fought very hard to overpower one another but in the end neither did however the fight seemed to always continue. But wait there are more fruits that joined in the battle. I also tasted a very acidic Plum with Cassis and Green Pepper and they too joined the fight to overpower one another. Neither of these additional flavors did anything to soften the wine sadly. The wine in the end was a bitter and harsh mess. Later on in the wine as the wine opened Black Cherry came on to join in the battle for superiority. While the wine is definitely packed with various fruits nothing was ripe or drinkable. What a shame because the combinations of everything were present but the wine did not see to be able to pull itself together. The wine throughout the bottle had an overpowering and lingering acidic, bitter taste. While it wasn't a wine I dumped out after the first few sips I would never buy it again nor can I recommend it. If I could draw a picture for you it would be of Vineyard workers picking decaying fruit from the ground and adding unripened juice from grapes. Yes, it was that bad. That is all there is for this review, plain and simply a bad wine.
   With hopes of a good to great wine that I could cellar for some time I was left with a simple disappointment. I wish I could find something good to talk about here but sadly there isn't anything good to say. On the Desert Wine Guy rating scale which I adapted from Wine Spectator Magazine (http://www.winespectator.com/newsandfeatures)  I give this wine a 75 which is Mediocre, a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws. It should be noted that this wine barely made the "drinkable" scale and was very close to me rating it "undrinkable".


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The Desert Wine Guy - Review Of The Wine Of The Month Club

        

Paul Kalemkiarian Sr. & Jr.

                                                          
                             
   Today I going to write about the wine club that I belong to. If you go a quick Google search you will find that there are many, many wine clubs that you can choose to join. When I was first started looking for a wine club it wasn't easy do to the many choices.  I ended up choosing the wine club that is currently the topic of our review, The Wine Of The Month Club (http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com/). For the purposes of simplicity for the remainder of this article I will simply be referring to it as "The Club". I will explain more in the next paragraph. Before I go into the review however, I want to disclose one important item that I feel I must in order to be above board with you guys. The owner of The Club, Paul Kalemkiarian Jr has agreed to send me a bottle of wine in exchange for a review of that particular wine. Paul has sent me the "Porto Kopke 10 Years Old Tawny" from Portugal that I will be reviewing next. One other thing I want to let you guys know is that before I even thought of contacting Paul, I was already a member of The Club myself and believed that it was worth getting into an agreement with Paul and talking favorably about. Remember I am paying full price each month for The Club myself so it must be good or I would have already cancelled. One last thing that I would like to mention. I would like you, my readers to know that I am from Brooklyn, New York and am from the "Old School". I will never sell myself or the name of The Desert Wine Guy out to anyone. My reviews whether on wine, or as in this case a wine club are my true opinions on whatever subject I am reviewing. The reason I am saying all this is because I want to let you guys know that as always I will continue to review all wines and anything else I decide to review and give my sincere, honest opinion. I also do not like wines or services or for that matter dislike wines or services simply because the person owning, pouring or as in this case, giving me the wine is nice or friendly, I do not work like that. I will not even let the politics of the Vineyard owner, wine maker or company owner effect my reviews on a product. I myself came to Paul with the proposed arrangement because I felt that The Club was something that I could actually support because as I have already said, I have actually belong to The Club myself. Now that I have been straight with you my readers lets get into this because this article is something that I do want to share with you all.
   Let's start learning about The Club by first hearing what attracted me to joining it myself in the first place. Before The Desert Wine Guy was created and before I joined or for that matter even heard of The Club I was not what you could call a wine drinker. I occasionally had some wine but it was just not my thing. If I was drinking I would drink some beer and that was that.  The one thing I noticed at that time, as well as today is that The Club didn't send out what you would call "big name wines".  I didn't recognize any of the wine labels that I was sent. To be honest at the time I thought that was a big drawback to The Club. I mean other clubs were sending to their customers big name wines and because they were big name wines they had to be better, right? I mean who wouldn't want a Robert Mondavi wine or an Ernest & Julio wine? Well guess what, once I really started learning about wine I realized that simply name alone does not mean anything. Because I wasn't really a wine drinker the wines that I received from The Club simply sat in a small kitchen wine rack on the counter. You know the kind of rack I am talking about, I think we all have at least one. I'm talking about the wine racks that K-Mart and Walmart sell. The ones that are just used for decoration. My membership for The Club eventually expired and I ended up not renewing it and The Club was forgotten about. A few years later as The Desert Wine Guy started to take shape. I started to open these wines and drink them and do you know what I realized? I realized that these small, (I guess you could call them Boutique wines) were very good. I ended up drinking and eventually reviewing these wines and loving them. By this time the wines were a few years old and the wines had time to develop in the bottle. Most of the wines were so good I would get with the particular winery to purchase another bottle or two and I was informed that the wine was no longer available, I guess since they were small production wines I had waited to long to drink them and I was out of luck. WOW that was terrible. One day I am sitting in my Loft doing a review of a wine that did not come from The Club but was from a small winery that I had never heard of and I started to think about The Club and the great wines I received from them. It was then that I decided to rejoin. I was now on the path to learning and discovering everything I could about wine as well as to go on to develop two small backyard Vineyards. I started to grow in my wine knowledge and experience. Prior to re-joining I thought of the great wines that I received from The Club. What I believed at the time was "bad" wine simply because they were from small Vineyards ended up turning into my "great awaking". I looked around the internet and saw that there are many wine clubs that I could join but those early memories that helped plant the seeds of The Desert Wine Guy had a major influence on me and I went to The Clubs website and saw how Paul loved wine and was so willing to share that love and teach his customers about wine. I also remembered just how great those early wines really were. A quick check of The Clubs website clearly shows that. There is everything from videos of interviews of winemakers that Paul has conducted to educational articles on wine. Paul interviews fellow Bloggers and is a wealth of knowledge. There is a link to wine news article of interest. Paul has his own wine blog with recipes and articles on individual wines. Paul also has a shop where you can purchase great wines. There is also a gift shop where you can purchase gift baskets, gift certificates and wine accessories. I recently purchased the Wine Tasting Party Kit that has everything and I do mean everything to host your own tasting party. They charge $29.99 for the kit and I truly believe it is worth every penny. Here (http://vimeo.com/53347603) is the link to Paul's review and description of the kit. There  is a little something for everyone who has any interest in wine or for that matter knows anyone who has an interest in wine. Paul also has 6 (yes I said 6) different levels of wine clubs to choose from. There are 4 clubs for those who want 2 bottles each month, 1 club for those who want 6 bottles every other month and 1 club for those who want 12 bottles every 3 months. From the person who is just developing an interest in wine or is already a casual wine drinker all the way up to the wine expert there is a club for you.  As an example how great the prices are if you take the Classic Series Wine Club for example, you are getting 2 bottles a month for $37 which DOES include shipping. That is a little over $18 dollars a bottle. I, myself am signed up for the Cellar Series Wine Club which is 6 bottles a month for $86 which also includes shipping. No matter what club you join there isn't just wine that comes with each shipment. There is also a color glossy magazine that tells you about each wine you receive such as who made the wine, where the wine is from and what to look for in the wine. There is even information as well as what foods to pair each wine with. Included with each shipment is a newsletter (which is really a magazine) also. The color, glossy magazine which is entitled "The Tasting Room" discusses things such as terroir, climate, grape variety, winemakers' history, cellaring conditions, as well as temperature settings for storage and service, recipes and more. One other item I would like to add is that when you e-mail Paul he actually e-mails you back, and quickly. Prior to working with Paul I have e-mailed him a few times and even though he is very busy especially with the holidays he has gotten back to me very quickly. I am also very regularly getting e-mails from him as to great buys he is offering on wines. When I say great buys that is what I mean. One example is $9 two day shipping which is going on right now (ends the 21st) . One other important point to make is that I haven't seen any e-mails from other companies related to the wine industry that I have not, myself initiated. What I am saying is that I have seen nothing to lead me to believe that Paul sells your e-mail address, this is good. One other great thing I must mention is that there are no dues to pay. If you get tired of receiving great wines from The Club, just let Paul know and that is it. I have also done some checking on the internet about The Club to see if my great experiences with The Club are common experiences or if I am just lucky. What I found out is that everyone has nothing but great things to say about The Club. Here is a link to Yelp

Tasting Kit

                                                    (http://www.yelp.com/biz/wine-of-the-month-club-monrovia) so you can see for yourself. I could find no negatives about the club. One interesting (and I think nice) thing about The Club is that almost every wine I have received from them I can find no review on line about. Not that this means anything but with the power and vast amount of information on the internet I found that interesting.
   In closing this article out here is my advice to you if you are looking to join a wine club or if you already belong to a club and are looking to expand your wine tasting and knowledge.  I recommend that you at least give The Club a try. If you love to taste the wines that are made from the Vineyards you never hear of as well as few that you have and love the experience like I do then I believe you have found the perfect wine club. If on the other hand even you are locked into the big name wines and believe they are the end all be all of wine choices then it is time to expand your horizons and venture out from your comfort zone. I recommend that you to join The Club and at least give it a try, I think you will be glad that you did.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy



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The Desert Wine Guy - How To Prune Your Grapevine

Dormant Grapevines

                                                          




   Winter is coming and for some of us (not for us in Vegas yet) it is already here. Those of us who grow Grapevines know that just because the leaves might be gone from the vine this is not the end of  keeping up on them. Now is the time to perform maintenance in order to ensure that our vines remain in good condition and that the coming season will be a healthy and productive one for  them. This time of year our vines are getting ready to go into what is known as the "Dormant" stage. In this article we will discuss what dormancy is and why the grapevine goes Dormant in the first place.  At this time of year we have already had the harvest and the Grape Juice is starting on it's way towards becoming Wine. That leaves us with our final step of the season and that is Pruning. What is pruning and how and why we prune? That is what we will talk about today. All information we will be discussing is in relation to wine grapes. For table grapes there may be different ways to prune and I recommend that you do some research on that specific topic. At the end of this article I have placed two links to a couple of great videos on pruning. I recommend that you check them out, everything is explained in a way in which a beginner can understand and learn. I think the best place to start a discussion on pruning is at the point the vine goes dormant since we don't want to prune prior to that stage. Let's begin by explaining why a Grapevine goes dormant in the first place.
   Why does a Grapevine go dormant in the first place? - To put it simply, a Grapevine goes dormant to survive an event or events (in this case coldness) that are happening or about to happen. The Grapevine goes Dormant to basically defend itself and it does so by reserving all it's energy and redirecting it to only the basic processes it needs to survive. It does that by not expelling energy on leaves, grapes or growing Canes (branches). During the dormancy stage the vine will actually appear to have died. If the vine is indeed Dormant it is not dead but kind of in a sleep phase.  If you really think about it, the grape itself is only in reality a way for the species to propagate itself anyway. That is why there are seeds in grapes. We will not discuss G.M.O products since these are not natural, normal or healthy and require mans intervention to create and propagate.
   So what is pruning? - Pruning is simply the process of removing parts of the plant (in this case a grapevine) that for reasons of vine health and productivity are  no longer needed. That sounds simple right? Well that's because for the most part it is simple.
   Why do we Prune? - Why we prune is also simple. We prune in order to prepare the vine for the start of another growing year. The old wood that the vine grew is simply not needed.  Since there will be new wood that grows the coming year there will be too much call for the vine to spread it's energy to support parts of itself that it doesn't need. This unneeded use of energy by the vines will draw nutrition away from the reason we grow them in the first place, which is to grow grapes. For us and the Grapevine this wasting of energy or resources will result in an inferior crop of Grapes. Without Pruning there will be too many clusters of grapes and the grapes themselves will be small. One other important reason we Prune is because Grapes will only grow on first year wood. In other words the wood (Canes) the vine grew in the past year will no longer grow grapes. Can you also imagine what the vine would look like if we didn't remove or Prune it? The vine would grow out of control.
                                                          

Figure #1 - Makeup Of The Grapevine

  How do we prune a grapevine? - The first thing we should know is that there are two types of wine grape pruning. There is Spur or Cordon pruning and Cane pruning. We will start first with Spur Pruning and explain what it is. To help you visualize this I would like to refer you to Figure #1 please use it as a quick reference guide for the makeup of the vine. The first part of the vine I want to draw your attention to is what is called the Cordon(s). The second part of the vine I want to draw your attention to is the Canes that are coming off of the Cordon(s). This is where we will focus most of our attention for this article. In a properly pruned (Spur/Cordon) Grapevine the Canes or Renewal Spurs will be fist width apart from each other, which is approximately 6" (see figure #2). When we first plant the vine we don't worry about pruning because our main goal is to develop the roots of the vine. We need to ensure we develop proper roots in order to start the vine off on it's life of making quality grapes as well as to allow the vine to do what it needs to do which is to grow strong and disease resistant and develop strong Cordons. Some growers would even argue that even in the second year we don't prune but that is open to debate. However long you wait to prune is not the focus here so we will move on to proper pruning technique. By the way, depending on the varietal you will probably want to prune using one particular method over the other. Since we are talking about 1st or 2nd year vines here it is important to determine first if we are even happy with the quality of the vine itself. If you have a vine that is sparse in growth or has buds spaced far apart with many dead Buds then we may actually want to pull that particular vine out and replace it. Remember that Grapevines are long term, they can live for many, many years and we want to ensure that we start off with only the strongest ones. 
   Spur Pruning - To begin with we will discuss Spur or Cordon Pruning. To help you visualize this I would like to refer you to Figure #2 again. Cane Pruning is popular in vines that tend to have medium to high vigor. Classic grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah are most often spur pruned. Let's start with learning what a Spur is. A Spur is simply what is left after we cut a Cane off leaving only 2-3 Buds on it (see Image #1 again). The Cane once cut down has now become a Spur. From this Spur will come new Canes the following year. It is very simple actually. As I have said in an earlier paragraph the Spurs should be fist width (6") apart from each other. This Spur also is sometimes also called a "renewal Spur". There are some other things to look for when Spur Pruning. Just because a Cane (future Spur) is growing does not mean that this is the Cane we want to keep on the Cordon. If there are two Canes growing in the same area and one is very skinny or either does not have buds spaced properly or do not appear to be healthy then we would look to cut that bud off at the Cordon and choose another one. We want to eventually have healthy Canes or Spurs that are appropriately spaced on our vine. Inspect the Canes by looking at the Buds on each Cane to determine if the Cane appears healthy. We also want to ensure that the Canes we pick are also growing in the proper direction or at least located in a position that we can reasonable re-direct into the right direction. The Cane we pick should be about Pencil thickness. That is it for Spur Pruning, it is that simple.
                                        

Figure #2 - Spur or Cordon Pruning

    Cane Pruning - Cane pruning (see figure #3) is considered best for low vigor vines such as in Burgundian-styled vineyards (Pinot Noir, table grapes and other lower vigor, cool climate grape varietals). Cane Pruning is also very simple. The first item to note is what is called the "Head". The Head is basically the area of the vine that originates our Canes. There are no real Cordons established in Cane Pruning since what would develop into Cordons is cut off at the end of year and replaced by new wood (Canes) that have grown the past year. In order to Cane prune you would take two strong (also pencil thick) Canes that come from the Head and twist one along along each side of the head onto the Fruiting Wire. Aside from the pencil thickness criteria some other criteria we should be looking for is the following. Remember once grown or twisted onto the Fruiting Wire we will be pruning the Canes to ensure that we have the proper 6" spacing. These next year canes will be coming from the Head of the vine. Simply put you will look at the Canes that have come off the head of your vine and pick the next years Canes that will grow to wrap around the Fruiting Wire. The two canes from last year will be cut off at the Head. The Canes that we cut off will be cut leaving Two Shoots coming from the Head of the vine. These also should be properly positioned as well as proper size and shoot positioning. These two other Canes that are not on the fruiting wire should be cut back to two Buds.
                                                     

Figure #3 - Cane Pruning

     I hope that you guys have learned about the process of Pruning. I trust that I have answered some questions that you might have had on the pruning of your Grapevines. Here are the video links I came across on YouTube that I think will really help and further explain the whole Pruning process. Here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um9p1eiGiwI) is a link that will show you exactly how to Spur or Cordon prune. This next link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfd2V5DFDo0) will show you how to Cane Prune.
   OK everyone, it is that time of year again. This will be the last blog of this year and I just wanted to wish everyone a great new year. I hope that this year was productive and happy also. PLEASE everyone, if you go to a holiday party or celebrate a little to much get someone who has NOT been drinking to drive you home. Once again everyone, have a great new year.

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                                                                                                                    The Desert Wine Guy