TheWineStuds.com

Thanksgiving, The All American Holiday

Kevin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:28:39 +0000

American wines are among the best in the world and you can have an all star line up for your Thanksgiving day feast by sticking close to home. Here’s the all star US line up:

Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc 2006 – Start out with Americas top sparkling wine. Bubbles can put a smile on anyone’s face, open the appetite and pair well with almost any appetizer.

Clinton Vineyards Seyval Naturel Champagne – If you want to keep it closer to home, (about an 90 minutes north of Bronxville) this is a top Hudson Valley Sparkling Wine made from the seyval grape.

Pinot Gris by Dr. Konstantin Frank 2009 – From the NY Finger Lakes – Great with salad, turkey, lighter appetizers and you can blind taste your guests to see if anyone guesses this is a NY wine.

Reds: On the lighter side go with a Pinot Noir and to hold up to the cranberry sauce and heavier dishes use a Zinfandel or a Zin blend.

The Decoy wines, which are from the Duckhorn Family would go great on the Thanksgiving table and pair well with all the traditional main dishes. The Zinfandel would go great with any pasta course or anything with a bit of spice and the Pinot will make your turkey dance. The Duck on the label will be a great addition to the table.

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at Station Plaza Wine!

New Ratings

Kevin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:56:17 +0000

Orin Swift Cellars Abstract Meritage 2010

You start out admiring the deep dark burgundy color then move on to figuring out what you get on the nose. A bit of green vegetable lingers for 5 to 15 minutes, then a light banana and ripe cherry smell takes over. On the taste buds you get cherries and pleasant well balanced tannin / acidic mouth feel, more cherries with acidity that keeps you salivating and yearning for another sip. I give it a 89-90 (SPW) from 1 to 30 minutes. About 1 hour and 45 minutes in, smells of blueberry and even blueberry cheesecake takes over, you also get a bit on the buds. Its up to a 91+. Two hours and 45 minutes in – Then came the mocha and the mint on both to nose and the finish, but the ripe cherry is what first hits your buds 92+ and I’m thinking Dave Phinney is a genius and the Orin Swift Cellars hit this one out of the park! I think I’m going to drink half of our allocation. Cheers, Kevin.Score: 92+. October 30, 2011.

Layer Cake Pinot Noir 2010

Wow!! I just opened a layer cake Pinot Noir and it is amazing! Hint of earthy mocha and chocolate notes with a little spice. Really nice value and easy drinking I give it a 91 SPW Cheers, Denio Score: 91. October 25, 2011

Jordan Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

This is the best Jordan in 25 years! 91 right out of the bottle then its up to 93 after an hour to an hour and a half. I love the combination of Sonoma Cabernet and French oak! This is a refined, well balanced and elegant wine in total contrast to some overpowering Napa Cabs. After 2 hours I’m getting cherries and strawberries on the nose and pure silk on the buds. 95 after 2 ½ hours and that’s about the peak.

Score: 95. November 01, 2011.

Robert Mondavi Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

92 right out of the bottle with cherries and a bit of leather on the nose. After about an hour the powerful fruit gives way to a much more refined mellow cherry mocha with a hint of mint. 94 (SPW) after an hour and a half. We had this at Harry’s of Hartsdale with some amazing slow cooked short ribs so this may have skewed the rating a bit upward, but it’s a hell of a combination! (I give the ribs a 99)

Stack House Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Kevin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:13:00 +0000

Light, young wine with blackberries from the start that open to blueberries, plumbs and coco. I envision an organic raspberry chocolate bar – not a milk chocolate, one of those 75-80% coco bars. Starts out at an 88 drops to an 87 from 30 min. to 1 hour then hits an 89 after an hour. It worked out well with a steak, peppers and onion dinner. 89 SPW

The Creator: Our Review is Our

Kevin — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:56:40 +0000

The Creator 2009, K Vintners 60% Cab Sauv, 40 Syrah – Walla Walla Valley – Starts out with a tight spicy nose with a hint of promise, then 30 Minutes later you have some mocha and coffee coming through on the nose and the tightness starts to unwind. This bad boy hits its sweet spot between 2-3 hours when the cherry, chocolate and a hint of tobacco start bringing your senses alive. At the top – 2.5 hours in we give it a 93 ½ SPW

Wine Available Here

Cheers,
Kevin

SPW Introduces the New “SPW “Time-Line-Rating-System”

Kevin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:27:02 +0000

SPW introduces the "time-line-rating-system" We'll rate the wine on a timeline so you know when the optimal time to drink is. As far as we know we are the only one doing this.

Have you ever opened a bottle and tasted it and said man, I thought this would be better, then revisited it later and were blown away? At our shop we hear this happening all the time. We are going to work double time tasting wines and rating them on a timeline so you’ll know exactly how long to let them breathe. For example, the Saxum Broken Stone 2008 had a MOCHA EXPLOSION at exactly 6 hours after opening. We started with a SPW 92 rating after 2 hours and ended with a 98+ after 6 hours. We taste hundreds of wines a week at the Station Plaza Tasting Bar so we are going to start keeping track and reporting back. You can check out the SPW Top Rated Wines here.

Cheers,

Your Friends at Station Plaza Wine

A Taste of Michigan

Denio — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:24:45 +0000

Chateau Grand Traverse

Alex from MEDCO Atlantic stopped by the Station Plaza tasting Bar to do an analysis of the Michigan Wines.

I was amazed by the taste and quality of these wines. The Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling Old Mission Peninsula 2008 was my favorite , a semi dry crisp with apple and pear flavours, a well balanced wine!!

I told Alex I can't wait to try more of his Michigan wines!

Stop by Station Plaza to pick up your Michigan wine Today!!

The Saxum Story

Kevin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:53:45 +0000

It was Christmas Eve 2010 and the crew at Station Plaza was awaiting the magnum of Saxum James Berry Bone Rock 2006 that we were going to enjoy once the endless waves of customers slowed down. Christmas Eve is the busiest day (by customer count) in a retail wine shop and the customers seem to come in 5-10 at a time creating a bit of mayhem, but our customers are patient with us and always enjoy a taste of wine at the tasting bar while browsing around. So, things slowed just enough for us to open the bottle and pour it in to the decanter. How could we resist a small taste? The wine was big, full and tight as hell. We figured in 30-60 it will be ready so we popped a Krug to toast Christmas and a very busy year at SPW. The Krug was refreshing and super yeasty, the nose was like a fresh French baguette right out of the oven. The taste was sharp, crisp and refreshing at the same time – we enjoyed it. Another small wave of customers enters and some made it in for the rest of the Krug. Then it was back to the Saxum. It had a lot of lavender and liquorish but was not balanced and still wound up tighter than a Fort Knox. We decided to pour it back in the bottle and pop a valpolicella. I won’t say which one because it a disappointment, but it is a big name. So we were determined to have a nice bottle of red for Christmas Eve and I’m sure we did, but no one can remember what it was.

Two days later, on Sunday we open and start cleaning up from the Christmas rush and there it is, sitting on the tasting bar 85% full – The magnum of Saxum. We look at it and keep working until two good customers come in and ask what’s open at the tasting bar. It was snowing like crazy outside, Christmas was one day behind us and it was the perfect setting for a real good glass of red -- I figure why not and pour them a Saxum, THEY WERE BLOWN AWAY! So was I. This wine turned in to one of the best I have ever had over the last 40 hours. I kid you not ,the customers did not leave until the magnum was empty. There are a few bottles that you have and will always remember the time, place and company when you drank it and this is one of them for me.

Moral of the story, let big wines open, sometimes for more than a day.

My thoughts on Saxum: Justin and Heather Smith the owners and winemakers are rising stars and Saxum wine is going to become the next super hot Cult wine. The James Berry 2007 was the Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator and the 08’s are going to create just as much a buzz. Here’s a video of Justin Smith:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6W87TwaJos

Click Here is a list of the Saxum's we have for sale

Cheers,

Kevin

My Amazing Cult Wine Tastings 1

Pierre — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 01:48:38 +0000

The other day I had an amazing tasting (drinking). The place: Station Plaza's wine tasting bar. The wine tasters: Kevin, Miguel, me.

Here is the list of the beautiful cult wines:
- Sine Qua Non Pictures 2007
- Sine Qua Non Ode to E Grenache 2004
- Screaming Eagle 2007
- Screaming Eagle 2006 in an horizontal tasting with Stephanie 2006 from Hestan Vineyards

Pictures and Stephanie stood up amazingly! To be fair to the two other (much more expensive) wines, nothing has been decanted in advance. I would give at least 2 hours decanting to Ode To E Grenache and half a day to Screaming Eagle. Amazing wines, but if you don't have time to "prepare" them, fuggetaboutit!

That was about importance to drink the right wine at the right time…

Cheers!

Poc

Denio Opens a Bottle of Italian Champagne with a Sabre

Kevin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:24:04 +0000

Denio the" wine stud" opens a bottle of Italian Champagne with a sabre this time at the Station Plaza Wine Tasting Bar with instructions by Master Sommelier Gabriel Massa from the island of Capri. Gabriel sabres a Veuve Clicquot in the next video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVkSgAC4898

Salute!

Denio

Super Sexy Sorella Secco, Check out these Italian Bubbles!

Kevin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:01:38 +0000

All I can say is, “You gota try this Italian Bubbly!”

Ginevra Casa Smith stopped in to the Station Plaza Tasting Bar and made a real splash with her Italian Secco! We bought a ton and will be pouring it at the Tasting Bar for you to try!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=keqP_PWV8z4

Get you’re SECCO HERE

And the Rose:

Salute,

Kevin