Dan Fredman

Chef Sommelier World of Pinot Noir

9.7

If you look up the word "sublime"in the dictionary, you'll see a photo of this bottle. In such a perfect place right now, fully integrated, stony satin, lemon butter, white flowers. Hammers home all the reasons to maintain a wine cellar. — 11 years ago

Brian Monks

9.8

🇺🇸there's no place like home. #samadams — 12 years ago

Ann Sells

8.9

This great wine and a haunted old Odd Fellows orphanage and retirement home to boot. This winery was at a very unique location and the vineyard owner was really interesting to talk with. Apparently you can also find him and this place on a recent episode of Ghost Stories! — 12 years ago

Mike Fuchs

9.3

The second to last tasting of our trip was at a little place in a "strip mall" in Sonoma. The Pinonwas incredible, and this was the last wine I purchased to complete my case of 12 bottles I shipped home. — 13 years ago

Richard Steinberg

9.4

Realm in mag is such a home run. Great place for this wine — 11 years ago

James Hall

Winemaker/Founder Patz & Hall

9.7

Meaty, spicy, complex leather, dried rose petal, spice box, Forrest floor, pine needle, mushrooms, seared beacon. Effortless flowing tannins glide and coat. Dry and delicate, persistent, elegant. Seems to capture that place between youthful and aged. Well along in age but not tired in the least. — 12 years ago

Antonio Favela

9.1

Wine is in a nice place. A fun blend at 58%zin/40%carignane, a smidge of petite sirah at 2% and favorable 13.7% ABV. Sadly my last bottle but worth the wait. Easy floral nose and vanilla flavors complementing the soft carmelized finish from the generous amount of carignane. Big hit with varied dinner group over tri tip and grilled veggies. — 13 years ago

Bryant Bickel

9.4

The usually tight tannic punch has faded and melded with the usual Washington velvet, a dark abyss of blackberry, plum, black cherry, it's in a nice place, I honestly wanted the kick in the mouth, but it's more elegant than you would expect. And I'm okay with buying her dinner, cause she delivers! She wore the long dress, thought I'd be looking at a short skirt, but this long dress is taking me home, thanks! She got feisty after she opened up & she delivers impressed! Give it 1hr and she will sing in your ear! — 12 years ago

Liz O'Neal

8.9

Smooth, drinkable - would pair well with anything. Had with a wonderful Italian meal.

Ruby wine club notes: The Cavallotto family claims sole ownership of the beautiful Bricco Boschis cru in the Castiglione Falletto district (also home to Azelia), where they have been growing Nebbiolo since 1929 and bottling their own wine since 1948. These richly structured wines place emphasis on elegance and longevity, attributable to excellent vineyards in the Bricco Boschis and Vignolo crus and traditional long maturation periods in large Slovenian-oak casks. After meeting and tasting with Winemaker and owner Alfio Cavallotto, I was incredibly impressed with his wines and thought his Dolcetto was one of the best I had tasted all year. This wine offers the crunchy red fruits for which Dolcetto is known for, with an element of licorice, and sandalwood. This Impressive effort will pair with just about anything, but it is highly fashionable with pasta and grilled meats. — 12 years ago

with Tyler

Joe Carroll

Owner/Wine Director Spuyten Duyvil, Fette Sau, St. Anselm & Gotham Artisanal Provisions

9.5

Jean Van Roy's amazing story of Zwanze 2013. When we started renovation works in the cellars of the brewery two years ago, much to our surprise we came upon the remains of some very old walls. In agreement with the medievalists of the city of Brussels, the works were stopped in order to allow archaeological excavations to take place.

Shortly thereafter we were astonished to find out that Cantillon brewery had in fact been built on the ruins of the very ancient Abbey of Cureghem! According to the medievalists, this religious community was well-known during the middle ages for its fowl fed on draff and, more specifically, for its dish of stuffed Cureghem capon, which was served with a beer brewed at the abbey and apparently drew pilgrims from all over Europe.

Yet it was truly a heavenly surprise when the excavations uncovered the cell of the abbot, Father Faro. In the small room the archaeologists found quite a few old reference books, one of which contained the original recipes for the beers brewed at the abbey several hundred years ago. We didn’t hesitate for a second and decided on the spot to recreate one of these mythical beers.

This beer, which will be our Zwanze for 2013, therefore bears the name of its illustrious place of origin, Abbaye de Cureghem (Cureghem Abbey). Cureghem was formerly a village established many centuries ago on the banks of the Senne, the river running through present-day Brussels. The area was very heavily industrialised during the 19th century and, among other things, became home to many breweries. Today, it is part of the municipality of Anderlecht.

Since beers commonly referred to as “abbey beers” are not, or not any longer, products of spontaneous fermentation, we decided to brew a top fermentation beer, from a technical point of view in any case. The yeasts were selected in collaboration with Institut Meurice, a post-secondary college in Brussels specialising in biotechnology. Brewed in March 2012, our “Cureghem” beer fermented four weeks in stainless steel tanks before being blended with 10% lambic and pumped into 400-litre barrels of various origins. After maturing for six months, the beers were blended and put into casks or bottles to undergo re-fermentation and reach 7.2% ABV (Alcohol by Volume).

Inevitably, a top fermentation beer brewed in a spontaneous fermentation environment will be affected by the wild yeasts in the air, and this is certainly what happened in our case. For our Cureghem, the cultured yeasts were clearly the main factor behind primary fermentation and I think that the wild yeasts in the beer will instead play an increasingly important role as the product ages. However, despite the addition of the lambic to give it a little “extra something” in terms of character and ageing characteristics, this Zwanze cannot in any case be considered a spontaneous fermentation beer.

The long fermentation period coupled with the presence of wild yeasts lends this beer a solid character with a dry finish that lingers on the palate, while the combined use of fresh and aged hops yields both freshness and bitterness. Moreover, the different malts used give this year’s Zwanze a coppery colour along with a touch of caramel and candied fruit that provide body. Clearly, this is not your standard “abbey” beer but, perhaps, it is representative of what these beers were one or two hundred years ago — 13 years ago