Weekly Wine News is is published every Tuesday evening. It contains wine news, opinion, and special sales info for our subscribers. Weekly Wine News is available by email or at our website, Schaefers.com, and it is also posted in our store.

 

 

We are very happy to announce the release of two wonderful and rare wines from Dunn Vineyards. Dunn Vineyards produces two labels, Howell Mountain and Napa Valley. Both wines are one hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon. They produce around 2500 cases of Howell Mountain and about 1500 cases of Napa Valley. The Howell Mountain wines consist of one hundred percent Howell Mountain fruit. The Napa Valley wines include up to 15% Napa Valley floor fruit with the remainder of the fruit coming from Howell Mountain. This floor fruit contributes to the wine's softer approach, even though the wines usually can be laid down for 15+ years.

 

The Dunn Howell Mountain 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon is priced at $109.97 and extremely limited. Robert Parker gives it 92-94 pts. And writes "Its dense blue/purple color is followed by a big, rich nose of cassis, blueberries, minerals, and flowers. Rich, full-bodied, and powerfully tannic, it is classic Dunn stuff."

Anticipated maturity: 2012-2030.

 

The Dunn Vineyards Napa 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, priced at $99.97, is also in extremely short supply. Mr. Parker scored this wine 90-92 pts. And said it "possesses deep, dark, primordial, blackberry and cassis fruit intermixed with notes of flowers and minerals. It is impressively built, rich, and intense with the gorgeous fruit purity evident in all the Dunn Cabernets."

Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020+.

Walt and Joan Flowers are living their dream by producing their favorite cool-climate varietals on their beautiful Sonoma Coast property. Their wines are regarded as a highlight to any fine restaurant wine list, and we are thrilled to see a small allocation come our way each year for our customers.

 

The Flowers Sonoma Coast 2005 Pinot Noir, specially priced at $44.97 has fresh fruit aromas of cherry and raspberry, followed by hints of violet, white pepper, mineral and spice aromatics. This wine has crispness with flavors of black cherry, raspberry and hints of lavender. Supple tannins. Drinking well now and over the next 4 years.

 

The Flowers Perennial 2005, priced at $37.97, is an equally exciting and rare release. It is a blend of 85% Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, 13% Syrah and 1% each Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Expect mouth filling flavors of earth and plum. The winemaker promises this to be the most seamless perennial to date. That means a smooth texture followed by a well-balanced tannin and acidity profile.

 

Please contact us this week with your requests and we will do our best to divide this treasure up fairly.

Goldeneye Winery is part of the collection of small winery estates owned by Duckhorn Wine Company focused on site-specific wines of distinction from the Napa and Anderson valleys. The Goldeneye Anderson Valley 2004 Pinot Noir (intro-priced at $59.97) became a collector's hit since Wine Spectator rated this bottling an "Outstanding 91 points" and placed Goldeneye at the top of their Pinot Report (4/10/2007). The review says, "This wine exhibits dusty berry, cola and wild raspberry flavors in a complex, well-focused style. Ripe and tannic, it finishes with nice fruit and tannin traction. Drink now through 2011."

 

We will be allocated a small amount of this fine wine. If you will contact us right away with your request, we will distribute this wine to as many people as possible, next week.

Join us on Thursday, May 3 for a class on the wines of Northern Italy. Some of Italy's most famous white and red wines come from the northern regions of Piedmont, Alto Adige, Friuli and Veneto. Among the wines we'll try this evening will be Pieropan Soave Classico, Amarone from Cesari, Vietti Barbera as well as a Barbaresco and a sparkling wine from the Franciacorta area. We'll finish the class with one of Italy's most delightful dessert wines, Saracco Moscato d'Asti.

 

The price of the class is $45 per person, which includes handouts as well as a bit of food. The class will be taught by Italian wine authority and former Schaefer's employee, Tom Hyland. He has made 30 trips to Italy, visiting regions throughout the country and has written articles on these wines for publications in America, England and Australia.

 

To enroll for the class, do not contact Schaefer's. Contact Tom Hyland at thwinewriter@comcast.net or by phone at (773) 293-6790. Seating is limited, so contact Tom as soon as possible to ensure your place in this class.

Join us for two special events featuring the delicious Champagnes of Laurent-Perrier in two equally wonderful venues! 

Legal wine shipments to consumers in Illinois are threatened. We have learned that the Illinois House of Representatives is about to bring to the floor of the General Assembly a bill that will make it illegal for you to buy wine from out-of-state wine retailers. Why do we care about this if we're an in-state retailer? Because one of the provisions of HB 429 is in conflict with the position the U.S. Supreme Court took in 2005 (Granholm v. Heald) that stated the playing field for commerce in wine must be level for both in-state and out-of-state companies. HB 429 does not propose a level field, as in-state retailers would be able to ship, but out-of-state retailers would not be able to ship wine to Illinois consumers. One outcome of this inequity might be that the General Assembly would outlaw all wine shipments within the state of Illinois made by all retailers. Please visit our web site for more information on how you can contact your Representative to help kill this bill.

 

 

That's all for this week. If we may be of any further service, please stop by our store at 9965 Gross Point Road in Skokie (for directions, click here), visit our website at http://www.schaefers.com, give us a call at 847-677-WINE (9463), 800-833-WINE (9463), or click here to contact us.