• "Wine of the Week"
• Cabernets and Blends
• Merlots and Syrahs
• Other Reds
• White Wines
• Miscellaneous

Rob's "Wine of the Week"

Updated September 2nd, 2008

Each week I will highlight a newly released wine that should be available at your favorite beverage store. This way, if the wine is good, you can rush out and buy it, and if it stinks, you'll know to avoid it!

If there's a new wine you'd like me to try, send me a bottle for free and I'll be happy to review it…but remember, I'm honest and will tell people if the wine sucks my ass.

The scoring is simple. I use a 5 vine scale...

0-1 Vines: Bad stuff, don't drink ever

2 Vines: Drinkable. You can cook with it and feed it to friends who don't know wine

3 Vines: A good wine. If it cost $10 and gets three vines, it's a great value and a good "daily" wine.

4 Vines: Excellent wine, meant for those of us who truly enjoy good wines. A Saturday night wine.

5 Vines: The best there is. A top scorer, and one to be savored and saved. Drink only to celebrate weddings, promotions, divorces and the death of Usama.

So here is my wine review for the week of September 2nd...

PETRONI VINEYARDS 2003 BRUNELLO DI SONOMA

Description: Brunello is a coveted and somewhat rare red wine made famous and delicious in Italy, most notably, a small commune in the Tuscany region. When made properly, Brunello is a big red wine with strong fruit flavors best defined as complex, powerful and filled with finesse. Shocking to most Americans, the Brunello is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes. In America, Sangiovese is almost always wimpy and lame, but made in a great Brunello, the grape shines and delivers a powerful, flavorful wine.

The Petroni Vineyards is owned and operated by the co-owner of the infamous North Beach restaurant in San Francisco, Lorenzo Petroni. He makes a half dozen wines, but the Brunello is his baby.

How and when I drank it: Wednesday afternoon August 27th at North Beach Restaurant in San Francisco, CA.

How to get it: Petroni sells their wines on their website, at their winery in Sonoma via appointment, and at the North Beach Restaurant.

How Much: At North Beach, the Brunello costs $22 per glass. The bottle is $65 from the winery.

My Thoughts: This is an exceptional wine that will appeal to almost any red wine lover. For those who prefer lighter, more fruity reds, this wine offers a glorious strawberry nose and initial flavor, along with a lush full body that sits beautifully on the tongue. For those who like red wines big and bold, the finish on this wine offers light hints of vanilla and cola and leather, but with a perfectly balanced end. While the winery describes the finish as “dry,” I disagree and find it to be a wonderfully flavorful, creamy finish with no bite.

Overall Score: Once per year I will have a bottle of Sangiovese and remind myself that the grape never seems to live up to its’ potential. This wine changes all of that and allows the grape to shine. A wonderful wine to serve to a variety of red wine lovers. 5 vines.

PETRONI VINEYARDS 2003 BRUNELLO DI SONOMA =