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Oct 07th
Home arrow Food & Wine arrow Wine Report from the Fort arrow Little Boomey = big bargains
Little Boomey = big bargains PDF Print E-mail
Written by Fred McMillin, Northside Wine Editor   
Saturday, 31 December 2005
Little Boomey??? It’s a new brand from Australia that sells for $6 and taste like $15. Try the 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon or the Cab-Shiraz (Syrah) blend. My panel rated them at 84, which the Wine Spectator defines as “solid, well-made.” Note – Boomey is short for boomerang.

In Sonoma a typical acre of vines produces how many glasses of wine a year? Answer: 15,940 (equivalent to 44 glasses a day).

Get Smart! Take a Wine Class



Wine wiz Edgar Vogt of Wine Works and I have two City College classes at Fort Mason in February. We carefully design them for both beginners and intermediate level enthusiasts. They convene on Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m., always with 20 wines we haven’t tasted before.

They are:
    • Feb. 4th – Wine Basics
    • Feb. 11th – Taste the Terms (wines that have finesse, are angular, etc.)


Classes fill well in advance, so phone (415) 561-1860 if you want more information, or to enroll.

A Term of Endearment – P.S. I Love You (PSILY)



What’s this have to do with wine? Well, P.S. stands for the red wine varietal Petite Sirah, and 269 California producers have joined the burgeoning PSILY organization. For details, contact founder Ms. Jo Diaz at (707) 620-0788.

Postscript: Northside copy chief Max Millard (who also teaches cooking) recently tasted a number of wines from my classes. He reports that the best by far was the Bogle Winery’s ... PETITE SIRAH!

Desperate House Wines



Television’s Desperate Housewives had 24 million viewers a week last season. We don’t know how many folks drink house wines a week, but we do know that good restaurants select their house wines carefully. Those wines are also in the wine shops and almost always are excellent values. Here are a few of the popular labels.
    • Vendage
    • Sutter Home
    • Delicato
    • Fetzer


The white wines usually are chardonnays, the reds are syrah, merlot or cabernet sauvignon.

Our Wine of the Month



It’s better to switch than fight: A miracle occurred a few centuries ago in Bordeaux when that region alone gave rise to five noble red wine varieties, including merlot and cabernet sauvignon. The Flora Springs award-winning Trilogy has always used three of them. But for the first time, Trilogy (2002 vintage) contains all five. My tasters gave it a rousing 92, so this is our best wine of the month:

    •Flora Springs Trilogy, 2002, $60


About the 2005 Nouveau ... Has the King been Dethroned?



Georges Duboeuf has been the king of Beaujolais, including leading the annual ritual of the November release of the first wine of the year, the super-fruity Beaujolais Nouveau.

The alarm: However, the Wine Spectator reported, “Georges Duboeuf’s reputation is in limbo as a French prosecutor investigates” the authenticity of some of his wines.

Sound the all clear: It turns out that the problem did not involve the 2005 Nouveau. And sure enough, my panel found the 2005 had all the charm of past vintages. They gave it an 84 rating, which the same publication, the Spectator, defines as “solid, well-made.”

Conclusion: So the new Nouveau tells us the king still reigns.

Note: Since the wine is not made to age, about now some wine shops start clearing it at prices well under $10.

A Final Wine Smile



Through the years I’ve purchased my typewriters and copiers from San Francisco’s A2Z Company on Folsom Street. Manager Marc Simmet and I were discussing winery profitability. I told him Firestone Tire heir Brooks Firestone had started a winery and told me personally how to make a small fortune in the wine business: Start with a LARGE one!!!

Fred McMillin was voted one of the U.S.A.’s 22 best wine writers by the Academy of Wine Communications. If questions, phone him at (415) 563-5712.
Last Updated ( Monday, 27 November 2006 )