On Oct 21, 9:27 am, CL <flot...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> mtfes...@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:
> > Declan Murphy <declan_mur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> California's famous for Pinots and Zinfandels, but I prefer Cabs and
> >>> especially Merlots.
>
> >> Any particular recommendations for Zinfandels or Merlot that would
> >> probably be available in a high end retailer in Japan? I'm going into
> >> Nagoya this Friday and thinking of snooping around a bit. The American
> >> wines are becoming cheaper, but I don't know the brands or regions
> >> well enough to want to risk stocking Zig Zag's cellar with them just
> >> yet.
>
> > We actually have some very good cheap wines here; a "2 buck Chuck" won
> > the Cal State Fair Wine competition (for the Chardonnay), but I suspect
> > Japanese won't import too many $2 US wines :-)
>
> > I've always like Clos du Bois wines, especially Merlots and Cabs, but
> > Zin' and Pinots are good too.
>
> > Here's a decent guide to some Merlots
>
> >http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/27/FDJL19P9C...
>
> > It's the SF Chronicle website, so if you search around, you'll find a lot
> > more articles on wine archived. There's a link of the above page to some
> > Zinfandel recommendations.
>
> Anything from the "real" Mondavi wineries, particularly Zinfandels and
> Pinots.  Several years ago (2002? 2003?) the Mondavi family sold the
> family name and company to some "investment consortium" which promptly
> began turning out second-rate plonk at a price.  They sued and reached
> accord to take back the Robert Mondavi label and to have unrestricted
> rights to the high-end market.  I still think that the _true_ Robert
> Mondavi reds are some of the best on the planet, particularly anything
> Napa Valley and Zinfandel.  The "faux" stuff retails for circa Yen
> 997~1,497 at Besia / Cainz Home and Besuto Rika (I /think/ Suntory is
> the importer) the real stuff starts at around Yen 3,500.  Check the
> labels carefully.

Thanks. I bought 2 Robert Mondavi bottles yesterday at Meidi-ya (a
pinot noir and a zindanfels). Including the tax these were 2539 yen
each - so in theory at least my first sip of sepponian wine shouldn't
be too bad :-)

A friend recommended that I look into the following:
Kendall Jackson, Ravenswood, Rombauer, Wall Cellars, Concha y Toro

Any suggestions or recommendations please?