We happy that Bernard, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Bernard writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Bernard writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Bernard's notes from June 2, 1998:

87 Dunn Howell Mt. Cab--Very dark purple. Leather, iron, earth, blackberry, plum fruit. Minty nose. Fine tannins. Cassis. Opened up nicely over 2 hours. Complex, fine finish. 93

92 Beringer PR Cab--Very deep, rich. Very fine, intense. I've reported TNs on this wine at least twice before, and this is consistent with my other experiences. Really top notch cab, it's still a few years from peaking and should hold in top form for at least another decade. 94

92 Rosenthal Cab (Malibu)--The bottle was moderately corked, but not so much that you couldn't drink the wine. Some mintiness, mercaptan aromas.  A bit medicinal in the mouth, but not bad. No rating because of condition.  I'll have to open another bottle soon to see whether it's endemic. It's always a bit embarassing when the bottle you bring to a tasting is off.

96 Fritz Late Harvest Zin--Rather pruny. I didn't take any other notes.  I wasn't real impressed compared to great late harvest zin like the 92(?) produced by Santa Barbara Winery. It's a tough niche to excel in, so I never expect much from the genre. Personally, I prefer the regular Zins, the sauvignon blancs and the chards from Fritz.