Poppy strives to offer consistently elegant, complex, wines that are accessible and affordable." Like California's golden poppies, "Poppy Partner's" vineyards are spread throughout the state's cool areas, for maximum quality and reliability. Poppy is a partnership between select growers and winemaker Eric Laumann.

This is definitely one of those brands that “fly under the radar”; finding information required some digging deep to find anything about the wine. What did we find? Well, winemaker Eric Laumann has three other brands in addition to Poppy; R2R (Rail 2Rail), Cambiata, and Ludwig Winery. This is the first vintage Eric has produced a Zinfandel under the Poppy label, but not his first using old vine Zinfandel fruit from Andy D’Arrigo out of Lodi. He has used the same vineyard to produce old vine Zinfandel for his R2R label, a label that represents the pushing limits in life while maintaining balance. The vines for this Poppy 2009 vintage are at least 45 years old. As with many Lodi Zins that we have experience, the wine has good concentration, while showing great restraint, balance, and elegance. This style of Zinfandel makes for a more versatile wine that can be paired with a variety of cuisines, such as grilled salmon, pasta, bbq chicken, and roasted meats.

Peter Brucher and his partners founded Golden Bear Vineyards in Napa Valley in 1978. A UC Berkeley alum, Peter named the Golden Bear label after the school's mascot, Oski. He later relocated the winery to the cooler climate of Santa Maria on California's Central Coast where he created his signature Brucher label.

The fruit for the ’09 Golden Bear White Riesling comes from the Addamo Vineyard located in the cool-climate region of the Santa Maria Valley. This wine produced in an “off-dry” style, indicating there is only a small amount of residual sugar. This crisp, refreshing wine carries across the palate with wonderful

weight, expressing bright citrus, honey and tropical notes. This is very versatile wine, exceptional with spicier cuisines.