Matthias Roblin’s first commercial vintage was 2000. In 2006 his younger brother, Emile, joined him, and now these two work alongside their father, who, with their uncle, used to manage the production at Château de Maimbray until 2010 when those two brothers retired. The boys represent the fourth generation of Roblins to make wine in Maimbray, a tiny hamlet of Sury-en-Vaux just north of the old walled, hill-top town of Sancerre. The “château” is the Roblin family household ,a stately stone building, but a far cry from the elaborate chateaus up and down the Médoc Peninsula.

Matthias and Emile’s vines grow on the hillsides of Maimbray and Sury-en-Vaux in the northern sector of Sancerre. This zone is known for its terres blanches or Kimmeridgian Marls—white soils

made of clay and marl and stones on top of Kimmeridgian limestone, and make for pointed, powerful wines that need a couple of years in bottle to show best . The brothers have 14 hectares (35 acres) in Sauvignon Blanc and 2.5 (6 acres) in Pinot Noir. Matthias and Emile have been steadily upgrading their cellar and now are able to work with gravity to move their wine during the fermentation process.

From vineyards around the tiny village of Maimbray, north of Sancerre the Roblins’ 2009 Sancerre displays brash aromas of fresh lemon and grapefruit that set the stage for a highly refreshing, bright mouthful and finish. High-toned suggestions of thyme and mint along with echoes of crushed stone add to the slightly aggressive pungency of this attractively lean, long Sancerre.

O'Neill Vineyards started out as a 20 acre experiment on the eastside of Paso Robles in 1982. Today the estate vineyards consist of 150 acres planted with nine varieties. O'Neill Vineyards has always been family owned and operated, dedicated to producing only the highest quality fruit for their wines and those who buy their fruit. The Maloy O'Neill wines are well-known for their big, bold, rich and extracted style that have earned them a multitude of awards and reputable scores from the critics.

For those of you who are not familiar with Lagrein, it is a dark extracted grape from Trentino-Alto Adige in northern Italy. It is also used to make Rose. This varietal is very rare in California only being produced by a few vineyards. The famous French Camp Vineyard in Shandon, California is the only producer in this area supplying just a handful of wineries with this unique grape. By itself it makes a dark, extracted, very tannic, mineral-like wine.

In the glass the 2007 Lagrein is a deep ruby red tending towards purple. Aromas of blackcurrant, sweet pea, earth and minerals (graphite) are in the forefront, with fragrant spice (black licorice and anise), leather and coco also rounding out this big wine. Tasting the Lagrein reveals wonderful flavors of black currant, black cherry and black plum, earth, tar, and spice. The tannins are very pronounced but integrated well into the fruit. The backbone of this wine is its balanced acidity that leads into a seamless finish which accentuates the spice of this wonderful rare grape.

Proprietor Ken Volk has been making Santa Barbara and Central Coast wines for more than a quarter century. Perhaps best known as the founder of Wild Horse Winery, Ken has earned a reputation for crafting world-class wines, particularly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Santa Maria Valley, as well as his line of “heirloom” varieties. In 2003, he sold Wild Horse Winery & Vineyards to Peak Wines International, a division of Jim Beam Brands Worldwide. In December of 2004, Ken purchased the "Original" Byron Winery facility from the Robert Mondavi

Corporation and renamed the property Kenneth Volk Vineyards. In 2006 the first wines were released.

The 2007 Santa Maria Cuvee Pinot Noir is a showcase blend of some of the finest vineyards of Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara's Santa Maria Valley. Pinot Noir from the Bien Nacido, Garey Ranch, Nielson, Sierra Madre and Solomon Hill Vineyards were used in the production of this wine.

The 2007 vintage was greatly influenced by the "La Nina" drought conditions of the 2007 rain season. From July 2006 to July 2007 their estate vineyard in Santa Maria only received 4.7 inches of rainfall. Although all of these vineyards were supplemented with water from drip irrigation lines, the meager rainfall of 2007 had a profound impact on vine physiology. The drought conditions influenced early bud beak, a long growing season, short shoot length and density of canopy growth, low botrytis rot pressure, and smaller berry size and cluster weights. The small berry size had the most positive impact on wine quality. The greater skin to juice ratio increased extraction of color, flavor and skin tannin of the wine vintage.

Every vineyard was hand harvested with each vineyard block, clone and fermentation method, barreled and aged separately. This meticulous handling resulted in more than 40 separate lots of Pinot Noir from the Santa Maria Valley vineyards. The reasoning in handling the lots in this manner is to be able to properly evaluate vineyard blocks, clones, harvest maturity, fermentation techniques and cooperages impact on perceived wine quality.

The majority of the lots were aged in a combination of French and Hungarian oak cooperage. Twenty-five percent was new, twenty percent one year old, twenty percent two-to-three year old, and thirty-five percent four-to-five year old barrels were used for aging this wine for ten months. Each vineyard lot and barrel was evaluated and numerous blending trials were performed. Evaluations were made for both the Santa Maria Cuvee as well as for individual vineyard lot bottling which would be bottled after further barrel aging.

The finished blend is deeply pigmented purple, displaying aromas of Asian spice and ripe berry precede flavors of black cherry, blueberry, plum and strawberry. Bright acidity and fine grain tannins are complimented by a long creamy lactic finish.