News & Reviews

1 Wine Dude

Hey, remember the recent Wine Bloggers Conference? Not that I haven't mentioned
it a gazillion times or anything.

Anyway... one of the more interesting
experiments conducted on both bloggers and winery representatives was on day one
of said conference, when we played a very large game of wine review "speed
dating."

In summary: bloggers were seated in a large conference room,
about eight or so to a table; winery reps. rotated at set intervals between each
table; each set of reps. had 5 minutes to present their wine to the blogger
group, who then tasted and had 1 minute to record their thoughts on said wine,
all live.
More
on the conference and the "speed dating" can be heard on
WineBizRadio.com.

As you might imagine, it was a bit of organized chaos. In my live
recap of the event, I basically had enough time to record gut reactions on
each wine, and little else. Not that it wasn't fun, it just wasn't an ideal
environment to really get to know any of the wines that were
presented.

Which is why when I was offered a second chance to re-sample
one of the producers represented at that speed dating event, I jumped at
it.

Sean Minor
Wines is a (very) small family outfit in Napa, making Cabernet Sauvignon
and Merlot, as well as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (the latter two under the
4 Bears label), all of them under
$20.

The backdrop story on 4 Bears (which I managed to capture in my brief
speed-dating encounter during the WBC), is that Sean Minor and wife Nicole
decided to create their winery after analyzing their finances and discovering
that their second largest monthly expense was (you guessed it) wine (presumably, with four children - after
whom the 4 Bears label takes it name - their largest expense was the
kids?).

According to their press release:

Rather than taking his start-up capital and investing it in the
bricks and mortar of a winery, Minor decided to build his business as a
negociant by sourcing out grapes and some already fermented wines from Napa
Valley, Sonoma County and California Central Coast appellations to create his
wines. The wines themselves are made in a leased facility in Napa County where
Minor ages, blends and bottles the wine under the Sean Minor label. “As a
negociant I’ve been able to really center our efforts on making a top-quality
wine,” said Minor. “My efforts are spent creating impeccable tasting wine and
personally introducing it to people throughout the
country.”

During the WBC speed-dating, I managed to capture this
about their `06 Cabernet:

Four Bears - one guy and his
wife are the total staff, who started making wine (via co-op) to offset their
growing wine drinking budget! My kind of folks... 06 Cab Sauv. $17 (Napa
Valley). Very accessible, but not without depth (the cedar element is a nice
touch).

I guess the self-made family thing really struck a chord
for me. Anyway, from what I recalled of the day, the wine was good, priced to
move, and was more than just a one-trick-pony.

So...how do their wines
stand up outside of the heated excitement of wine speed-dating?

Pretty
well, it turns out.

At their best (as in the case of the Cab.), the wines offer a depth
that I would consider slightly beyond their price point, making them a very good
value. At worst, the wines are still very tasty and certainly priced fairly,
really only lacking in the length of finish and the simplicity of their
secondary aromas; otherwise, the fruit is all California and they deliver
appropriately.

My mini-reviews on each of the 4
Bears wines:

06
Sean Minor 4
Bears Merlot (Napa Valley): No mistaking it's from CA. A very good
buy, especially if you like plums, plums & more plums.

05 4 Bears Chardonnay (Central Coast, CA):
Tropical fruits balance with good oak, but you need to like butter (if so,
you'll like the price)

06 4 Bears
Sauvignon Blanc (Sonoma County): Lime & tropic fruits abound. Good
acidity & mouthfeel, & surprising finesse for the price point.

06 Sean Minor 4 Bears Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa
Valley): Red fruit & a little cedar/spice, & good acidity
with refreshingly lower abv for CA!


For more happenings at 4 Bears,
check out their blog at www.4bearswinery.com/blog. I will
leave you with a shot of my own assistant "bear" sommelier:


Cheers!


read full article >>