jflorez

Joe is an Information Technology professional working in the San Francisco bay area. A third generation native Californian who was born and raised in the Monterey Bay area, and who now calls San Jose his home with his wife, 10 year old son, two dogs (Rusty and Titan) and Mookie, his 13 year old cat.

While Joe loves a good bottle of wine, you'll never find him trying to impress anyone by what he has learned and continues to learn about the wonderful world of wines.

Joe will be making wine this fall with three good friends, through Crushpad (http://www.crushpadwine.com) in San Francisco: a Northern Rhone style Syrah (Syrah/Viogner blend) using grapes sourced from the White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara County. With recent bud break on the vines, Joe can't wait for harvest in the fall.

What I think...

A fair restaurant corkage fee is:

still a mystery to me.

My wine travels have taken me to the following wine regions:

Santa Barbara, Paso, Santa Lucia (Monterey County), Napa, Sonoma, Lodi ( I need to get up to Washington and Oregon, and EU for that matter).

What I think of the movie Sideways:

Popularized Pinot and the AVA in particular, but I think a lot of not so great Pinot hit the market to capitalize on the surge in attention and rise in Pinot sales.

My "wish list" of wines I want to acquire soon:

E. Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline,

My biggest wine pet peeve:

is that I can't drink it as often as I'd like. :-)

A tell-tale sign of a wine snob is:

Someone who goes on and on and never seems to say if they actually like the wine beyond sniffing, swirling, tasting and spitting.

The wine region I most want to visit:

Northern Rhone, France.

The people with whom I most often enjoy wine:

Friends and family

The best wines I have ever tasted:

hrmmm...I'll tell you when I have tasted more. :-)

My dream wine to one day taste or own:

2003 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie La Landonne. I tasted this wine recently and it was absolutely, and without question, the best wine I have ever tasted - complex structure, bouquet and finish with the most significant earthy, mineral flavor of the regional terroir throughout. Just amazing.

My favorite wine quote:

I don't have a favorite

The last wine I had that I absolutely loved:

2005 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie Cuvee Classique

My thoughts on the 100 point rating scale made famous by Robert Parker and emulated by seemingly everyone:

We need a scale for reference - in the end it's a guide and nothing more. Taste is subjective. If you like it, drink it.

My Wine Tools

Social Features

Featured Users

Poll

What I think...

History

My Wine Cellar

My Tasting Notes