Happy Hour Wine Tasting featuring Palazzo Wines

Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me…

Vizzini, The Princess Bride (1987)

It takes a clever man to make great wines from difficult varietals like Cabernet Franc and Semillon and one of the smartest men in Napa Valley with these two varietals is Scott Palazzo.

I was blown away with all the wines the last time I tasted with Scott in 2018 and we have had everything that he makes in the store since that last visit but we have been following Scott’s handy work from day one and now we also have almost everything he makes in large format bottles as well because you can tell the wines that I really like we have them in large bottles. 

Today, we have a very special offer on the “Cuvee Blanc” which is almost 100% Semillon and this 2014 is the latest release!!  There are only 400 cases to go around of this unique white and we also have BIG bottles of this wine but the 750ml are 50% off their regular price- making this the DEAL of the WEEK at Wine Watch! 

After the success of this week’s Happy Hour tasting with our good friend Rob Sweeney we decided make these a regular event at the Wine Bar.  So, if you would like to come out and taste this Most Excellent white wine along with all the other wines from Palazzo Wines.  We have our second Happy Hour tasting on the schedule for Thursday, June 3rd where we will be showing all the current releases from this great Napa winery and we will have Scott Palazzo zoom in with us for a few minutes to tell us about the wines.

This tasting starts at 6pm and chef Toni will be making some appetizers to accompany the tasting wines.  The fee for this tasting is $55 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

Happy Hour Wine Tasting Featuring Palazzo Wines
with Special Guest Scott Palazzo
Thursday, June 3rd
6pm

2014 Palazzo Cuvee Blanc Napa White
Price: $69.00    Your Price: $35.00 (50% OFF!!)       Quantity in Stock: 123

2014 Palazzo Cuvee Blanc Napa White
Price: $159.00    Your Price: $139.92             Quantity in Stock: 5

The new vintage of PALAZZO 2014 Cuvee Blanc is once again inspired by the great Bordeaux Blancs of France . and is a 'beautifully balanced & elegant' food wine, made predominately from the wonderfully exotic & aromatic Semillon grape, with just a touch of Sauvignon Blanc blended in for 'finesse & structure'. The nose is 'floral & seductive' with intense tropical aromas of guava & passion fruit, hints of pear & pink grapefruit, with a touch of spearmint laced throughout. On the palate the wine is 'rich & opulent', with a broad oil texture & weight, that gives way to bright, zesty acidity, giving the wine a 'beautifully balance mouth-feel'! The finish is 'rich & weighty', complex and wonderfully long . especially for a white wine!   A 'Superior Food Wine' to be enjoyed!

Wine Watch Review:  A beautiful, candied quality to the nose, pineapple, quince and white apricot like fruit with notes of honeysuckle, acacia flowers and lemon curd, very complex and even better after being opened for 2 days!  Rich and creamy on the tongue with a luscious quality here with all that fruit from the bouquet coming through along with a firm hand of acidity, lovely richness and concentration but also nice freshness, this wine could age another decade in the cellar and needs to be decanted before serving for 2 hours, a long-layered finish that goes on and on.  Finish 50+  Most Excellent

2014 Palazzo Cabernet Franc Napa
Price: $103.50    Your Price: $91.08   Quantity in Stock: 12

The new PALAZZO 2014 Cabernet Franc is “Stunning & Elegantly Crafted”!!!  The nose has “Signature Cab Franc” floral tones of crushed violets & cassis, red & black cherries, and black raspberry fruit ... with just a hint of chocolate!  Displaying a velvety, heady, hedonistic mouthfeel … with soft supple tannins!

2013 Palazzo Cabernet Franc Napa Magnum
Price: $285.00    Your Price: $250.80             Quantity in Stock: 5

(97 Points) Another of the profound Cabernet Francs from Scott Palazzo, and to me, one of the two best he has made to date (the other being the 2007) is the 2013 Cabernet Franc. When I tasted it, it had only been in bottle about five weeks, but it was locked and loaded. Dense purple, with notes of forest floor, incense, violets, black cherries and black raspberries, some foresty notes are also present. The wine is full-bodied, opulent, with great acidity, vigor and delineation. This is a sensational example of Cabernet Franc and certainly one of the finest 100% Cabernet Franc cuvées money can buy from California. Drink it over the next 15-20 years. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2012 Palazzo Cabernet Franc Napa Magnum
Price: $202.50 Your Price: $178.20    Quantity in Stock: 1

(94 Points) The 2012 Cabernet Franc is a beautiful wine with the succulence of this vintage on display – supple tannins, a velvety, heady, hedonistic mouthfeel, and a fragrant, floral black raspberry and black cherry-scented nose with forest floor and floral notes. The wine has great fruit, medium to full body, and a silky finish. Drink it over the next decade.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2009 Palazzo Cabernet Franc Napa Magnum
Price: $202.50 Your Price: $178.20    Quantity in Stock: 5

(95 Points) The 2009 Cabernet Franc has gobs of black raspberries and spring flowers that give this wine a floral-infused, black fruit-scented nose. Full-bodied on the palate, the 2009 Cabernet Franc crop was reduced to half because of poor flowering, and that comes through in the wine’s intensely concentrated mouthfeel and extra gear of density and power. This is a beauty, still young at age six, but capable of lasting another two decades. This could actually jump in score over the next decade.  Issue Date, 27th Aug 2015.  Source -220, The Wine Advocate

2017 Palazzo Left Bank Red Cuvee Napa
Price: $48.75   Your Price: $42.90      Quantity in Stock: 11

Generous on the palate … with lots of rich & delicious Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon fruit! A delicious blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc! The PALAZZO 2017 ‘Left Bank’ Master Blend Red Cuvée is definitely a Crowd Pleaser for sure! Lush black-cherry & blackberry fruit on the nose and palate, along with hints of chocolate, coffee & cassis notes! It drinks beautifully now…and will continue to develop nicely over the next 10+ years! — Scott Palazzo | WINEMAKER

2016 Palazzo Left Bank Red Cuvee Napa
Price: $48.75   Your Price: $42.90      Quantity in Stock: 2

Wine Watch Review: This is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville and 25% Merlot from Carneros and 25% Cabernet Franc. This wine has a beautiful bouquet with dark currant and dark cherry berry fruit with dark coco and tobacco spice and some earthy notes lovely balance here. A nicely balanced wine with smooth tannins very drinkable with a good amount of fruit here but has lovely freshness and balance only 850 cases produced. The finish here is long and layered with lovely nuance on the finish. Finish 45+ A total production of 3000 cases. Excellent +

2014 Palazzo Right Bank Proprietary Red Reserve Napa
Price: $89.00   Your Price: $78.32      Quantity in Stock: 19

The new PALAZZO 2014 'Right Bank' RESERVE Proprietary Red Wine continues in the ‘style & legacy’ of the previous 12 vintages that have come before it!

The wine has exceptional character and beauty! Floral and intriguing on the nose, complex & rich with delicious layers of red cherry & blackberry fruit on the palate, and balanced throughout with good acidity, minerality & structure! In essence ... A Great Food Wine!

As always, Merlot makes up the lion’s share of the blend ... giving the wine its sheer power & strength, silky texture, and beautiful layers of rich cherry & blackberry fruit. The Cabernet Franc adds brightness, acidity and ‘floral notes’ to the wine. While the Cabernet Sauvignon adds structure & character ... with hints of dark chocolate, earth, minerality, and cocoa & espresso bean to the finish.

Our goal at PALAZZO WINE is, and always will be, to produce beautiful wines of out- standing quality, with distinction and class! Wines that are both ‘powerful & elegant’ and pair well with a broad range of foods! … Reminiscent of the style and quality of wines that come from the wonderful ‘Right Bank’ region of Bordeaux, France!

(93 Points) A blend of 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon raised in 40% new French oak, the deep purple-colored 2016 Red Blend Reserve gives up terrific notes of black raspberries, cassis, black cherries, cedary spice, and dried flowers. It's rich, medium to full-bodied, and incredibly elegant, with sweet tannins and a great finish. Drink this balanced, seamless blend over the coming 15 years or so.  Jeb Dunnuck

The PALAZZO 2009 'Right Bank' Proprietary Red Wine was the wine I first wanted to make. A wine with exceptional character & beauty - Floral and intriguing on the nose … complex and rich with delicious layers of fruit on the palate … and balanced throughout with good acid, minerality and structure. In essence … A Great Food Wine!

2014 Palazzo Proprietary Red Reserve Napa Magnum
Price: $195.00 Your Price: $171.60    Quantity in Stock: 3

When the “stars align” and everything during the growing season goes just right... and you are diligent in the vineyards, as well as throughout the picking & sorting process of the grapes... with a meticulous eye for detail & quality... then and only then is it possible to make Cabernet Franc at a “World-Class” level! With the delicacy and floral bouquet of violets & cassis, the complexity and balance of just the right amount of fruit & spice, and the opulent texture & mouthfeel of a beautifully bold, yet elegantly balanced Red Table Wine... know as Cabernet Franc!

2013 Palazzo Proprietary Red Reserve Magnum
Price: $175.00 Your Price: $154.00    Quantity in Stock: 1

(95+ Points)  A blend of 68% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine has beautifully fragrant, fresh earth, coffee, chocolate, blackberry and cassis notes, a brawny, vigorous, uplifting mouthfeel, a tightly coiled texture, and moderately intense but sweet tannin. The purity, freshness and vigor are all there.  Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

A bit about Palazzo Wines:

It began almost 30 years ago . . . a love affair with the wines produced from the Bordeaux region of France. Particularly, wines from the small, family-owned Chateaus that dot the rolling hillsides of the beautiful ‘Right Bank’ countryside. It is from here, that my inspiration came.

Finally, the chance to fulfill a life-long passion and dream of producing a wine of exceptional character and style, that would capture the ‘power and elegance’ of the wines I tasted and enjoyed as a young man living in France. In November 2005 that dream was realized . . . when I released my first vintage of PALAZZO Napa Valley Red Wine!

Like the great wines from the 'Right Bank' villages of St. Emilion and Pomerol in Bordeaux . . . Merlot makes up the lion share of PALAZZO Napa Valley Red Wine . . . giving the wine its sheer power & strength, silky texture and beautiful layers of rich cherry & black currant fruit. The Cabernet Franc adds a floral spiciness, acidity and brightness to the wine, with the Cabernet Sauvignon adding structure and deep dark fruit to the finish.

Our goal at PALAZZO is to make wines of outstanding quality, depth, balance and structure. . . that exhibit both ‘power and elegance’ on the palate. . . and that pair well with a broad range of foods. That will always be the standard! It is my hope, that my wine will bring laughter and enjoyment to people's lives . . . and zest and harmony to everyone's dining tables!