$8,899,999 price
Custom 8900 sf home on approx. 1.7 acres.
Designed by Terry Kilbane, no expense was spared: The windows and doors are from Austria, the house boasts antique fireplaces, custom designer finishes, an elevator and a separate guest house.
Magnificent picturesque views showcase the Sedona Red rock Canyons.
Completed in 2006. Built by Phil Morris
Email me for more information.
A perfect second home ideally located near the Scottsdale Waterfront adjacent to the town of Paradise Valley. A rare opportunity to own the most popular floor-plan single level home in highly sought-after gated 7600 Lincoln. This updated home is light & bright w/an open split floor-plan, sitting in a prime location in the back of the community.
Enter thru the charming courtyard as you are greeted by wood floors, cozy fireplace, plantation shutters & walls of glass. The kitchen offers neutral clean line cabinetry,stainless appliances & center island w/seating,open to the family rm w/built ins & fireplace. 3 spacious bedrooms w/their own baths & neutral design.
The mstr bath boasts newer cottage style double vanities w/sep garden tub/shower. The lush rear grounds are an extension of the living room w/cantera stone patios, BBQ area & sparkling private spa. Community pool,spa & tennis…Move in ready!
Sitting atop a spectacular ridge with endless views over the Santa Ynez Valley is a stunning contemporary home designed by renowned architect Frederick Fisher. The entire structure is clad in corrugated Cor-Ten steel and is punctuated by vast expanses of glass to take advantage of the 360 degree views.
Situated on 20 acres in Santa Barbara wine country, this home was completed in 2006 and featured in Interior Design Magazine and is the 2007 AIA Design Award winning home.
It is a 6 bedroom 7,000 square foot residence with 5 full baths and 2 powder rooms. There is an additional 2,300 square feet of outdoor covered patio’s and walkway. It’s indoor/outdoor living at its very finest.
The massive front door opens to the expansive living room, dining room and kitchen. Grand in proportions, with high ceilings and large south facing sliding glass doors, this spectacular room is the center for gracious entertaining and relaxed dining. The counter tops in the kitchen and wine bar are made of grey Zodiac stone that complement the rift-sawn white oak plank floor. From the 60” Wolf range to separate Sub-Zero refrigerator, freezer, and Miele dishwasher, this kitchen is a true chef’s paradise. Every possible culinary appliance (Miele steam oven, Gaggenau deep fryer, Sharp carousel microwave, Dacor warming drawer and U-line under-counter refrigerator drawer) is within easy reach. A large walk-in pantry is just steps away. The living area features a floor to ceiling steel fireplace surrounding and a black granite hearth that faces out to the terrace and views beyond. Custom sliding glass pocket doors open to the terrace and shaded outdoor living areas.
From the main house, a hallway with views into the courtyard, leads down several steps to the Master bedroom. The room is on axis with the lap pool and therefore enjoys equally magnificent views. The Master suite is comprised of a glass walled luxurious master bath complete with an oversized ceramic tile double shower, traditional Japanese teak soaking tub and a striking hanging double mirror. Cabinets and floors sheathed in teak help create a sanctuary setting.
All heating, air conditioning, lighting, audio-video, pool, spa and security systems are electronically controlled through keypads or touch-panels. There is a detached guest house and a three-car garage with a workbench area. The whole compound is situated around a Zen garden that can be sealed off with steel gates.
The home and grounds are designed for minimal maintenance. Currently there is a gardener that comes once a week and no other staff. World renowned landscape architect George Girvin made use of native species to create a drought tolerant paradise of oaks, olives and grasses. There is a lookout area with fire pit and 360 degree views and there is a .4 mile hiking loop through a pristine valley of oaks, grass and wild flowers. The arrival to the home is punctuated by a circular cobblestone driveway, a bold modern sculpture and 9 ancient olive trees relocated from Napa Valley. At night the outdoor lighting is spectacular. This truly unique, modern masterpiece graces the landscape with its dramatic design and reflective soul, and is a striking example of the essence of subtle sophistication. Most of the furniture is available upon request.
Please contact me for more information or images.
$7,600,000
Because I can’t think about crisp summer wines without imagining a big hefty red with some of my evenings!
(Heck, any well priced vintage will be fabulous)
Clos Apalta from the Colchagua Valley, is always one of Chile (and the world’s) top wines. The 2008 was fantastic, but Wine Spectator was one of the rare pubs that gave it a lower score for ‘08 than ‘09, and the ‘08 now becomes an outstanding buy! Seek it out!!
It’s really got all the complexity a lover of big wine looks for. Think of the ’08 Clos Apalta as Heitz Martha’s Vineyard on steroids. Yet it’s beautifully crafted with elegance, layers of flavor, deep lush and incredibly intricate.
’08 Wine Enthusiast : 95 points and ‘Top 100 Wine of 2012 (#49), “[$90 list] Clos Apalta, depending on your point of view, is arguably Chile’s best wine. And this vintage is outstanding! Earth, minty spice, ripe berry, minerality and smoky aromas cover the bases. It’s superbly structured, with a fine texture and depth. Tastes lush and complex, with blackberry, crème de cassis, fine herbs and tobacco. Finishes classy. Drink now through 2016. Alcohol 14.2%. (Feb 2012)”
’08 Wine Spectator 92 points: “[$90 list] Fine-tuned and expressive, yet focused, this red has terrific display of dark, racy blackberry, boysenberry and braised fig flavors finely woven with spice, mesquite and cured olive hints. Silky tannins frame the long finish, with an aftertaste of fruit and mocha. Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink now through 2017. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. (2/29/12)”
’08 -Woodland Hills Wine Co., LA $69.95
’08- Zachy’s NY $70
Abeja is always one of my favorite American reds, making insanely good Merlot (which teaches Cab lovers not to sneer at great Merlot) and their standard bearing Cabernet Sauvignon. John Abbot is the man behind Abeja, and he is the man who made Canoe Ridge famous before this. Abeja is also an annual Best Buy, until it is reviewed, at which point it all sells out. For the cool 2010 harvest, ALL his best fruit went into this bottling…there was no Reserve Bottling.
The 2010 is truly unique, so seek it out before the reviews hit.
“The first aromas hit you with blackcurrant and blackberry, earthy notes of good clean soil, and barrel notes of smoke and oreo. When you get to the mid-palate, you’ll find it plump and pretty, with more dark fruit and minerals, cassis liqueur and dark chocolate shavings, and finishing with dry, ripe tannins that show mocha and English Breakfast tea.”
As is the norm with Abeja, the mouthfeel is transcendent. This is a silky wine that backs up the fruit with just enough tannin and acid to package it beautifully.
Right now:
Woodland Hills Wine Co., LA $41.95
K&L, CA $44.95
Do words like rich ripe fruit, tobacco, concentrated, cigar box, massive black berry fruit describe other wines you crave?
Then just look to the port houses for their blends, and pony up the money for the straight varietal bottling if you can afford the extra tab.
This is a blockbuster red. “Huge and rich, this offers ripe black fruits and a concentrated structure. It’s packed with a seemingly sweet blackberry flavor that serves as a counterpoint to the firm texture. With both density and a dark edge, this will age over several years.”
$19.99 Total Wine in Phoenix, LA etc…
If you’re in NYC, just suck it up and race to Zachy’s, where they have a smoking deal on the insanely good:
Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional Douro 2009…WS 95pts, #13 of the Wine Spectator Top 100, at Zachy’s for only $41.95.
Some Great buys in Summer Whites, with a few sneaking over here from Greece!
2012 Ken Forrester Petit Chenin, Stellenbosch
Ken is trying to provide maximum jobs in his community-which needs them, and still maintain a commitment to farming sustainably, while pruning and harvesting by hand. The result is some pretty great Chenin Blanc, and the Petite is a terrific summer quaffer and a great introduction to Chenin. Picked early, and bottled younger, it displays its crisp, fresh quince and pear drop flavors. Earlier picked freshness shows on the palate with crunchy green apple and grapefruit. Good mouth-feel and appetizingly tangy finish in this fresh and fruity style.
Sherry-Lehmann, NY $9.95
Wine House, LA $9.99
2012 Honig, Napa Sauvignon Blanc
Just classic easy drinking California Sauvignon Blanc. Fresh, zippy flavors with bright citrus, cut grass and dried herbs in the aromas and flavors, and a crisp aftertaste.
K&L $14.95
$14.95-$17 everywhere
Definitive New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, with nothing held back. A wonderful balance of brash lime, herb and tropical notes with melon and passionfruit.
(sugg. $18…but shop around and get it for $12)
Most Costco-$12-13…hard to beat for price and quality.
The good ones are expensive, the inexpensive can be bad. Try looking further afield…how about Greece? I love Kir Yanni’s whites, but the best bottlings are made in tiny amounts and stay in Greece. These whites from the Island of Santorini are subtler than Sauvignons, yet full of interest and complexity
It’s entirely from the “assyrtiko” grape, and crafted in 100% stainless steel tanks to maximize its clean zestiness. Yet it’s not a fruity wine, but full of savory flavors.
Hi-Time, Costa Mesa $22.95
Traino’s, NJ $19.99
Made mostly from the Assyrtiko grape, this crisp, citrusy blend includes the obscure Aidani grape and gets a floral hint from the inclusion of Athiri.
Chelsea Wine Vault, NY $15.99
K&L, CA $15.99
This Santorini wine is reminiscent of the sea and perfect with briny oysters and the like. Lots of savory flavors and herb notes to accompany a seafood lunch.
Sherry-Lehmann, NY $17.95
Lincoln Fine Wines, Venice CA $16.99
Phoenix Wine of Scottsdale $16.00
Young, but may become the best of this group if you are willing to give it a little cellar time. Dense yet not heavy, this tangy 100% Assyrtiko is pleasingly savory with a lemon-zest zing and chalky minerality.
Sherry-Lehmann, NY $22.95
K&L $20.99
Total Wine, $23.99
Rose, Txacoli, Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Albarino, Malvasia, Gavi, un-oaked Chardonnay, and don’t forget Soave, still inexpensive, now it’s good and a fabulous bargain. …next emails
Tasting the mature 2003 Owen Roe Dubrul Cabernet reminds me of just how fabulous and overlooked our American Syrah is. Generally more approachable and complex, with slightly softer tannins than their Cabernet rivals, these wines can be the best bang for the buck in rich domestic wines.
The nose on the 2011 Ex Umbris is pure intrigue. You can sit and inhale this for hours. In typical Owen Roe fashion it serves up loads of berries with vanilla cream, pie crust made with hints of cinnamon, brown sugar and spice, subtle wood notes, and dry powdered cocoa on the finish. Think of putting your nose over a big helping of crème brulee, caramelized and topped with juicy dark berries, and inhaling deeply. When you roll it around your mouth, it’s silky and sloshy and shows everything you expected plus more subtle pie spice notes, and that extra dark Scharffenberger chocolate finish. This is just great wine for the price. Fill your glass, and grab a piece of cheddar cheese, or roast a chicken with a little olive oil, lemon and oregano, and you are set.
“Ex Umbris et imaginibus in veritatem” (From shadows and symbols goes the truth). David named this wine inspired by the juxtaposition of the burnt fire-blackened Yakima Valley and the lush Syrah vines bordering that stark fire-damaged land. Years after the fire, the grapes still show that hint of smokiness.
All Syrah grapes for the Ex Umbris are sourced from the Columbia Valley:
77% from the Columbia Valley AVA
Including: 15% from the Lewis Vineyard, 24% from the Six Prong Vineyard, and 38% from the Erickson Vineyard
17.5% from the Yakima Valley AVA
Including: 11.5% from Red Willow Vineyard, and 6% from Outlook Vineyard
and 5.5% from Walla Walla AVA’s St Isidore Vineyard (The Source for Owen Roe’s Lady Rosa Syrah)
Find It:
2011 : $27.75 from Northwest-wine.com
2010 : $25.99 Wades Wines in Westlake Village, $28.99 from Total Wine on Camelback in Phoenix
Summer Rose should be crisp, interesting yet subtle, well balanced, with just the right amount of acid and tannin to show off food, and it should be affordable, while feeling fabulously exclusive, and reminding you of time with friends or expensive flings along the Med (or our own Coast!).
Enter Bodegas Muga. Their big reds can get into the stratospheric price range, but their Rose is a fabulous buy, if you can find it. Like the better known French rose, the grapes are grown specifically for this wine.
The 2012 Muga is fresh and very well-balanced with crisp grapefruit and nectarines, lovely strawberry and hints of peach, apricot, and woody bramble. This is an elegant Rioja rose with fabulous minerality, and subtlety, and an almost universal appeal for Rose lovers.
I encourage you to seek it out, and buy it by the multiple case lot. You will drink through it quickly this summer!
$10.99 Shopper’s Vineyard – Clifton, NJ
$14.99 Wally’s Wine & Spirits- LA
2809 Agoura Rd
Westlake Village
CA 91361
805-777-7747
It’s not on the menu, but order “Russel’s Nachos”, the owner’s namesake dish that the servers and kitchen know by heart. It is the perfect foil for a big, powerful red, made with grilled filet mignon, that is perfectly caramelized, with almost raw sweet onions and a mix of cheeses. Exactly what that big red demands. If you bring your own red, they have a reasonable corkage and good glasses. If you want one of Russel’s red stash, they have some key bargain buys in a big red, including the BV Tapestry Meritage or Hess Allomi Cabernet.
6316 N. Scottsdale Rd.
480-659-1800
Having been a little underwhelmed by Mia Francesca at DC Ranch, and hearing that the old Quilted Bear restaurant spot at Lincolnand Scottsdale was to be occupied by another of Francesca’s corporate concepts, I admit I wasn’t very excited to visit D’Avanti a week before their grand opening. I’m glad I was practically dragged inside, as it has become a go-to spot for reliable food.
I popped back in this week, craving two of my favorite staples: Truffled Egg Toast, and their Sea Urchin and Crab Linguine.
I first experienced Truffled Egg Toast a decade ago at James Denton’s Ino Café and Bar in Greenwich Village, and it is his creation, described in many cookbooks, that everyone copies. It is fabulous. I love it.
But James, these guys do it better. While Ino was resting on its laurels with their standard, D’Avanti decided that a much thicker piece of really great bread would be a better stage to showcase the players, and they were right. And, Ino is often heavy handed with the truffle oil, while so far, D’Avanti always gets it right. Who knew that a recipe consisting of a slice of grilled bread with the edges covered with melted Gruyere (or in this case Fontina), a depression for two just-cooked egg yolks, a drizzle of truffle oil before the stirring of those yolks, and a sprinkle of grilled asparagus bites, could lend itself to so many permutations. I’m just glad D’Avanti’s Peter DeRuvo gets it right. (as an aside…I also had the cauliflower and the pate…both winners and the pate is a key bargain buy).
The Riccio di Mare e Granchio is another of several standouts. For someone who used to sit on the dock in Santa Barbara watching friends come in with their urchin catch, this dish of linguine, sea urchin and crab is heaven sent. Chef DeRuvo hits a perfect balance to let the subtle notes shine through.
It’s not free, but the prices for these thoughtfully executed dishes, are low enough that I am surprised you can still get a seat for dinner. To top it off, the GM has great wine industry experience, and has a carefully selected list of great buys under $30, and some real standouts in the $40-50 range. Go ahead, ask for him, and ask him what he likes. On the rare occasion he isn’t there, and you want a great buy in a big red, order one of his Montepulciano picks. Of course they also have some crisp white gems and this time, a yummy rose sparkler. You can’t go wrong.
While tasting the latest bold 2011 Ex Umbris Syrah release from Owen Roe this weekend, I was lucky enough to savor the last of my Owen Roe Cabernet Sauvignon, Dubrul Vineyard ’03 from Yakima Valley in Washington. I was always asked how these wines would age, and it’s reassuring to say…stunningly! David O’Reilly is now well-known as a master grower and winemaker, by collector’s of Washington wine, thanks to his decade of awards. David had a great run of Cabernet from the DuBrul site, and those wines just keep getting better with age.
Owen Roe made about 100 cases from this small vineyard high up on the north side of the Yakima Valleywhere extreme heat and cold stress the grapes and produce tiny amounts of intensely concentrated fruit. I loved this wine shortly after it’s 2006 release (with at least one hour of decanting at the time), and it has put on fabulous weight and texture, with another 7 years of storage.
With this added maturity, the wine unfolds its flavors in waves. As you sip, you are washed over by distinct flavor notes, and when they recede, in minutes a new wave will come in with a bold, but different flavor. The volume of these distinct flavors is stunning. The wine shows absolutely precise and powerful notes of wood spice/cedar box, fresh roasted coffee, black currant, blackberry, herb and dusty cocoa, with saddle leather and a forest floor note. It is an absolutely massive wine, dark and opaque, but it comes across as elegant and nimble thanks to the near perfect acid balance, keeping it lively. The finish is long and harmonious, beautifully balanced, and concentrated. And I love looking at Owen Roe’s beautiful labels- just gorgeous, and yes- it did get better!