Hello all! It has been a while since anything has been added to the front page of the site, and for that we at Dunn Wines apologize.

This is Joe, Pat’s wine rep, by the way. We have a lot of new wines in, some repeats and some totally new to us! If you have the time, feel free to look over our updated domestic and European wines! Out of Italy, wines have been added to the Sasa portfolio, which are drinking wonderfully, by the way! There are some newly added wines by Angels Landing, as well as Some from Victor Hugo.

There are a few interesting wine dinners coming up. The fist I would like to mention, is the Hugo dinner at Tek-Nique Restaurant, located in Bedford, NH. Please feel free to give them a call to schedule a seat as seats will fill up fast!

We are currently working on a couple of dates for wine dinners featuring Joe Donelan, of Donelan Family wines. You can check our Events section for specifics on those. They are currently up in the air at the moment, but so far, we are penciled in at CR’s Restaurant. We will keep you up to date as that gets closer.

Thank you, and will post again soon with further updates!

Joe McCarthy.

Busy week.

Monday Sasa wine dinner Bonta.  Fabulous food, wine and people.

Tuesday Sasa wine dinner Unums.  Ditto.

Wednesday Grand opening and vast tasting at Cava de Vino in Nashua. Excellent wines (14 varieties) and about 100 people.  Great turnout.  Great concept of in home wine tastings.  Let the experts at Cava de Vino come into your home and taste with you and your friends and teach you about wine.

Thursday Grand Finale!!!!  Easter Seals.  Bellman room and main room.  Lots of work but lots of fun.  I am very fortunate to have Tom and Joyce  Davis, John Sterling,  and Arte and Nance Kaufman to help me.  Without them I could never do this event. It’s good to such  great and knowledgeable friends.

Friday  note to self  wring out liver (extensively)

Upcoming Valentines Day Tasting Abbey Cellars Lincoln 4-6:30

2/14 Dinner at BYOB spot with 9 people (so far) wines will be spectacular That will definitely warrant a what I drank last night……

Please say a prayer for Tony Sasa’s wife Laura.  She is ill so Tony could not join us this year.

Happy St Paddy’s Day!  Started off with corned beef and cabbage at Ricky Hall’s Country Spirit in Henniker with one of my 13 wines on his exceptional wine. Today it was an 05 Ladera Howell Mt pairing perfectly with the eggs, Irish ham, and corned beef (ok it may have been a little over the top but what the heck “It’s St Paddy’s Day!”)  Tim to go home to move into an 05 San Roman Tempranillo.  95 pt 14th on top 100 from the Enthusiast.  I know why.  Rich, ripe, and succulent.  had to crack some cheeses to go with it.  Way to big to drink without food.   Moved up to an 04 Ladera Howell Mt. (sound familiar?)for dinner but this time had Daddy D’s Mac and Cheese and the last of a roast ham.  Pinot might have been better but the Cab and cheese went perfectly.  The 04 is a little softer than the 05 but still an exceptional bottle.   Going backwards on the weekend we drank an 06 Ladera Lone Canyon (now Harlan Estates-purchased by Bill H. in 08-now the Lone Canyon is Harlan Estates at $500.00 a bottle. Yikes!)   Much smoother then the Howell Mt. but an exceptionally well made wine with rich dark fruit up front and a gloriously long finish.  We took an06  Tony Sasa Barolo and an 05 Sasa Martina Brunello to dinner at Woodwards for their famous prime rib.  The acids and tannins of the Barolo both stood up to the rich beef flavor with the Brunello a little softer and a little more fruit as a followup to the Barolo.  Steve Woodward is the perfect host and runs an always interesting operation.  The stories and the people never are never dull and the pictures of the area, dogs, and wildlife are world class.  Back to the pool room with the boys.  Pulled out an old favorite Robert Stemmler Nugent Russian River Pinot 04.  There is an elegant old (for California) Pinot.  Surprising fruit forward but had the sweetness and “baby’s feet” aroma of a delightful old wine.   Seductively silky and full-bodied (is that a recurring theme here?) it couldn’t have been better as we drank it with some Danish Blue.  Great weekend.  Heading to dinner with Dick Arrowwood tonight at the Chophouse.  He is a legend in the world of California wine.   More on that later…..

Gone up north to ski for a few days with my buddies.  Dinner at a nice restaurant with a very shaky wine list.  Started with a glass of Sonoma Cutrer Chard and went with a Morgon 12 Clone.  Both light but the best they had. Went back to the room and decided to move to some Dunn wines. We started with an 07 Donum Estate West Slope (first 96 pt American Pinot from WS).  Rich, deep raspberries and plums with an incredibly long finish.  Paired well with a local aged cheddar.  Moved to the 08 West Slope.  Not quite as dense but still a remarkable bottle of wine.   Now we’re starting to roll so we go down to the bar (corkage) and bring an 05 and 06  Lone Canyon Ladera.  We are now in the world of big ripe monster American Cabs.  Both were dark dark purple with teeth-staining colors, dense tannins, and massive amounts of dark fruit.  Fabulous!  Unfortunately Ladera sold the vineyard to Bill Harlan (side by side) so in 08 they became Harlan Estate wines at $500.00 per bottle.  Great deal for $70.00.   Great day of skiing-Great day of wine!

Another dinner out.  Started out with a 2010 White Oak Russian River Chard.  Excellent choice to start out.  Good fruit, good acidity, classic Russian River finish.  Went very well with the Chicken Carbonara and shrimp.  We then moved on to a 98 Dunn Howell Mt Cab. This was a little tight but with a little decanting smoothed into that beautiful dense, dark, deep Howell Mt. with dark fruit flavors, well balanced tannins, and a long long finish.  It probably could have stood another 5-10 years in the bottle but a beautiful bottle of wine.  It paired well with the beef stew and lamb shank.   We went from there to a 2009 Kistler Pinot single vineyard (Katherine’s?) that was beyond the pale.   Burgundian in style with the smooth elegance and power of a fine Corton.  Tremendous acidity with a powerful red and dark fruit and a finsh that lasted for 30-45 seconds overwhelming the palate with a myriad of flavors (all good).  It paired perfectly with cheeses which brought out all the subtle flavors of the wine.  Great night.  Upon arriving home we cracked an 07 Robert Stemmler Ferguson Block Pinot for a final glass. Excellent finish to finish an excellent night.  Going on vacation for a few days. We will be tasting some monsters in the next few days.  Always a great time in the snowy North.  Stay in touch!

We had a little party last night.  Started 07 Donum West Slope Pinot Noir with some pistachios and almonds.  What a fabulous American Pinot.  Much deeper than most (96 pts from the Dictator) with ripe dark fruit on the palate.  We moved on to a Ladera Sauv Blanc with pan fried shrimp in a homemade butter with  garlic, parsley, almonds and a few other magic ingredients on small olive/garlic toast rounds made by my friend Peter . the acidity of the SB with the sweetness of the buttered shrimp.  Perfect!.  Next up with dinner was a 99 Phelps Insignia and  a 96 Figeac St. Emillion Premier Grand Cru.  Both were excellent with the rib roasted and garlic baked potatoes.  The Insignia was a little funky but dense, dark, and brooding while the Figeac stole the show with it’s finesses and elegance.  12 years old and still with beautiful sweet fruit and a long glorious finish.  We marched  on (troopers all)  to a 96 Bouchard Aine Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru Burgundy with assorted cheeses.  Great body, strength, and elegance again showing the power balanced with  finesses of a fine French wine.  The cheeses brought out the best  in the Burgundy. We finished with a 97 Rosenblum Concento D’Oro dessert wine.  I don’t think Kent has made that wine since either 99 or 2001.  Paired with fresh blueberries and strawberries in a word sublime.   Fabulous finish to a fabulous night. Whoops! Did I forget to mention the 04 Duckhorn Estate Cab after all was finished? Yikes!

Headed for the Chophouse on Hanover Street. Corkage is now available for $25. 00 per bottle.  Great place to bring that special bottle to pair with the great food, service, and atmosphere.  Brought a bottle of 97 Justin Isosceles which after 20-30 minutes opened up beautifully.  It was fat, dense, and had a little funk on the nose initially but that blew off and it was everything we’d hoped for.  We started  a Dumol Isobel 2010 Chard that went perfectly with the pork dish.   The Dumol was lush and had a long tropical fruit finish.  What a fabulous bottle of wine.  I had brought a Premier Cru Chablis but the Dumol was too tempting to pass up. Obviously I seem to gravitate to big wines and by big wines I mean wines that almost attack your palate with flavors and feelings on the palate.    We left a taste of the Isosceles for Brandon, Craig, and Tony to taste and brought the rest of the Dumol home.   Great night of fun and frolic!

2/12/13  Dad’s Birthday! Started off with a nice Nardo 07 Brunello di Montalcino with the Minnestrone but disappointed the Sassacaia Guado al Tasso was not in stock.  Moved to a Cesare Amarone 07 with the Puttenesca and finished with an 05 Provenance Cab with the chocolate.  Of course there were 4-6 of us and the wines were well received.  Great company, food, and wine. good night all around.

Very cool.  hosting a 2000 Bordeaux tasting later this month.  Whoopee!

Dunn Wine Brokers goal is to discover unknown exquisite wines from the world and bring them to New Hampshire wine lover at reasonable prices. Every wine must be good enough to go into my private cellar before I consider it acceptable for my discriminating buyers.