May 23, 2008
June 24, 2008
Winemaker Dinner at Trelio in Clovis (Fresno), California
Chris and Mike Shakelford of Trelio, one of the Central Valley's top restaurants will be hosting us for a wine pairing that is sure to be a good time with great food and wine.
August 1, 2008
August 24, 2008
Family Winemakers Wine Tasting 12:00 - 4:00
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California
Greening Up
You may have noticed that most of our new wines are sans capsules. The capsule is a decorative part of the packaging that had a historical purpose of keeping rats from chewing on the corks. We have begun to phase them out in an effort to cut out unnecessary materials and produce less waste as well as keep our prices down when all the costs of doing business are going up. To boot, we dig the look!
Also, beginning with 2007, all of our labels are being printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper stock.
Hang time: Kenny Likitprakong makes the leap from skateboard to vineyard
Wine & Spirits June 2008
2006 Hobo Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel - 88 pts, BEST BUY
Tart and tarry, this grows plum and juicy with air. Decant it and the warm cherry flavors will open up for lamb.
Wine Enthusiast June 2008
2006 Hobo Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - 86 pts
Shows all the best character of a fine Alexander Valley Cab, in an easy manner to be opened now. Soft and a little herbal, the wine has blackberry, cherry, and oak flavors. Possesses just enough complexity to stand with steak and chops. -SH
Wine Enthusiast April 2008
2006 Hobo Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel - 87 pts
A rich savory Zin, brimming with freshly picked flavors of ripe wild red, blue and black berries, cola, sweet kid leather, mocha and tobacco. Fully dry and not too tannic, it's ready to drink now. - SH
San Francisco Chronicle January 2008
2006 Banyan Madera Viognier
With outright whiffs of ripe mango, banana and pineapple, this is Likitprakong's most fruit-forward wine, made from 100 percent organic grapes in the Central Valley. Some might characterize its nose as overripe, with a short finish. Yet it's an up-front and likeable wine, barrel fermented and aged in neutral French oak. Goes well with the Thai cuisine profile of acid, sweet, savory and mile chile.
2007 Banyan Monterey County Gewurztraminer
Likitprakong's most available and most sought-after white wine, a surefire hit with Thai food. It is a blend of 98.5 percent Monterey County Gewurztraminer and 1.5 percent Monterey County Chenin Blanc. Like most of the grapes that go into Likitprakong's wines, they are picked at low 21.3 Brix. At 12.7 alcohol, with high acidity, it is well balanced, with a frangipane, almond-lily fragrance. The finish hints of lychee fruit.
2006 Banyan Santa Lucia Highlands Riesling
A high acidity of 3.04 pH makes this a great food wine with the characteristic petrol nose of Riesling. The sweet perfume of honey and citrus overlays the aromas. It finishes on the palate with a complex mineral edge. The grapes are from 30--year-old vines in the Santa Lucia Highlands.
2006 Hobo Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Only 14 percent alcohol, it is almost an anti-Cab, as Likitprakong likes to say. Tasted three weeks after bottling, it was young and drinkable and good with food. There's a hint of green herb, yet still finishes long and suggests raspberries to the nose. Aged in second-fill oak barrels in the Likitprakong style, with only the subtlest of vanilla.
2006 Hobo Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel
Attests to Likitprakong's blending talent, with juice mixed from three biodynamic or organic farms, plus 5 percent Petite SIrah. At 14.5 percent alcohol, it presents rip blackberry, yet is still lean and doesn't bury the tongue. A classic old--style Zin, lean on the palate, the way the Italians used to make them. A drinkin' wine.
2006 Hobo Rockpile Zinfandel
Dry-farmed at the high elevation Rockpile appellation, this is Likitprakong's favorite. It is a blend of 70 percent old-block plantings from Gary Branham's vineyard, 25 percent from new plantings of Primitivo, Dupratt and Dempel clones, 5 percent Petite Sirah. At 14.8 percent alcohol, it was astonishingly drinkable when we tasted it three weeks after bottling. The nose is fruity with a hint of smokiness and suggestion of dried herb; it is long on the palate with a clean feel, a lean wine in the Likitprakong, austere style, uncluttered by oak. Amazingly, it worked well with dishes such as rad na and high-fat fried rice. But this wine could be appreciated without food as well.
Wine Enthusiast November 2007
2005 Hobo Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - 90 pts
This is not an ageable Cab, but it is balanced and complex and has more than $20 worth of elegance. Dry and softly tannic, the Provencal herb, black cherry and oak flavors make you reach for a second glass. - SH
2006 Miss Hobo Rosé - 86 pts – Best Buy
This is one of the zestier, zingier blush wines out there. It attacks the mouth with a lightning blast of acidity that wakes up the tastebuds, and is totally dry. Made from 90% Zinfandel and 10% Pinot Noir, the racy flavors are of slightly underripe raspberries, mint, and rosehip tea. – SH
The San Francisco Chronicle - August 24, 2007
Rating: TWO AND A HALF STARS 2006 Folk Machine Central Coast Pinot Noir ($20) You gotta like Kenny Likitprakong, creator of Hobo Wine Co. and Banyan Wines, and this first release of Folk Machine. The irreverent winemaker has produced a light, drink-now wine. It has aromas of candied cherry/strawberry followed by notes of mushroom, pine needles and crushed gravel. Somehow the juice is finessed through its youthfulness. Although the alcohol is 13.9 percent and it tastes somewhat hot, it is plenty complex. Only 200 cases were produced; at $20 per bottle, it's not only made for now, it's grab now.
Wine Enthusiast August 2007
The Hobo Wine Company is featured as one of Sonoma County's new faces in an article titled, "Sonoma's Trailblazers and Trendsetters, Meet unheralded, risk-taking newcomers as well as veterans embarking on daring new ventures". In addition to the write-up, they mentioned the following wines:
05 Hobo Rockpile Zinfandel - 90 pts
Dry, tannic and concentrated, a fierce almost feral wine, but it's classic in the way of California mountain Zins. Floods the mouth with blackberry essence wrapped into strong tannins and finishing with a crisp burst of acidity. Compelling and complex, it cries out for a rustic beef or pork dish, long simmered and well seasoned. S.H.
05 Hobo Dry Creek Zinfandel - 90 pts
06 Banyan Gewurztraminer - 87 pts - Best Buy
Shows lots to like with its dry crispiness and fruity flavors, and with only 12.7% alcohol, the light, delicate mouthfeel is a pleasure. Long in apricot, pineapple, guava and floral flavors, the wine finishes in a flood of cinnamon spice. Best Buy. S.H.
