Higher toned and more red fruited than the 2014 Walt Gap's Crown tasted beside it. However, the Sierra Mar offered a welcomed acidic cut and frame to better house its cranberry, red raspberry,…
At first this seemed like it was going to deliver in spades with plush black cherry and spice box notes, but it instantly turned into an ultra-round and ripe plum fruit bomb. Muddled and flabby, with…
My first time with this producer. JHIEB's notes are spot on. The BT exhibited wonderfully tiered black cherry, black raspberry, incense smoke, and a wild spicebox note that carried on through the…
Something to leave alone for another 2 years. Really nice, pure black cherry fruit and some earth notes, but it fell apart after about three hours in the decanter. Acid and tannins were lower than…
PnP was immediately accessible with gobs of red and black cherry, red and black raspberry, and a viscous young blackberry liqueur note. Acid seemed a bit low, but a few spice flavors gave way to a…
Brought by a friend. Luckily this was not as "hot" as some of the Rosella's and SLH Pinots I've had in the past. This KB came off very young and in need of about 12-18 months in bottle to hopefully…
Sonoma County · Green Valley of Russian River Valley
A finessed and elegant style with signature notes that are seemingly driven from the 2011 vintage. Not surprisingly, this wine is less fruit driven than Wren Hops of other vintages. However, as a…
A lot of black cherry fruit and some earth initially pumping out of this wine. The attack seemed as though it would easily sail on through the finish...but it didn't. Fell flat and quickly faded as…
Same as all of my other previous notes on this wine. I'm certainly a fan. Up there with the best Wren Hops I've had. Up there with one of the best Pinots I've ever had. Big and giving, with an…
Fruity, watery, and thin, with little acid or grip to provide any sort of notable structure or frame to this wine. Notes of strawberry and possibly some red cherry, but overall the core fruit flavors…
Previous notes apply from 6 months and a year ago. An initial wave of very nice brambly purple and red fruit, and some hints of mulch, earth, brush, and river rock. The acid seemed low; the frame…
A beautiful and poised bottle of wine. Definitely a more restrained version of Bevan's usual flashy, fruit forward Pinot lineup. To me, this had a cooler climate feel about it, but the core fruit was…
Well made. Skillfully balanced. Beautiful and pure fruit flavors. Nice red cherry, raspberry, and some subtle spice and cola notes. This was decanted for approximately two hours before consumption. I…
Same as previous notes. Much more of a spicebox element evident this time around. Still a really interesting bottle of Pinot, and one of my favorites of the vintage. Drinking great with a splash…
Same as 12/17/2016 and all my other notes on this wine, except this was decanted for about two hours total and ended up tasting fairly dark and smooth, but still pleasantly sassy with some spice box…
Same as my notes from 11/2/2016. Not a fan. Simple and weak. A frail little girly-man of watery Pinot-like juice. Some spice on the mid held my interest barely long enough for me to then just go back…
Same as all of my other notes on this wine. Really nice, and a deep, dark-pitched soul of a Pinot. If you love high toned red cranberry types of Pinots, then pack a suitcase full of Cran-apple fruit…
Served with a few of the "heavier"/final courses in the evening at Madrona Manor, but still managed to have enough finesse to act like a Pinot when it needed to. Paired great with dishes that…
PnP was very tight and acidic; typical young RM notes of cranberry, pomegranate, red cherry, and hints of orange rind and spice box. No worries, as this is usually the way most of these little guys…
Sonoma County · Green Valley of Russian River Valley
This is in as perfect of a drinking window as I would imagine it will ever be. Hugely plush, deep, fruit forward, and extremely giving on the attack. The silky glide is unreal, with a glycerin-coated…
Same as last month. A decent bottle of wine that is on the downswing of its life (not in a bad way, but just reaching the secondary/tertiary stages of its maturity). It didn't need decanting at all.…
I'm not sure how some folks are getting all of these tiered flavor profiles out of this wine at the moment. For me, it stayed fairly linear and static over the course of a three hour decant. PnP…
Sonoma County · Green Valley of Russian River Valley
It's been over a year since my last bottle and time has certainly allowed this wine to evolve into a more interesting animal. The evergreen and pine needle notes were evident (which do add some…
Same as my previous notes. This wine was paired with homemade fresh crab beignets with a lemon/chive aioli. The wine was probably a little heavy for the dish (my fault on pairing), but overall the…
