PnP with beautiful notes of lemon curd, lemon meringue, pineapple, honey, and some tropical fruit. Hints of poached pear, stone (granite), and lemongrass.
Overly sweet, completely overworked, and over-processed, with little varietal characteristics to speak of. Vanilla, oak, chocolate. Like IHOP blackberry syrup.
Tasting event at 750 Wines in St. Helena with winemakers Russell Bevan, Aaron Pott, Benoit Touquette, Roy Piper, Helen Keplinger, Dan Petroski (Larkmead), Sam Kaplan (Memento Mori, Arkenstone, Nine…
Smooth and simple. Tasted "fine," carrying lighter notes of red berry and vanilla. However, very little complexity to speak of; held no interest for me in the end.
Same as my CT note in September 2015. Saturated berry, cola, rhubarb, and baking spice flavors. Texturally perfect; lower acid and almost indistinguishable tannins. A little alcohol and some…
A decent Chardonnay, but nothing that evokes any sort of emotional or memorable response. Notes of pear, vanilla, and lemon curd. Not very complex by any stretch, but an ok Monday night sipper.
Same as my previous CT notes except that it lost a little "oomph" after about three hours of slow O2. Though I think this has the ability to go a number of years more, I think drinking now (and…
PnP with notes of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, black licorice, bitter chocolate, smoke, black olive, asphalt, and granite. A little tight, but with no harsh edges whatsoever.
A short decant gave way to notes of rich black cherry, raspberry, RC cola, clove, cinnamon, and evergreen. A nice array of tiered flavors, with the berry/fruit notes softening over two hours with air.
Similar to my CT notes from August and December, except that this time I decanted this wine for approximately two hours. On PnP, this was extremely tight, with alcohol racing over the palate and…
Sonoma County · Green Valley of Russian River Valley
PnP with bold notes of red and purple berry fruit, blueberry, ripe black cherry and raspberry, baking spices, vanilla bean, and pie crust. A rich and luscious Pinot crafted in typical Russell Bevan…
Decanted for approximately 2+ hours. Vibrant and flavorful, if just a little one-note, full of high-toned red berry fruits; strawberry, raspberry tart, and a bit of alcohol. Went down very smoothly,…
PnP with notes of honeysuckle, lemon, popcorn, pear, and quince. Finished with a stoney minerality; just a tad pithy and tart on the back end. Performed very well in the beginning, with a clipped…
PnP with tight, cool notes of purple and black berry fruits, with additional flavors of black licorice and slate. Fairly monolithic, with only the QPR really making up for it. As a stand-alone wine,…
Drank alongside a 2012 Kosta Browne RRV Pinot, the EK Sascha Marie was much better, with a vibrancy and energy that helped to elevate the red berry flavors. Similar to my CT notes from 8/10/15 on…
Essentially the same as my previous CT notes on this wine from 11/21/15, except that some time in the decanter allowed for a little more fruit to emerge. However, this wine still came off as flat and…
The only 2011 Kosta Browne in the whole lineup that survived to become a worthy Pinot from the 2011 vintage, the Gap's Crown displayed up-front flavors of black cherry, pomegranate, strawberry,…
Bottled in Magnums only. An intriguing Sauvignon Blanc, with notes of grilled pineapple, toasted walnuts, lemon oil, green apple, wet rock, and wood. On initial PnP, the wood element was dominant,…
Nearly identical to the 2008 WVH. A meaty and saline-driven syrah, with notes of stewed plum, salami, bologna, red currant, spice, sea salt, and bouquet garni. Some tannic clamp on the initial PnP,…
Deep and dark with a great motor oil viscosity that coats the palate. Specific notes of black licorice, asphalt, blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, marionberry, pumice, and river rock. Hits the…
Initial PnP was almost devastatingly acidic and tart. Clenched up my entire mouth as if I had just sucked on a cherry-flavored sour ball. Sour cherry and alcohol. The four of us who were tasting all…
