Reviews

Del Dotto Cabernet Sauvignon 9 Oaks 36 Month French Select Block 2 St. Helena Mountain

Finished the bottle. Previous note from the other day still applies except that the delivery was even more gorgeous. The supposed issue earlier on the back end where it seemed potentially flat seemed…

Del Dotto Cabernet Sauvignon 9 Oaks 36 Month French Select Block 2 St. Helena Mountain

Coravin pour. Beautiful black and dark purple core fruit. Some nice black currant, purple/black plum, black rock, and some dark soil to round it all out. Subtle spice (anise, black pepper, and clove)…

Rivers-Marie Chardonnay B. Thieriot Vineyard

Same as all of my previous notes on this wine. Held up great over the course of over three hours. Beautifully balanced, with just enough of a kiss of buttery citrus to push the flavor spectrum into…

Fait-Main Chardonnay Penhoet Toyon Farm

PnP with notes of zippy white stone and somewhat pithy yellow citrus core fruit; fresh lemon juice, lemon seed, quince, unripe pear, and pumice. The front end of the attack was full of verve, with an…

Fait-Main Chardonnay Penhoet Toyon Farm

PnP. Nice but linear. Purity of fruit was good, but I felt this was missing some tiered flavors; weight mid-palate was just ok, with a focused but simple attack. Previous notes apply in terms of its…

Pott Wine Cabernet Sauvignon Kaliholmanok Kicu'me

Coravin pour, with notes of red cherry, purple plum, Dalmatia sour cherry spread, cedar, underbrush, garrigue, and some forest floor. Approachable enough, but still youthfully linear and a little…

Launois Pere et Fils Champagne Grand Cru Veuve Clemence Brut Blanc de Blancs

All previous notes apply. Improved with air over the course of two+ hours.

Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Estate Vineyard

PnP at 50-52 degrees, with a zesty but buttery-smooth yellow citrus dominated core. Lemon curd, lemon zest, honeydew, citrus oil, honey, olive oil, clarified butter, and some vanilla. Perfect…

Torrin The Maven

PnP at 54 degrees with somewhat reserved notes of kirsch, black and red cherry, saline, and some underbrush. Cloudy in the glass and fuzzy on the palate, with a medium attack and somewhat simple…

Quivet Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

A super solid wine and even better than when I had this almost one year ago. In a perfect drinking window now. PnP was just fine, though about 30 minutes in the glass with some swirling really…

Aratas Petite Sirah

This has lost a little steam since I last had it in 2016. Still "fine," but not as attention-grabbing as in the past. I like it. I don't love it. A Tuesday night throw-down with pizza kind of wine…

Hourglass 36-24-36 Blueline

Finished the bottle. Previous note applies. This wine manages to pull off unctuous concentration and intensity while also maintaining a notable balance and texturally smooth delivery from beginning…

Cascina Ca'Rossa Langhe Brachetto Birbét

Fun as usual. Went good with a strawberry tart.

Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Red currant, cedar, underbrush, and some thin black cherry notes. A pedestrian front end attack, with a simple mid-palate and overly lithe finish. Not even that much acid or grip to cut the beautiful…

Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder

Wanted to see if the bottle I had a few weeks ago was just an anomaly.

Rombauer Vineyards Chardonnay

PnP with flavors of clarified butter, unsalted butter, salted butter, melted butter, ghee, cultured butter, margarine, roux, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, shea butter, body butter, buttered movie…

Darioush Viognier

Barely a Viognier, with little-to-no characteristics of the actual varietal. At best, this came across like a weak, overly lithe and watery Chardonnay, with barely any distinguishable flavors beyond…

Salmon Champagne Rosé de Saignée Extra Brut

PnP with a beautiful pink rose colored hue. Once the bubbles tapered off, the nose showed hints of watermelon, strawberry, and lemon peel. On the palate, a lovely delivery of pink grapefruit,…

Hourglass 36-24-36 Blueline

Coravin pour. An extraordinarily dark, concentrated wine, with black core fruit flavors of black currant, blackberry, black rock, dark bitter chocolate chunk, espresso, tar, black licorice, clove,…

L'Aventure The Sibling

Previous notes from a few months ago still apply. Needed a decent decant (2+ hours) before it really started to come alive and lose some of that firm grip it was exhibiting on PnP. Still good advice…

Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes

Quick Coravin pour. Holding back but not totally inaccessible. Purple plum, black raspberry, limestone, garrigue, and some purple licorice (if that even exists). After an hour in the glass it got a…

Melville Pinot Noir Block M

Similar to previous notes. Ripe red and black cherry and red raspberry core, with some strawberry, orange rind, wood, and spice. Drinking fine now. A tad heavy on the fruit, but the flavor push is…

Rivers-Marie Chardonnay B. Thieriot Vineyard

PnP with a viscous and glycol-wrapped delivery on the front end; yellow citrus, Meyer lemon marmalade, lamp oil, vanilla-liqueur, and olive oil. A lot of booze on the back end, washing over the…

TOR Cabernet Sauvignon Cimarossa Vineyard

Served alongside a 2012 Fleury BDX, also from Howell Mountain, which was a little more structure driven and less giving in the dark core fruit flavor department when compared to the more…

Fleury Estate Winery BDX

Served alongside a 2012 Tor Cimarossa, also from Howell Mountain, which was a little more giving in the dark core fruit flavor department when compared to the Fleury. The Cimarossa was rounder and…