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Brochelle Vineyards Zinfandel 2016

Thickset and baritone, the 2016 Brochelle Paso Robles Zinfandel offers up densely packed aromas of figs, plums, wood spice, anise, and balsamico. A fleshy mid-palate is neatly bisected by coiled acidity that parries and thrusts, ’till it unwinds, leaving behind a streak of prune and sweet tobacco. 15.8% ABV | Sample Brochelle Vineyards 88 Points

Eberle Côtes-du-Rôbles Rouge 2016

Eberle Côtes-du-Rôbles Rouge 2016

A pretty Côtes-du-Rhône inspired blend from Eberle, the 2016 Côtes-du-Rôbles Rouge 2016 expresses heady notes of macerated strawberries and pie cherries, along with vanilla, and woody and warm spice. Medium-bodied on entry, and round with ripe tannins serving as a graceful bridge to tart red fruit—rhubarb and choke cherry that gives way to white pepper, […]

Grizzly Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Grizzly Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Beautifully developed and opaque as a starless night, the 2013 Grizzly Peak Syrah offers up cascading layers of blackberries, marionberries, and dusty plums that rest beneath lighter notes of violets, preserved meat, and freshly turned tilth. In the mouth, it’s round and fleshy, with velvety tannins lending structure to a baritone and black-fruited core, leaving […]

Alamos Selección Malbec 2016

Alamos Selección Malbec 2016

Always an excellent value, the 2016 Alamos Selección Malbec is consistent with previous vintages, with a nose generously imbued with plums, black cherries, bittersweet chocolate, earth, and lilting violets. It’s medium-bodied, with fine, slightly green tannins and taught acidity—a pleasant herbaceous note emerges at the finish—cedar, bay leaf, green peppercorn, and sagebrush. 13.5% ABV | […]

Troon Vineyard Roussanne 2017

Troon Vineyard Roussanne 2017

A tousled mix of beach sand, potting soil, pear, preserved lemon, smoky nut oil, and mango skin. In the mouth the 2017 Troon Beach Applegate Valley Roussanne offers a pure and unique textural landscape that carries with it a savory undertow—smokiness reemerges along with vivid grapefruit pith, sea salt, gunflint, and a gamey component that […]

J.L. Kiff Rosé of Pinot Noir 2017

J.L. Kiff Rosé of Pinot Noir 2017

Shimmering, translucent carmine red, J.L. Kiff’s 2017 Rosé of Pinot Noir is made from grapes sourced from the proprietor’s nine-acre vineyard just outside McMinnville. Its deep color is the result of four days of skin contact—a pretty, perfumed mélange of Queen Anne’s cherries, strawberries, and cinnamon stick tumble from the glass. There is some perceptible […]

Château Poitevin Médoc 2015

Château Poitevin Médoc 2015

From Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot vines planted near the Gironde estuary, seated in purely alluvial soils—Girondine gravel and clay subsoil—the 2015 Château Poitevin drinks better on the second day, and offers up a puissant bouquet of black currant, Damson plum, earth, aged saddle leather, dark chocolate syrup, and sweet tobacco. Aged 14 months […]

Domaine des Vieilles Pierres Pouilly-Fuissé ‘Les Crays’ 2015

Domaine des Vieilles Pierres Pouilly-Fuissé Les Crays 2015

Crafted from old-vine Chardonnay the 2015 Jean Jacques Litaud Pouilly-Fuisse ‘Les Crays’ is the color of goldenrod, and offers plenty of olfactory charm: yellow apples, unripened pineapple, tamarind, and beautiful citrusy undertones. It’s an agile wine, with suppleness and fabulous texture followed by a back-palate infused with minerality, fleur de sel, and white grapefruit that […]

Talbott Kali Hart Chardonnay 2016

Talbott Kali Hart Chardonnay 2014

Smoky baked yellow apple, yellow peach, and clementine grace the nose of this well-priced Monterey Chardonnay. Talbott’s 2016 Kali Hart is made from Corton-Charlemagne Chardonnay clone vines from the winery’s Sleepy Hollow estate vineyard, a hillside parcel that is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean. On the palate there is creaminess, yet there is […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com