Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
A decade on the 2008 Alexander Valley Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon has developed nicely—it’s spent 24 months in barrel with another 15 months of bottle conditioning prior to release. Red currant, sweet red cherries, cassis, loamy soil, cinnamon bark, and vanilla bean anoint the nose. For a Sonoma Cabernet, it’s lighter in style, and medium-bodied. […]
Wine By Joe Joe To Go Pinot Gris NV
From one of Oregon’s most forward-thinking winemakers, Joe Dobbs—the Joe to Go series of canned wines is meant to be convivial, light, refreshing, and portable. That being said, canned wines and the canned wine trend is here to stay, and there are some perfectly quaffable examples out there, this being one of them. Straw yellow […]
Tendril Wine Cellars Child’s Play Columbia Valley Zinfandel 2015
An offshoot label of Tendril Wine Cellars, Child’s Play Zinfandel is sourced from the Red Heaven Vineyard at the very south end of the Red Mountain AVA, and sports an amiable profile of black fruit, black cherry, plums, incense, cinnamon, sweet tobacco, and wet terra cotta. Medium-bodied, with soft, supple tannins that are nicely delineated […]
Onward Pétillant Naturel Malvasia Bianca Capp-Inn Ranch 2017
One of my favorite wines sampled at the My Wine Society – Feast it Forward Grand Opening, Onward’s 2017 Pétillant Naturel Malvasia Bianca is a slightly hazy shade of sunbleached straw, with a nebulous, delicate mousse as one might expect. Lemon biscuit, d’Anjou pear, yellow apple, honeysuckle, and jasmine gives way to a vein of […]
Forge Cellars Riesling Classique 2014
Forge Cellars Classic Dry Riesling 2014 hasn’t lost its agile edge, though perhaps, there has been a little softening with the passage of time. Lemon yellow in the glass, exhibiting quite tones of lemon drop, yellow peach, waxy yellow apple skin, lemon blossom, chalkboard dust. There’s quite a lot of body, but that signature burst […]
Troon Vineyard Whole Grape Ferment Riesling 2017
Limpid, shimmering copper in the glass, 2017 Troon Vineyard Whole Grape Ferment Riesling is a fabulous orange wine—a delicious romp through ripe apricots, orange zest, almond paste, linden blossom, and dried honey. In the mouth, skin contact lends textural dimension, there are beautiful oxidative tones offset by pink grapefruit infused acidity. All in all, Troon […]
Tendril Wine Cellars Pretender White Pinot Noir 2014
The aptly named Pretender is a White Pinot Noir from Tendril Wine Cellars, and offers a rather glorious, pure-fruited nose of white peach, melon, grilled pineapple, and quince. On the palate, texturally, it’s like biting into a ripe market peach—peach fuzz brushes across the palate before subsiding to a lemon-and-pomace-infused acid spine. Nicely done. 13.0% […]
Rain Dance Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir 2016
A well of plush red fruit set against a frame of silky tannins and moderate acidity, Rain Dance’s Estate Pinot Noir 2016 has much to offer, mainly, pleasure. Black cherry, macerated strawberries, Madagascar vanilla bean, cola, and warm spices round out the nose. This blend of 44% Dijon Clone 667, 14% Pommard, 14% Wädenswil, 14% […]
Domaine Bousquet Chardonnay 2018
Abundantly fresh, Domaine Bousquet, an Argentine winery under French ownership, generally offers great value, particularly for those on the hunt for organic wines. This is not one of their more complex offerings, it shows classic orchard fruit on the nose with a hint of subtle spice. 70% of the Chardonnay is aged in stainless, while […]
Rain Dance Vineyards Grand Oak Vineyard Estate Riesling 2017
Crafted from Reisling sourced from Rain Dance’s estate vineyards—Grand Oak Vineyard lies within Willamette Valley’s Chehalem Mountains sub-appellation and the vines are seated in Jory and Laurelwood-type soils. Aromas of yellow apple, lemon drop, and ripe pear anoint the nose, on the palate, it’s softly-textured thanks to sur lie aging in French oak—perfectly dry and […]