Heritance Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Plush without being over the top, classic notes of black currants, black cherries, plums, vanilla bean and incense round out the nose. The 2014 Heritance Cabernet Sauvignon is modern and moderate in character, it feels slightly cautious. Like a four-door sedan, it’s not a risk-taker by any means, this is the family car of Napa […]
SpierHead Okanagan Valley Pinot Noir Cuvée 2014
The lighter, more tensile side of Pinot Noir, Spierhead’s 2014 Cuvée is aged in French oak and is made up of 35% Dijon 115, 25% Dijon 667, 25% Dijon 828, and 15% Pommard. Brambly forest berries, cranberries, mint, and bark are suspended in dust kicked up from a summer windstorm. It’s very clean on the […]
Golan Heights Winery Gilgal Sangiovese 2014
Don’t be afraid to dip your toes into the pond of a region you aren’t familiar with, and a variety that seems slightly out of place. Golan Heights Winery Gilgal Sangiovese is triumphant in its spot-on profile of fleshy plum and black cherry, incense and sandalwood aromas, followed by a touch of exotic spice. It’s […]
Tendril Wine Cellars Saffron Fields Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013
Hitting its stride, the 2013 Tendril Saffron Fields Vineyard Pinot Noir from winemaker Tony Rynders offers up an alluring bouquet of Dalmatia Sour Cherry Spread, black raspberry, sous bois, decaying rose petal, Asian spice, and crushed stone. It’s supple and pliant on the palate, a dark fruit core tidily wrapped in buoyant acidity with impressive […]
Trivento Reserve Malbec 2016
The 2016 Trivento Reserve Malbec delights sports velvety, plush tannins suspended by a bright acid backbone. The profile brims with plums, mulberry, vanilla, cedar, and on the finish a pleasant herbaceous streak of bay leaf and dried herbs and an intriguing meaty rare lamb tone. Great QPR in this bottle. 12.5% ABV | Sample Trivento […]
Beaux Frères Zena Crown Pinot Noir 2014
Diurnal flux, and cooling marine breezes can be felt in the 2014 Beaux Frères Zena Crown Pinot Noir. The wind-driven terroir of the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has graced it with a degree freshness—vivid red and blue fruit rest beneath a garland of crushed lavender, exotic spice and freshly grated nutmeg. The palate delivers focused acidity, […]
Beaux Frères Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2015
A vivid spectrum of red fruit and spice, Beaux Frères Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2015 is awash in plump Rainier cherries, raspberries, rose hips, Christmas spice, and cola. On entry, it’s silky, sexy—delivering nuance and power, finesse and fine tannins that lend structure—guardrails on something that could quite possibly break free, such is its exuberance. […]
Bergström Silice Pinot Noir 2015
Named after the silica-rich sand and marine sedimentary soils that dominate Bergström’s picturesque Silice Vineyard the 2015 gracefully unspools in one long continuous ribbon, aromas of dark cherry and black raspberry form a dusky base that is knit together with crumbling limestone, kukicha twig tea and warm spice. Marine sedimentary soil reemerges on the finish, […]
Bergström Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016
One of Oregon’s most revered vineyards, Dick and Deirdre Shea have farmed this extraordinary 140-acre site for over 25 years. Thin, low-fertility soil overlay sandstone bedrock—here, the vines are forced to burrow deep in search of moisture and nutrients. The 2016 vintage slowly unfurls to reveal smoky, sexy layers of crushed lavender, seedy raspberry, black […]
Bergström Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir 2015
Bergström’s sublime 2015 Gregory Ranch Pinot Noir was one of the more restrained as compared with the rest of the lineup we tasted. Red and black fruit, anise and cola aromas glide above the firmament, well above a base layer suggestive of freshly turned tilth. It’s more broad-shouldered on the palate as well, slightly weightier, […]