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Rock Wall Wine Co. Jack’s Dry Creek Petite Sirah 2014

Rock Wall Wine Co. Jack's Dry Creek Petite Sirah 2014

Baritone and lush, the 2014 Rock Wall Jack’s Dry Creek Petite Sirah is a spicy melange of juicy black cherries, plums, cedar, and bay leaf. Inky and dark in the glass, this Sonoma County Petite Syrah is equally hedonistic on the palate, a riot of black fruit and ripe tannins pierced by a jaunty vein […]

Chateau Ste. Michelle Artist Series Red 2013

Chateau Ste. Michelle Artist Series Red 2013

Chateau Ste. Michelle’s 2013 Artist Series Red is an elegant composition of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 3% Malbec, and 3% Cab Franc, with 85% of the fruit sourced from Cold Creek Vineyard. This is also winemaker Bob Bertheau’s favorite wine to blend, one where he’s given free reign. Freshly turned earth, black currants, cassis, […]

W.T. Vintners Stoney Vine Vineyard Syrah 2014

W.T. Vintners Stoney Vine Vineyard Syrah 2014

The 2014 W.T. Stony Vine Vineyards Syrah reverberates with abundant blackberry and black cherry notes couched in a complex melange of green hay, black licorice, Chinese 5-Spice, sassafras, roasted meat, and green peppercorn. Medium weight, very Rhône-like in its countenance. Fresh and vivid, nicely balanced, and graced with a minerally vein that suspends itself over […]

Terra Blanca ONYX Red Mountain 2009

Terra Blanca ONYX Red Mountain 2009

Another lovely showing from a lineup of wines sampled at Terra Blanca. The 2009 Onyx is drinking beautifully—an elegant Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec, all from the winery’s Red Mountain estate. Generous, layered aromas of blackberries, cassis, ripe plum, bay leaf, and cedar lead into a wine that […]

Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 50th Anniversary Special Bottling 2015

Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 50th Anniversary Special Bottling 2015

Plush with ripe, juicy blueberries, blackberries, black currants, vanilla, and cedar. The 2015 Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet was selected as one of the wines to bear a limited edition 50th Anniversary label, a nod to the winery’s past and former name of Ste. Michelle Vineyards. Plump and juicy in the mouth, this is classic Washington […]

Calera Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard 2005

Calera Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard 2005

I had the pleasure of sampling the 2004 vintage of the Calera Jensen Vineyard Pinot Noir in 2014. The 2005 is one that I slightly prefer over the 2004—this bottle has developed beautifully and is within its drinking window. The nose, a symphony of leather, earth, spiced apple rings, Rainier cherries, raspberry, and dried lavender. […]

Sine Qua Non The Monkey 2010

Sine Qua Non The Monkey 2010

Tasted from the dining room of the lovely SS Legacy, thanks to generous passengers who see fit to bring their own favorite bottles along on a wine cruise. Sine Qua Non’s white Rhône-inspired blend dubbed The Monkey 2010 proved to be a honey-hued showstopper. Rife with peach pit, apricot kernel, orange pastille, smoke, buddha’s hand […]

Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica 2015

hateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica

Tasted following an interview with Ted Baseler (for an article on Chateau Ste. Michelle’s 50th Anniversary forthcoming in next month’s Somm Journal), the 2015 Eroica is the result of a long and fruitful partnership with Dr. Ernst Loosen. As such, it sports an endearing touch of petrol on the nose, something I readily attribute to […]

Inglenook Reunion Reserve Cask Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

Inglenook Reunion Reserve Cask Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

A wine that’s aged gracefully, Inglenook’s 1986 Reunion Cabernet Sauvignon is line with other Napa Valley Cabs I’ve tasted from that era. Poured from a magnum, the nose is reveals dried rose petal, dust, leather and dried black currants. It’s seems like it’s reaching the end of its drinking window, though there is still plenty […]

Emiliana Natura Rosé 2016

Emiliana Natura Rosé 2016

Heavily laden in musk melon, Queen Anne’s cherries and white peach, the most alluring thing about the Emiliana Natura Rosé 2016—there is a perception of sweetness on entry but that sensation quickly fades to peach pit and pink grapefruit skin that hits the sides of the tongue, leaving a pleasant bitterness that just goes on […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com