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
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
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 […]
Talbott Kali Hart Chardonnay 2016
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 […]
Troon Vineyard M*T Reserve 2014
Blueberries, blackberries and fragrant grape pie swirl beneath stratified layers of cigar box, warm spice, and dutch cocoa powder. In the mouth, a trail of sueded tannins plunges headlong into a deliciously concentrated core of dark fruit. It’s pure drinking pleasure at this stage in its development. 14.4% ABV | Sample Troon Vineyard 93 Points
LXV Crimson Jewel 2015
LXV’s 2015 Crimson Jewel is a poetic blend of 80% Brunello clone Sangiovese with 20% Petit Verdot all from the Hearthstone Vineyard—located in the heart of Paso Robles Adelaida District, the blocks are seated on limestone soils and benefit from both high elevation and unique microclimate. The nose is a twiggy garland of black cherries, […]
J.L. Kiff Pinot Noir 2012
J.L. Kiff’s 2012 Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir is both vivid and fresh and is coronated with a wreath of raspberries, alpine strawberries, dried mint, anise, and pomander ball. It’s limpid garnet in the glass, and is slightly darker in hue than the other vintages in the vertical we tasted—I am told the 2012 includes a small […]
Aberrant Cellars Sidecar Off the Wagon Claret 2016
A whorl of dark, concentrated aromas of cassis, blackberry, plums, dark chocolate, sandalwood and cedar, Sidecar’s Off the Wagon Claret is plush and deeply layered. A new label for Aberrant Cellars, the winery calls its Sidecar Wine Trials line an “exploratory search engine into the diverse varietal wonders outside Pinot Noir.” The 2016 Off the […]
LXV Heart Note Rosé of Sangiovese 2018
Conch shell pink, LXV’s 2018 Heart Note Rosé of Sangiovese is imbued with pretty aromas of tart pie cherry, pomegranate, melon, line-dried linen, white flowers, and chalk. Tasted blind, it could easily be mistaken for a Provençal pink—minerality shines through, giving it a nimble if porous armature, a feather-light structure that gently terminates in pink […]
Aberrant Cellars Gamay Noir LÜK Havlin Vineyard 2016
From the Van Duzer Corridor AVA, LÜK Gamay Noir is part of Aberrant Cellars collection of wines, this bottling crafted from 100% dry farmed Gamay propagated from cuttings from Oregon’s revered Seven Springs Vineyard. It exhibits classic Gamay earthiness twining bright black and red fruit notes of dusky plums, mulberries, and potting soil. In the […]