Domaine Trouvère Bricolage Rouge 2012
Oxblood red, the 2012 Domaine Trouvère Bricolage Rouge offers up an expressive, slightly rustic nose of leather, freshly turned tilth, dried mint, dark chocolate shavings, and a touch of balsam wood. Seven years on, the tannins are fully integrated—fine and sueded, they house dark fruit tones of plum and roasted black cherries—their pitch and amplitude […]
Stoller Family Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2016
Aged in 30% new French oak with partial malolactic fermentation, Stoller’s 2016 Reserve Chardonnay opens with an opulent profusion of d’Anjou pears and golden apples followed by hawthorn flower and baker’s spice. Round and silky on entry, the palate tension between fruit and acid is simply gorgeous. Flavors evolve and linger; white peach, lemon curd, […]
Alloro Vineyard Riservata Pinot Noir 2016
Blended from a selection of blocks across the winery’s 78-acre estate, the 2016 Alloro Riservata is clean and precise. Black cherries and black raspberries lie beneath more ethereal notes of lanolin, dried herbs, forest floor, and blooming florality. Aged in 35%-45% new French oak barrels—in the mouth, it’s exquisitely balanced with ultra-fine, sueded tannins twining […]
Kin & Cascadia Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2017
Tortoise Creek and The Charmel, a charming, well-preserved range of sustainably farmed varietal wines that bridges two continents, with offerings from the Languedoc region and California. Translucent ruby in the glass, the 2017 Kin & Cascadia Willamette Valley Pinot Noir offers a bouquet of Rainier cherries, strawberries, vanilla, and baking spice. Medium bodied and silky […]
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 […]
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 […]
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
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 […]