IntoWine Founder Brad Prescott's weekly wine recommendations.
Bousquet has long been producing quality wines coming out of Argentina at enviable price points. This Chardonnay straddles that line between a linear reductive style and a more malolactic fermented, brighter style. It works. And that it takes these two worlds and combines them rather seamlessly. Yes, you get the upfront lemon, lime kefir, guava, apricot and white peach notes, but there is also that silky, smooth lightly buttery style that makes this an easy drinking wine. Additionally, the acidity is spot on providing support and structure for the whole of the wine.
Flying Goat has been making wine in Santa Barbara for nearly 25 years. Best known for his various expressions of Pinot Noir, winemaker Norm Yost also produces sparkling wine and Pinot Gris. This is the first time Norm has used Gris fruit from the Shoestring Vineyard and the result is a bright, expressive, tasty Pinot Gris that will make you rethink just how good Pinot Gris can be. This has it all: citrus fruit, proper acidity, smooth on the palate and a wonderful finish.
Santa Barbara is Pinot Noir country, and the range of expressions in this county are varied. One of the stalwarts, having first started in 1975, is Lucas & Lewellen. For an inexpensive Pinot Noir, L&L does an admirable job of crafting a tightly wound Pinot with excellent fruit, good acidity, and oak influence (a mere 10 months in oak, only a small portion of which was new French) which doesn’t break the bank.
Comprised entirely of Cabernet Sauvignon, this differs from many Napa Cabernet in that there is a quiet rusticity to this wine. Rather than bright up front fruit, the fruit here is rather muted, offering blackberry, light blueberry, Rainer cherry, cocoa powder and white pepper. The tannic structure is fairly tight with a dusty, earthy quality. The light oak aging in all French oak provides the vanilla and campfire notes while giving the tannins room to exercise their importance in balancing the wine.
A rich and opulent style of Cabernet, this benefits from decanting, but it is less about tight tannins and more about letting the fruit open up to show its macerated side. This 100% Cabernet is replete with traditional Cabernet notes; blackberry, black cherry, blueberry and boysenberry. The oak aging brings on the vanilla and fine-grained tannic structure. The rest of the wine fills out with green tea leaf, sandalwood, earthy fruit, wild berries and moderate acidity.
