Expert articles and wine tasting videos profiling wines from California, California wine regions, Napa Valley, Sonoma County, & more.
Note: This is a different wine than the Peacock Sauvignon Blanc made in South Africa. Pale silvery/green/straw in color, clear and bright. The nose is nice with limes, slight tropical fruit and a hint of minerality. Light to medium bodied. On the palate, this drinks easily. Flavors of limes and tropical fruits. Good finish. This is nice on its own and will drink well with lighter foods. It would work well with Chicken Salad.
Deep garnet in color, mostly opaque and bright. The nose is nice with black cherries, slight cherries, cigar, cedar and leather. Full bodied. Medium tannins. Nicely balanced. On the palate, nice texture. Flavors of black cherries, cherries, slight forest floor and cedar. Long finish. This is good and seems to be close to peak. No hurry though, drink over the next ten years. It is very nice on its own and will work nicely with many foods. This would be a good wine with "Rotisserie Chicken".
John Alban makes wonderful Rhone varietal wines. This is almost all Syrah although some references suggest a tiny amount of Viognier. Inky purple in color, opaque and bright. The nose is deep and fresh with black raspberries, bacon fat, black pepper and slight dark chocolate. Full bodied. Medium tannins. On the palate, this is lush and delicious but not over the top. Still pretty youthful. Flavors of black raspberries, black pepper and chocolate. Long finish. This could use more cellaring so if opening soon, give it some air. Drink over the next twenty years.
One of the intriguing things about wine (some, not all) is that there is vintage variation with the wine - each harvest is unique and the bottles from that harvest taste different than previous harvests. As Calera celebrates its 50th birthday, such is the case with this Pinot Noir. I have tasted and reviewed Calera wines for many years and this is a different iteration than other vintages from the Ryan Vineyard. The wine focuses on more dark and brooding fruit with much more minerality and acidity than in previous vintages.
