Expert articles and wine tasting videos profiling wines from California, California wine regions, Napa Valley, Sonoma County, & more.
95% Syrah, 5% Viognier. Purple in color. The nose is nice with black raspberries, leather, roasted meats, and black pepper. Deep. On the palate, this is delicious. Black raspberries, char, black pepper along with some earthiness. More lower tones (if that makes sense). Good balance. Kept opening up. This has a long life left. Needs bigger foods.
Carlisle conitnues to pump out some of the best Zinfandels. Period. That they cost under $50 is even better. Purple in color. The nose is great with black raspberries, slight bramble, char and black cherries. On the palate, the texture is wonderful; lush yet precise. Lots of black rasberry and boysenberry fruit. Depth. Needs spicy or big foods. Long finish. Just a delicious wine.
This is the basic Jaffurs Syrah. It is one of the great values in warmer climate Syrah from California. It typically retails for around $30. Purple in color, ruby at the rim. The nose is great with black raspberries, roasted meats, slight violets and black pepper. On the palate, there is a nice energy. Bright black raspberry fruit. Underlying roasted meats and earthiness. Great texture. This drinks great on release and continues to improve for a decade. Goes well with medium or heartier foods and especially Indian foods. If you are not on this wineries mailing list, you should be
60% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 15% Mourvedre, 5% Cinsault, 5% Counoise. Inky purple in color. The nose is great with black raspberries, leather, plums, slight earthiness, char and some black cherries. On the palate, this has a wonderful rich texture. Medium tannins. It is young but bursting with fruit without being over the top. Black cherries, black raspberries, underlying earthiness and char. Long finish. This is a big wine and needs either big or spicy food. It is still probably 7 years from maturity and will last another 10 after that (at least). That said, it is delicious and enjoy
The perils of buying wines off store shelved that have been there a while. This wine, recently bought, did not appear to be in perfect shape. Still, it offered up enough pleasure that it was worth drinking. Purple in color, ruby at the rim. The nose has a slight aquarium note along with a bit of balsamic. There is also some red fruit fighting to be heard. The palate was pretty much the same. There is some complexity here. Probably a very nice wine as it fought with likely poor storage and heat. Too bad.
Sadly, this bottle was quite off. Not sure if it is over the hill or something went wrong. Its full of volatile acidity. Undrinkable. I am a huge fan of Sineann wines and a bottle consumed in 2010 of this scored 90. This one went down the drain. Bad bottles happen and its important to note those as well. This had a glass cork.
Named after the soccer team, from one of the top vineyards in Napa. Purple in color, ruby at the rim. The nose is great with cassis, slight blueberries, dust, a bit of chocolate and spice. On the palate, this drinks well with just a bit of air. Deep black raspberry fruit; it unwinds in the glass to show layers of spice, blueberries, dark chocolate and black cherries. Medium tannins. Wonderful texture. Long finish. This is a big wine, but it also has that super concentration. The flavors just keep growing and growing. Great finish. No hurry here, this has a decade or two remaining
Purple in color. The nose is heavily oaked. Also plenty of cassis and some pencil lead. On the palate, this is more integrated. Black raspberries, underlying graphite. Thick tannins. Some depth. Good finish. This is a rich, huge wine. It will take some very hearty food to stand up to it, but it is delicious on its own. Those who love Napa fruit bombs will indeed enjoy this a lot. It retails for around $100.
Drop dead gorgeous wine. Still not quite fully mature but close. The only trouble with this wine is it get's drunk so quickly. A super crowd pleaser. Purple in color, slight ruby at the rime. The nose is great with black raspberries, black pepper, drilled meats and slight violets. Wonderful velvety texture. Great balance. Juicy black raspberry fruit with grilled meats underlying it on the palate. Long finish. Each gulp begets another. Works with hearty or spicy foods. Long finish. Just a superb wine.
emBrazen is a new line of wines honoring bold women who were trailblazers in their fields. This one honors Nellie Bly who became a Foreign Correspondent. This wine was a step up from the Chardonnay. Ruby in color, purple at the core. The nose is dusty with black cherries and some tobacco. On the palate, the black cherries continue. Good acidity. Some depth. This would work with BBQ and other summer/autumn fare. It retails for $16 which is a very nice value.
