Expert articles and wine tasting videos profiling wines from California, California wine regions, Napa Valley, Sonoma County, & more.
I really enjoyed this wine. A long time Napa standard, it had been a while since I had revisited it. Light golden in color. The nose has melons and red apples. Very clean, little oak and no butter. On the palate, this is crisp and refreshing. Some apples, some melon with a nice mouthfeel. Food friendly. Under $30. Really a nice value in Napa Chardonnay.
30% Rousanne, 25% Marsanne, 20% Grenache Blanc, 15% Picpoul, and 10% Vermentino. This is one of my favorite (mostly) Rhone white wines from Paso Robles. Light golden in color. The nose is really nice with peaches, slight canned peaches, a nice minerals streak, some vanilla candle and some lemon peel. On the palate, this has a great oily texture. Slightly viscous. An excellent crispness. Depth and complexity. Do not serve this too cold as the complexity really comes out when the wine starts to get over 60F. Peaches, lemons, and minerals. Long finish. Great with food.
This wine is from the late great winemaker Denis Malbec's own winery. He made wine for some of the top wineries in Napa including Kapcsandy but was sadly killed in a car crash in 2017. This wine is certainly a tribute to his skills. Purple in color. The nose has cassis, slight cherries, spice with slight tarragon note. On the palate, this is has a nice structure. Pinpoint fruit hanging with tannins. The fruit has cassis and cherry and while ripe, not over done. This drinks well now but consumed over a couple days, it was better on Day 2 suggesting its best days are still ahead. Nic
This is a GSM blend. Purple in color. The nose has black raspberries and a hint of herbal notes. On the palate, this carries thru. The green note is a bit distracting. One dimensional. Easy drinking. Its a fine wine but for $52, I find it a bit lacking. Maybe with age? I don't think so, but who knows.
From a 375ml. This is a nice bottle to have when you want something easy and not too expensive for a couple of glasses. Purple in color. Cherries and slight raspberries on the nose. Some bramble and spice. Easy drinking. Not too complex. Enjoyable. Around $15.
40% Mourvedre, 30% Syrah, 21% Grenache and 9% Counoise. Tablas Creek is making some of the best Rhone varietal wines anywhere and they have been for 20 years. Purple in color. The nose is nice, deep and has a nice complexity. Plums, dark cherries, slight char, black pepper and spice. With air, purple fruits come to the forefront. On the palate, this is young and still not yet at peak IMO. Plums, black raspberries layered with char and spice. A hint of muskiness as well. Lovely mouthfeel. Great texture. Nice finish. These wines are built to age and while the 2012 is more open tha
Purple/ruby in color. The nose has cherries and celery. On the palate, there is some cherry fruit. This is sweet and sticky. I presume some residual sugar. Lacking acidity. Clipped finish. This retails for $25 and some people will like. Not for my tastes though.
Purple/ruby in color. The nose has cherries, spice and some chocolate. On the palate, this is sweet ripe cherries. One dimensional. Easy drinking. Tasty. Nice finish. It retails for around $50. Drink over the next five years.
Pop and pour, this wine is in a great place right now. Purple/ruby in color. The nose has black raspberries, white pepper, slight roasted meats and with air, blueberries and floral notes. Very nice. On the palate, this is layered and complex. Plenty of black raspberry fruit, slight blueberries along with an underlying char. Great balance. It is actually a bit soft in texture from what I expected which is not a bad thing. Complex and almost seamless. Not sure if it gets better, but certainly no hurry, this has decades left. Great wine.
In a tasting, its often the bigger, flashier wine that is the best. But, at the dinner table, over a couple hours, the opposite is often true. That was the situation this wine had to deal with, but it came thru just fine. Despite being 30 years younger than one of the wines, it still managed to strut itself quite impressively. Purple in color, magenta at the rim. Bright. The nose has cassis, some graphite, spice and slight cedar. Powerful but not over the top. On the palate, this has a wonderful mouth feel. Juicy. Its big but seems light on its feet. Flavors of cassis, and some p
