California

• Amador County
  • Shenandoah Valley
• Carmel Valley
• Carneros
• Central Coast
  • Edna Valley
  • Mt. Harlan
  • Paso Robles
• Contra Costa County
• El Dorado County
• Lake County
• Lodi
• Mendocino
  • Anderson Valley
  • Yorkville Highlands
• Monterey
• Napa Valley
  • Atlas Peak
  • Best of Napa
  • Calistoga
  • Conn Valley
  • Diamond Mountain
  • Howell Mountain
  • Mt. Veeder
  • Oak Knoll
  • Oakville
  • Pope Valley
  • Rutherford
  • Spring Mountain
  • St. Helena
  • Stags Leap
  • Yountville
• North Coast
• Santa Barbara
  • Santa Lucia Highlands
  • Santa Rita Hills
  • Santa Ynez Valley
• Santa Cruz
• Santa Maria Valley
• Sierra Foothills
• Sonoma County
  • Alexander Valley
  • Bennett Valley
  • Best of Sonoma
  • Dry Creek Valley
  • Fort Ross/Seaview
  • Moon Mountain
  • Pine Mountain - Cloverdale Peak
  • Russian River Valley
  • Sonoma Coast
  • Sonoma Mountain
  • Sonoma Valley
  • Knights Valley

This is obviously very young but surprisingly accessible.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose has boysenberries, graphite, gravel, spice, and char.  Great, plush texture.  Good acidity.  Lots of vibrancy.  On the palate, firm tannins.  Loads of boysenberry fruit with underlying char.  Tighter on the palate, but opens nicely with a few hours of air.  This will improve with a few more years in the cellar.  Hold for another three to five and drink for ten to fifteen after that.  Nice on its own, this worked well with vegetarian Indian cuisine. 

Great showing for this wine.  It is a blend of 40% Mourvedre, 28% Syrah, 27% Grenache and 5% Counoise from California's Central Coast.  This wine has matured brilliantly and if you have a bottle, definitely worth opening right now. ... I'll wait. ....

Calera is unique in that it is not in the typical Pinot Noir growing regions in California – it is unto itself. Therefore, the wines coming from here offer a unique perspective. The acidity and minerality along with earthy volcanic soil and higher elevation growing makes these interesting wines. The Jensen Vineyard Pinot offers black cherry, strawberry, lingonberry, light huckleberry and blueberry fruit notes. Additionally there are light notes of pomegranate, sandalwood, Douglas fir, candied almond and Rainer cherry.

As the name suggests, this Pinot grows at an average elevation of 1,300 feet, a scant 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean. There’s a wonderful rustic quality to this, given that the Santa Cruz Mountain are comprised of ancient soils. The fruit is restrained, more earthy and mineral driven, just the sort of style that works well with a variety of different foods. Yes, there is black cherry, pomegranate, huckleberry, but also a light dried raisin note. There as also great acidity, a whisper of candied almond, sandalwood, resin and boysenberry.

The allure of Kosta Browne wines has been that, though they are very expressive wines, they are subtle. Shunning the in-your-face-Pinot-with-a-dash-of-Syrah, these wines are meant to reflect the place where they are grown, and the proof of this is that they taste like it. To further this point I received five Pinot Noirs to sample and opened one blind and tasted it. My first thought this was Sonoma Coast, and after looking at the label, it was.

Davis Bynum has a long history in Sonoma, dating back to the early 1970s and has long promoted Sonoma wine before Sonoma was known for its dynamic wines it is today. This 2022 uses six different Chardonnay clones from various blocks on their property to craft a classic Sonoma Chardonnay. You’ll find lemon curd, light resin, apricot, honeysuckle and white peach where the acidity supports the fruit.

One of the best 20`17 Napa Cabs I have tried.  Inky purple in color, opaque and shimmering bright.  The nose has cassis, cedar, tobacco, char and spice.  Full bodied.  Firm tannins.  Great balance.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Flavors of cassis, some black cherries, with a nice earthiness and a touch of char.  Long finish.  This has a nice depth and complexity and unwinds in the glass.  It will still gain more with further cellaring.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.  Great on its own, this will work with meat, fowl or veggies.  A nice wine with a grilled steak off the grill

With vineyards in both Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties, Rhys can pull from a variety of sources to make a variety of Pinot Noir. With Bearwallow, their vineyard in the Anderson Valley, there is a delicate and quite lovely feel to this – something as smooth as silk. The softness texturally belies its layered complexity. Yes there is the requisite black cherry, boysenberry, loganberry and light strawberry, but there is also black tea leaf, light resin and sandalwood.

As Pinot Noir goes, this is quite simply a very pretty wine. Sure, that’s not the sort of descriptor that most reviews use, but it is accurate. Subtle, soft, almost subversive, this is a Pinot that doesn’t announce itself, it doesn’t brag, it simply waits in the glass for you to try it. There is noticeable but subdued fruit; black cherry, pomegranate, Rainer cherry, light strawberry, pomegranate but they are wonderfully melded together so that nothing stands out – except for the quality of the wine in your glass at that moment.

California is making some very nice Albarinos these days.  At four years from vintage it might be worrying but this was sealed with a screw cap and the wine inside from fresh and bright.  Light green/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with apples, peach and a stony minerality.  Medium bodied.  Slightly oily texture.  On the palate, this is more about fruit and some minerality than its crisper Spanish siblings.  It is filled with ripeness and body.  Flavors of red apples and peaches.  Good finish.  This works very nice on its own and would work well with lighter foods.  A nic