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

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

This bottle had been stood and was decanted about an hour before serving.  We enjoyed it over the next couple of hours.  Blind, I would have guessed a not too old Bordeaux, maybe say 2000.  Bright purple in color, magenta at the rim.

Light golden in color.  The nose is great with a creamy lemon vanilla quality to it.  Maybe some peach as well as it warms.  On the palate, this has a lush creamy texture.  Lemons, vanilla, and with air some pineapple.  This is still young but has rounded out a bit.  Layers of depth with lemon and pineapple intertwined with a dry candied quality if that makes sense.  This seems like it will age quite well.  There is still some oak but it is almost seamless instead of over bearing.  Long finish.  Great wine.  

Light to medium golden in color.  Cloudy.  The nose is very pretty with pineapple, and minerals and just the slightest notes of grass.  Revisiting this also has some hay.  On the palate, this is delicious.  A creamy texture.  A perception of sweetness from the ripe tropical fruit notes.  Also crisp enough served cold.  Long finish.  Worked well with food.  One of the truly great Sauvignon Blancs from California.  While it seems like it will age fine, it is so fresh and lively now, I am not sure it gets better, just different, I would (and I did), drink these sooner than later.  

Another Carlisle wine, another great wine.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  On the nose, black raspberries, spice, and some vanilla.  On the palate, a great lush but juicy texture.  Great energy.  Flavors of black raspberry, some char and pepper.  Long finish.  Works well with food or on its own.  

Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose has cassis, coffee and spice.  On the palate, there is nice dark cherry fruit, some cassis, and spice.  Medium tannins.  I wouldn't wait on this too long as I am not sure there is enough fruit to outlast the tannins in the long run.  That said, it is drinking well now with some nice fruit.  A bit of complexity as well.