Sonoma Coast

Another great Chardonnay from Rivers Marie.  Golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose is great with lemon, vanilla, oak spice, and slight minerality.  Full bodied.  Light tannins.  Great balance and acidity.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Vanilla, lemon cream, slight grapefruit, spice and slight char.  Long finish.  Delicious.  This is very young and will improve its score by a couple points with ageing but it is still very enjoyable right now.  Great on its own, it would work well with Salmon grilled on a Cedar Plank.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.

Anthill is a quality producer that makes wine at the more "elegant" side of the spectrum of California Pinots.  Ruby in color with some blue hues, a bit cloudy but bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, raspberries, slight hay, and spice.  Medium bodied.  Light tannins.  On the palate, this is showing a nice complexity.  Flavors of cherries, black cherries and raspberries with a moist forest floor quality and some minerality.  Good finish.  This seems to be close to peak but may evolve as it matures further.  Drink over the next five to eight years.  Nice on its own but better with food,

One of the best "Classic" producers of California Pinot Noir.  Deep ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is great with cherries, cherry blossoms, spice, slight fennel and char.  Medium bodied.  Light tannins.  Great acidity.  At age ten, this is getting close to mature but still very fresh, vibrant fruit.  Flavors of cherries, black cherries, spice and slight rose notes.  Long finish.  This should have another five to eight more years before it slowly fades.  Great with some cheeses, this will work on its own, but better with food.  A nice choice would a creamy Mushroom Chicken

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.

This is a Syrah from the Sonoma Coast made in Helen Keplinger's home winery.  It drinks with a cooler climate profile and comes across beautifully.  Purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with boysenberries, dark chocolate, slight bacon fat and violets.  Medium to full bodied.  Medium tannins.  On the palate, this is the elegant side of California Syrah.  Boysenberries, white pepper and roasted herbs.  Deep.  Still young but starting to show some maturity.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.  This is great on its own but better with food.  Grilled Lamb Chops would work

It was interesting tasting this side by side with the 2018.  Very similar, but I slightly preferred the 2019.  On the other hand, this was very different than the 2014 and 2018 Summa also tasted.  Purple/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has black cherries and a cola note.  On the palate, this is big, fruit forward with black cherries, some cherries and char.  Full bodied.  Long finish.  This is delicious but clearly filled with sunshine and fruit.  Great on its own, this will also work with well roasted fowl but also a steak. Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.  

This is a much deeper, darker Pinot Noir than the Summa from 2018.  Purple/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has black cherries, cherries, spice and dust.  Medium to full bodied.  Light tannins.  On the palate, cherries and powdered cherry candy notes along with some spice.  Long finish.  This is still drinking very young.  Nice on its own, this will work well with food.  A nice with for Roasted Lamb Chops.  Drink over the next ten to twelve years.  

This seemed to be a step up from the 2014 Summa.  Ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is bigger and riper with cherries, candied cherries and sandalwood.  Medium to full bodied.  Soft texture.  Good balance.  Despite being a bit more blowsy in style, it is also deeper and more complex.  Flavors of cherries, cherry drink mix and a bit of char.  Delicious.  Long  finish.  This is drinking well on its own and would work well with food.  It would work well with grilled Portobello's.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years. 

Light ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is lovely with cherries, cinnamon, and slight spice notes.  Medium to full bodied.  Light tannins.  On the palate, cherries, some rhubarb and slight cloves.  Long finish.  This has some depth and complexity.  Still on the younger side of peak but getting there.  Nice on its own but better with food.  Cheese worked well, but this would be nice with roasted duck or chicken.  Drink over the next eight to twelve years. 

A couple  of steps up from the basic Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.  Light golden in color with some silvery hues, clear and bright.  The nose is great with lemon curd, slight pear, vanilla and spice.  Medium to full bodied.  Crisp acidity.  On the palate, this is concentrated but has some elegance.  Lemons, slight vanilla, a bit of toast and spice.  Complex.  Long finish.  For my tastes, one of the top Chardonnays out there.  It should easily drink well for ten to fifteen more years.  Great on its own, but better with food.  This would be excellent with grilled Salmon.