Browse Tag

california

TN: New Heitz

Heitz 1999 Grignolino “Port” (Napa Valley) – Can anyone actually afford to plant grignolino in Napa these days? Anyway, this was a favorite post-prandial quaffer back in my early wine-drinking days, and it tastes pretty much as I remember it: strawberry and candied/spiced apple, with a bright, smiling, simple face. Fun. Don’t overthink it. (5/07)

TN: Hairy Potter

Kalin 1996 Semillon (Livermore Valley) – Lightly oxidized, but in a good way, with waxy Rainier cherry, preserved citrus rind, gravel and honeysuckle slashed by cider. The density is striking, as is the acidity, but if there’s a flaw it’s that the wine is a bit hot for the form. It won’t be for everyone, but I like it. I think. (5/07)

Kalin 1990 Sauvignon Blanc “Reserve” (Potter Valley) – Flop sweat and sweet, metal-encased apples and pine. There’s a strongly insistent note of old Sherry wood as well. This draws raves from everyone but me; I think it’s very good, but that it has reached that asymptotic old wine stage where everything tastes the same. It’s not bad because it’s at that point, but it’s not declarative either. (5/07)

TN: Witters don’t use drugs

[steve edmunds]Edmunds St. John 2006 Pinot Gris Witters (El Dorado County) – With a name switch from the Italian form, this carries certain stylistic expectations on which it doesn’t deliver. Which is not necessarily a criticism, as the following will detail. There’s honeysuckle and a flashing, floral palate full of pollen and spice. It’s weighty and a touch hot, but the balance is mostly solid, and there’s a deeply-buried foundation of sun-yellowed minerality. In other words, this is a really good Condrieu. Probably the best Condrieu made outside the region. Who could have guessed? (6/07)

TN: Bella up to the bar

[label]Bella 2004 Zinfandel Big River Ranch (Alexander Valley) – 15%. Huge. Thick blackberry and boysenberry sludge with plenty of spreadable oak, yet it’s “balanced” in that strange, youthful-but-ageable zin fashion. It’s a bit much to take right now, but with a decade or so, I think pretty much everyone will be happy. It tastes a lot like a Dashe zin, or a Ridge, and there’s a reason for that… (6/07)

TN: Ridge line

Ridge 1992 Geyserville (Sonoma County) – Cedar and roasted coconut over zingy red cherries and oat bran. Richly-spiced and mildly tannic, with a pecan-skin punch to the finish. Yet this wine is clearly in the early stages of its decline, showing telltale signs of softness amidst the defiance and lingering aromatics. Drink a few years ago for maximum pleasure. (5/07)

TN: Quivira-ing with anticipation

[grapes]Quivira 2002 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – Good, sun-roasted berry flavors with a thickening paste of syrupy wood. Why molest good fruit this way? The wine’s not bad for uncritical quaffing, but keener palates won’t enjoy trying to penetrate the sludgy perimeter. (5/07)

TN: Fool’s gold

Au Bon Climat 2005 Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara County) – Simple mixed berries and obvious structure. Direct and straightforward. The finish is absent. (5/07)

TN: Palmina card

[bottles]Palmina 2001 Nebbiolo Stolpman (Santa Ynez Valley) – One of the most tangible wines I’ve tasted in a long time, with a powder-on-velvet texture that’s absolutely captivating. The nose is explosive, showing blackberries and black cherries undercut by rich black earth, tarragon and skin-like qualities. Balanced, forceful, and beautiful right now, but it will most definitely age. As to the question of whether or not it tastes like nebbiolo: if the standard is Piedmont, it does not. But it’s a terrific wine nonetheless…one of the best reds I’ve had from California in a long, long time. (5/07)

TN: Que

[syrah]Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah (California) – Dark and moody, with leather-wrapped blackberry and blueberry beneath a growing layer of black silt. This wine hasn’t budged much over the last few years; it’s an excellent value, full of honesty and delicious, authentic quality. (4/07)

TN: Lots and lots

[baby in grapes]Marietta “Old Vine Red Lot #43” (California) – Solid though unidentifiable fruit dominated by old, briary berries and mild woodspice. Balanced and friendly. Exceedingly easygoing. (4/07)