I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- 2014 Lumos Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity Hills): Grippy, earthy, spicy, and clearly crafted by talented hands. $18 B+
- 2015 Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards Winemaker’s Reserve Pinot Noir (Umpqua Valley): Pretty as a prayer book; pithy, long, and academically this one has textbook consistency. $42 A-
- 2016 Del Rio Vineyards Pinot Gris (Rogue Valley): Round without being flabby, pretty without being prissy, sharp without being biting, good without being pricey. $16 B+
- 2015 Del Rio Vineyards Syrah (Rogue Valley): This rogue is dashing, dark, handsome, and wearing a fair amount of designer leather clothing. $30 B+
- 2015 Wooldridge Creek Tempranillo (Applegate Valley): from a warm vintage comes warm tobacco spices and a warming sensation generally all over your body. $35 B+
- 2013 Cavit Altemasi Metodo Classico Brut Trento (Trentino-Alto Adige): Drawing fine border lines, mostly between citric verve and a sense of richness. $27 B+
- 2013 Enrico Serafino Brut (Alta Langa): Zesty apple and citrus neighbors getting along splendidly, but they definitely like their hedges abd fences just a bit round. $26 B+
- 2012 Alessandro Rivetto Lazzarito Barolo (Piedmont): Vibrant, earthy, lithe, complex, and currently only in its embryonic stage of development. $90 A
- 2016 M. Chapoutier Domaine de Bila-Haut ‘Occultum Lapidem’ (Cotes du Roussillon Villages): It’s the cult of meaty, leathery, herbal, dark, structured expression. Seriously, apparently there totally is one… $30
- 2016 Covenant Wines ‘Zahav’ Late Harvest Botrytis Chardonnay (Sonoma Mountain): Mandarin orange candy that’s bordering on heavenly. $30 B+
The steep slopes at Hidden Ridge, back in 2010
Sometimes, the wine business is a very, very small place. Also, I am about to talk about jellyfish. You’ve been warned…
While in San Francisco recently for the SF International Wine Competition (more on the results of that in a couple of weeks), I caught up with wine marketing maven Tim Martin. Longtime 1WD readers might recognize Tim’s name from way back in 2012, when apparently (according to Tim, anyway) I was the first person to write about Tim’s Napa Valley project, Tusk. “We’ve got a ten year waiting list on Tusk now,” Tim mentioned, which I suppose is much more a tribute to that brand’s cult status, and the prowess of winemaker Philippe Melka than it is to my influence. I mean, as far as I know, even my mom doesn’t read 1WD.
Anyway…
The late Lynn Hofacket (photographed in 2010)
It turns out that in the five-plus years since we last met, Martin has been busy lining up another potential cult classic, and this one already has some connection to previous 1WD coverage – it happens to be the next iteration of Hidden Ridge, which even longer-time 1WD readers might recall from when I visited that stunning Sonoma estate, on the very edge of the Napa Valley border, back in 2010. At the time, I marveled at why the prices for their reds were so low.
After Hidden Ridge patriarch Lynn Hofacket – who planted the vineyards on the steep hills of that estate (some of which literally match the great pyramids in slope percentage) – passed away, his wife Casidy ward eventually (though not without some trepidation, as I’ve been told) sold the vineyards to what would become the team behind what would become Immortal Estate (Hidden Ridge winemaker Timothy Milos remains a part of the team).
It was Hofacket’s passing, which nearly coincided with the death of Martin’s father, that became the genesis of Immortal’s brand name. “I started to think about legacy, and what we leave behind” Martin told me, and he noticed that Wine Advocate’s 100-point review of the 2013 Hidden Ridge Impassable Mountain Cabernet included the phrase “This wine is nearly Immortal.” And thus, a brand (or, at least, the idea of one) was born.
Which brings us to the jellyfish…
Read the rest of this stuff »
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- 2015 Chalk Hill Estate Red Proprietary Blend (Chalk Hill): Sonoma County gettin’ super-sultry, seductive, and smooth as silk. $70 A-
- 2016 Dutton-Goldfield Redwood Ridge Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast): Textured, dense, dark, and basically an unassuming triumph of bottled excellence. $62 A
- 2014 Rodney Strong Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Alexander Valley): Tucking in those fine, ripe plums, stony minerals, and game meat under a cozy blanket of refined oak. $45 A-
- 2013 Anarchist Wine “Conspiracy Theory” Red (California): Juicy and certainly tasty, though you might feel as though your pocket had been picked. $36 B
- 2016 Stewart Cellars Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley): Grassier, more pungent, more textural, and definitely more affordable than you were expecting from the Valley. $25 B+
- 2015 Amici Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Might come off as velvety and reticent now, but time will be very, very kind to this one. $84 A
- 2017 Ferraton Pere & Fils Cotes du Rhone Samorens Blanc (Rhone): Those tropical fruits are spreading their stuff out, because that’s just how they roll, bro. $15 B
- 2014 Dr. Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Alte Reben Grosses Gewachs (Mosel): Flowers, honey, limes, and… ok, seriously, now you are just showing off… $34 A-
- 2017 Weingut Seehof Pinot Noir Rose Trocken (Rheinhessen): Red currants, dancing in the pure joy of their delightful tangy-ness. $17 B
- W & J Graham’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port (Portugal): ‘Tis the season for drinking delectable pecan pie. $35 B+
