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 Scheid Vineyards Hames Valley Vineyard Petite Sirah (Monterey): Burly and beautiful, spicy and seductive; sorry Haters, but you totally lose this round. $38 A-
• 2016 Scheid Vineyards Doctor’s Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands): A spirited composition, ending on a minor key that won’t fully resolve for several more years. $75 A
• 2016 Scheid Vineyards Escolle Road Vineyard Chardonnay (Santa Lucia Highlands): Tropical, tasty, and un-apologetically bold about it at nearly every step. $45 A-
• 2016 Dutton Estate Winery Karmen Isabella – Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley): its richness will be divisive, but sometimes a good argument is well worth having. $46 A-
• 2016 Edna Valley Vineyard Winemaker Series Sauvignon Blanc (Edna Valley): Some decidedly, deliciously fanceé stuff is being strutted here. $30 B+
• 2013 RdV Vineyards Rendezvous (Virginia): A lot closer to Bordeaux than the map’s nearly 4000 miles would otherwise insinuate. $80 A-
• 2015 Reva Barbera d’Alba Superiore (Piedmont): Barbera brought to you by the letter ‘B’ – Big, Bold, and Bombastic, in this case. $NA B+
• 2015 Senda Verde Mencia (Bierzo): Rustic, peppery, and vivacious; the latter sometimes getting it in a little bit of trouble for the occasional acerbic outburst. $12 B-
• 2017 Dr. H. Thanisch Bernkasteller Badstube Riesling Kabinett (Mosel): Lemon-dropping the mic with its sick-tight citric tastiness. $25 B+
• 2015 Villa Maria Single Vineyard Taylors Pass Pinot Noir (Marlborough): The spices and red berries are great company; the wood might be overstaying its welcome a little bit. $45 B+

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 Trivento Eolo Malbec (Lujan de Cuyo): Finely honed, as if chiseled from marble, but the outlines have been kept smooth and flow with grace. $79 A-
• 2017 Villa Maria Single Vineyard Taylors Pass Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough): Sometimes, you just gotta go ahead and toss shyness right out of the window. $25 B+
• 2017 Caves Sao Joao Espumante Rose Bruto (Bairrada): You’ll probably wonder why the fruitiness is so subdued, but it’s just keeping in line with the whole package’s refined profile. $22 B
• 2014 Tolino Vineyards Cabernet Franc (Pennsylvania): Does this one have relatives that live in the Loire? Because it sure feels like it… $25 B+
• 2015 Rushland Ridge Vineyards Bucks County Cabernet Franc (Pennsylvania): Bring your penchant for green herbs, and for skilled, countryside craftsmanship. $NA B
• 2016 Maple Springs Vineyard Albariño (Pennsylvania): A surprising sipper that’s both refreshing and precise, and precisely the type of refreshing display that PA wine needs. $NA B
• 2017 Opolo Vineyards Roussanne (Central Coast): A lot of fig jam, a bit of honey blossom, and quite a ton of attitude. $26 B
• 2016 McIntyre Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands): Opulence, grit, and verve, all riding high and confident in their respective saddles. $38 B+
• 2014 Filipponi Ranch Cellars Paragon Vineyard Chardonnay (Edna Valley): Maturing beautifully, almost majestically, in fact; we should all be so lucky – and so accessible. $27 A-
• 2015 Ehlers Estate Cabernet Franc (St. Helena): About as modern and sexy of a take on the wily CF as you’re likely to find in these parts. $65 A-

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!

• NV Adriano Adami Bosco di Gica Brut (Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore): Reserve it for when you need a shot of refinement; don’t start bitching, though, you’ll still get your fruit action! $20 B
• 2013 E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage (Rhone): Eminently drinkable meets impeccably peppery meets elegantly crafted meets your grateful mouth. $28 B+
• 2013 Cadaretta Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley): Flaunting its sex appeal and fine wooden furnishings, almost to the point of exasperation, but good work is good work. $45 A-
• 2016 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Chardonnay (Applegate Valley): Annnnnnnd chalk up yet another balanced, tasty reason to consider Chardonnay as Oregon’s *other* best grape… $26 A-
• 2015 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Warrick White Reserve (Applegate Valley): Toasty, peachy, floral, apricot luuuuv child of Chardonnay and Viognier. $28 B+
• 2017 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Dry Rose (Applegate Valley): Taste this before you write off the gentler sides of Syrah and Malbec, you judgemental bastard, you! $20 B+
• 2014 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Merlot (Applegate Valley): Aromas of America’s Left Coast, palate of Bordeaux’s Right Bank, and brambly structure weaving it all together. $34 A-
• 2015 Sosie Wines Vivio Vineyard Bennet Valley Roussanne (Sonoma County): When stone fruits get all sultry and seductive and stuff like that. $38 A-
• 2015 Sosie Wines Stagecoach Vineyard Block K5 Cabernet Franc (Napa Valley): Holllllllly. Sh*t. Struts into the dusty street, calm, collected, both guns blazing. $80 A
• 2014 Mi Sueno Winery Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Sexy now, but like Helen Mirren, this one is gonna get even more elegant with age. $75 A-

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!

• NV Party Favor Pinot Grigio (California): Fun it has in spades; balance it has in… a lot less than spades. $19 C+
• 2013 Fiddlehead Cellars ‘Cuvee Seven Twenty Eight’ Fiddlestix Pinot Noir (Sta Rita Hills): You’ll only really be saying “ah, fiddlesticks!” when the bottle is (all to quickly) emptied. $44 A-
• 2016 McIntyre Vineyards Estate Chardonnay (Santa Lucia Highlands): The California accent is lusciously, sexily thick when this one speaks up. $30 B+
• 2016 ZD Wines Founder’s Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros): About as polar opposite to shy and small as Carneros fruit can reasonably get. $82 A-
• 2015 Venge Vineyards “Silencieux” Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Not a proper namesake when it comes to its abundant fruitiness. Luckily for us. $55 A-
• 2016 Muti Albariño (Rias Baixas): Mineral, pithy, substantial, and glorious; white lovers, rejoice, for your Autumn sipper hath arrived. $36 A-
• 2016 Mastroberardino Lacrimarosa Irpinia Rosato (Irpinia): A small glass of pure joy, masterfully poured and dutifully considered. $20 B+
• 2013 Künstler Pinot Noir Dry (Rheingau): The real art here is how they managed to get Pinot from Germany this good out of the country before the Germans drank it all fore themselves… $30 A-
• 2016 Concha y Toro Gran Reserva Serie Riberas Malbec (Central Valley): Caught somewhere between South America, Western Europe, and an entire oak forest. $20 B
• 2016 Mt. Beautiful Sauvignon Blanc (North Canterbury): Pungent and pretty coexisting quite happily, if a bit enthusiastically. $17 B+