MONSANT | SPAIN | $17
Forward cherry and pomegranate fruit with accents of sassafras, sage and citrus peel. Full-bodied, with extracted flavors. Focused, flavorful and adaptable. Dry finish with a pleasant acidic perk. Here’s a charmer: Utterly enjoyable, simple with a purpose, exits suddenly, leaves only fond memories. A guest you’ll ask to return. 50% Garnacha, 40% Mazuelo, 10% Syrah. A good wine. (Reviewed 9/5/13)
Bodegas Ordonez ‘Zerran’ 2011
Filed under $20 and less, Spain, Syrah/Shiraz | Grenache | Mourvedre
Herman Story Syrah ‘Nuts & Bolts’ 2008
CALIFORNIA | $45
A massive, but not fruit-forward, wine with concentrated ripe blackberry, black cherry and purple plum balanced with dark natural cocoa, smoke, sarsaparilla, nutmeg and chalk. Complex with a smooth texture, pleasant chew and long finish. Compacted, intense, opaque with an explosion of flavor. Its 16.1% alcohol cannot go without mention, but the wine stands up to it, and it does so very well, revealing a balance, well-integrated drink that’s impossible to put down. He’s a brute in appearance only. An excellent wine. (Reviewed 8/31/13)
Terrabianca Campaccio 2007
TUSCANY | ITALY | $30
Dried cherry, purple plum and orange peel with flavors of licorice, allspice, bay and soil. Complex yet easily accessible and very well balanced, full of deep low notes with a silky texture and pleasantly dry, lingering finish. Not your favorite Three Tenor, but a deep baritone-basso or two — with exceptional timbre: Imagine a harmony of Johnny Cash and Barry White. 70% Saigonese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. An excellent wine. (Reviewed 7/31/13)
Filed under $21 to $50, Italian Varietals, Italy
Foley Pinot Noir Rancho Santa Rosa ‘Barrel Select’ 2007
SANTA RITA HILLS | CALIFORNIA | $60
Muted ripe blackberry, purple plum and black cherry fruit with flavors of cocoa, nutmeg, clove and redwood. Full of beautiful mid-notes. Medium bodied, but toward the full end of the spectrum, with a pleasant chew in the velvet texture. Multidimensional with a nice acidity and long finish. There is much to think about. She’s gained complexity, wisdom and cool in her maturity — one might say sublime — though it’s easy to imagine in her youth, a spry, curious, playful yet predictable kitten in her place. Perhaps better in youth; then again, perhaps not. A very good wine. (Reviewed 7/11/13)
Filed under $51 to $100, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir
Adelaida Syrah Anna’s Vineyard 2009
PASO ROBLES | CALIFORNIA | $32
Santa Rosa plum, red cherry and blueberry fruit seasoned with chalk, camphor, oak and a suggestion of orange peel. Flavorful, forward, focused and fruity, showing a slight gloss with a weighty satin texture — but we have restraint, a Central Coast Syrah surprise. She dons her red shoes eschewing the matching purse, and you notice them more. A very good wine. (Reviewed 7/4/13)
William Hill Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Bench Blend’ 2008
NAPA VALLEY | CALIFORNIA | $30
Ripe purple plum with black cherry and notes of licorice, graphite, orange peel, cinnamon and cedar. Flavorful soft fruit, chewy tannins, very smooth — yet reveals its near-15% alcohol. An easy-going wine with some complexity but a moderate range. Thumps along like a Motown bass track: Lots of low-note bliss, familiar, with all its components working together. A good wine. Wine provided by Wine Chateau. (Reviewed 8/20/13)
Filed under $21 to $50, Cabernet Sauvignon, California
Gran Toqui Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
ALTO CACHAPOAL VALLEY | CHILE | $12
Soft blackberry and plum fruit with flavors of licorice, cocoa, chai spice and graphite. Plenty of low notes here, with pleasant, subtle tannins and a spritely counterpoint of acidic brightness on the finish. Lightweight in the mouth, yet the flavors are weighty. Something of a brooding wine: A fugue of baritones. A good wine and a great value. Wine provided by Wine Chateau. (Reviewed 8/4/13)
Filed under $20 and less, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile
Louis Jadot Macon-Villages Chardonnay 2012
BURGUNDY | FRANCE | $12
Fruit of guava, apple and pear with notes of honeysuckle, lemongrass, stoney minerals and grapefruit zest on the finish. Medium bodied, slightly viscous, unoaked and quenching with modest acidity. An easy drinking wine, unpretentious and versatile. This one’s a charmer at any occasion; comfortable in his skin, he wins the crowd whether it’s formal or backyard. A very good wine and an outstanding value. Wine provided by Wine Chateau. (Reviewed 7/28/13)
Filed under $20 and less, Chardonnay, France
Ici/La-Bas Pinot Noir ‘Les Reveles’ Elke Vineyard 2009
ANDERSON VALLEY | CALIFORNIA | $30
Ripe Rainier and Bing cherry with red plum and complex notes of graphite, cedar, rhubarb, forest floor plus a hint of clove. Light mouth feel and a silky texture with a nice natural fruit acidity on the back-end bringing balance. Combines fruit and savory into that “something else” — a wonderful strata of flavors, multi-dimensional without confusion. Improbably full in flavor and weightless in body: An incredible lightness of being. A very good wine. (Reviewed 7/4/13)
Filed under $21 to $50, California, Pinot Noir
Stolpman ‘L’Avion’ 2007
SANTA YNEZ VALLEY | CALIFORNIA | $38
Sublime fruit of guava, grapefruit, Meyer lemon and a hint of fig, plus mineral-rich flavors of wet stones and chalk, highlighted with notes of delicate honeysuckle up front and sturdy citrus peel on the lingering finish. Ever so slightly vicious and a bit laden in the mouth, yet also so very intricate and fragile. A beautiful medium-bodied wine with great complexity, balance and interest. Rousanne 90%, Vigonier 10% — with robust 14.8% alcohol. An excellent wine. (Reviewed 5/27/13)
Filed under $21 to $50, California, Vigonier | Rousanne | Marsanne
