Quick notes on a few wines I opened this week which didn’t get full *blog* treatment but bear mentioning because I have thoughts on them. And this is what this blog is about, right? My thoughts on wine. I’ll keep it short.

2018 BOSCARELLI Sangio/Colorino 85/15 Vino Nobile di Monepulciano DOCG Toscana Italy 14.0 An Italian resty pick with dinner–actually my third back-up on the list as they failed to find and/or were “out” of my first two choices. Such is the state of most restaurants I attend lately. Fix your lists, people! Sheesh: HOW HARD IS IT??? Ridiculously funky: old-world brett cramming every pore of nose and taste. I’ve had Chianti cleaner than this! Serviceable but not especially enjoyable… One of those things you just roll your eyes over and quaff with dinner and don’t think too hard about.

2013 TRINCHERO “Mario’s” Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 14.9 I LOVE this wine. Tasted it at a trade-tasting and it was the WINE OF THE DAY and purchased a bit for the cellar. Rich and vibrant, decidedly *Napa* in all aspects, quite ripe, but roiled with plentiful acid and gobs of tannin. One of my favorite 13’s from a “VINTAGE OF THE DECADE” which honestly has failed to woo me terribly. I tasted a current release recently (2016?) and it did NOT compel me the way this wine did. Fat and homogeneous, I was actually disappointed in my taste towards the 13. Had to re-visit, and still feel the 13 an absolute gem. Find it!

2019 BROKEN EARTH Torrontes Paso Robles From shiner. Crazy effusive tropical fruit on opening. Almost muscat-ey feeling, it gushed gobs of lychee, apricot and melon–a testament no doubt to their inert press. With plentiful air, it settled down into a far more serious white–almost Sancerre-like–with elegant acidity and grassy notes. Honeysuckle and honey still prevalent in the nose, an almost tannic spirit fulfilling the late-middle and finish. Balanced and perfect, a chameleon of a wine that needs time.

2020 WEINHAUS SCHLOSS KOBLENZ ‘St. Boniface’ Piersporter Michelsberg Mosel Germany 9.5 Nice petrol introduces thick fruit. Briar and fairly rich body in the nose AND THEN YOU TASTE IT! The acid does a good job down-playing the sugar bot oh man is it sweet. 20 g/l MINIMUM. I knew at “9-5” it had the potential to be sweet, but holy WOW. It plays it professionally, but you need to be prepared for this sugar-rush.

2010 QUPE ‘Sonnies’ Syrah Sawyer Lindquist Vyd. Edna Valley San Luis Obispo 13.5 This wine is in a weird place. Off bottle? Lord knows I am the biggest fan of Qupe–and I have struggled long with a Hillside/Sonnies fascination–but this wine feels strangely off. Fruit is dumb and acidity + funk on fleek. It just doesn’t feel right. It’s not corked, It feels oxidized and flabby. Those in the back rows will know this is not the typical Bien Nacido sourcing, but the Slide Hill, Edna Valley (across the street from Alban) bottling. I have many more of theses–and they will pop up again in the blog on regular intervals–but I can’t help feeling at his juncture the Sonnies–typically riper and rounder–is suffering from age-inability. I want to be wrong–and probably am… time will tell.