Three Sticks Gap’s Crown 2019 dark ruby blue edges really leathery smokey on nose, not terrible but I need a little more. Lots of fruit full rich good structure easy tannin.
Wrath Boekenoogen 2019 really perfumed really really rich round fruit thick peach pear plum thick leather velvet. Surprisingly restrained on the palate with crystalline structure strong and integrated at the end.
1772 Tolosa 2019 ‘Edna Ranch’ they’re calling it now. Pretty much what you’ve learned to expect. Your good & yummy nice and round full structure though nice tannins a bit pleasantly astringent, I’m surprised at that part and it makes me happy.
Thomas Fogerty 2019 Rapley tTail Santa Cruz Mountains really strange nose really awkward newsprint and warm meat really super super astringent in the mouth I mean so acidic-ally strained the later fruit doesn’t even exist.
2019 J. Bucher Bucher Vineyard RRV really warm front sweaty rubber nose not particularly attractive and it follows through in the mouth fairly strongly that’s unfortunate.
Maggie Hawk Afleet Anderson Valley 2019 men’s body wash sort of perfume going quickly to cellar floor thin and unfruited rather fairly vague in the mouth.
Guarachi 2019 Sun Chase vineyard Petaluma Gap dark ruby edges, fabricated Lush Russian River Valley perfume really ripe really thick big in the mouth, big stuff 14.8 with a little bit of tannin, not much going on there boys or girls.
2004 Fiddlehead Cellars Willamette Valley Oldsville Reserve good brick some sediment Ruby at the core savory nose ridiculous fruit just absolutely gorgeous would never guess the age on this one from the mouth-feel alone: fruit is literally gamay fresh cru bojo fresh. Tannins well molded down into the body and barely visible but so perfectly balanced in the chalk of the Finish. Perfection. 14-7!
2019 Domain Della Graham family vineyard RRV good thin ruby color, nice dry crisp chalkiness on the nose and a cherubic kiss of light cherry treat each other well though pretty hot and round and sweet in the finish.
Bernardus 2018 Rosella’s SLH. Rather dull, surprisingly so, I think maybe it just needs air lots of air slightly rosy and citrusy but vague and muddled with quite a bit of heat I’m sorry 14.2 that’s about it not a very interesting wine.
DJ amour smells like melted plastic I’m not tasting this.
Adelaide HMR 2019 really strangely sweet and seared in the nose like kind of a light maple syrup type shocking weird astringency against ridiculously thick huge chunky-like cherry in the mouth. Typical Paso heat and unbalance.
2018 777 clones RRV Papapietro Perry really astringent on the nose really vegetal and green but coated with a thick layer of leather and chocolate rather heavy, chubbier than I expected fruit rather thin and sharply vegetal though green tannins well layered and massaged into the whole thing although it is big. Rather like this wine.
Revisiting the Mailroad today 2016 Mt. Carmel a bit of an off-putting nose, I’m sorry this wine does not smell good it’s weirdly stalky and paper wet paper–no it’s not corked–but rather nice in the mouth it really comes across nicely. I like it, but feeling a bit less lively than yesterday.
2017 Cobb Doc’s Ranch Sonoma Coast 13-2 round and chubby in nose but a nice spice really elegant and luxurious in the mouth its sharp citrus is a little acerola rather thin and strained across the finish I mean I’m liking this a lot less than I thought I would.
Revisiting the l’lucine Annapolis 2018 I still am kind of shocked by how full and rich and round it is and yet so ridiculously balanced. It is the biggest wine in the room far and away and yet it manages to hold itself I mean we don’t usually give points to huge pinot but this is a huge pinot but it somehow it works.
Weather Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 35 bucks nice round fruity little bit sweet great wine I mean Sonoma Coast for 35 bucks what are you going to do. This is a supermarket banger all day long.
Weather Russian River Valley $100 really chubby got a bunch of tropical on it maybe even a touch of banana these are some crowd-friendly wines man this is retail dreams come true right here rather nice over the mouth over the top I mean it’s got a nice spicy vegetal to it but nothing that’s going to insult anyone. Nice liqueur rootbeer situation going on.
Walson Holland ridiculous sweet and hot red peppers in the nose, but in a very intriguing way the vegetal is polished down into layers of leather and crushed velvet nicely. Rusty steel and great graphite I mean it’s not your typical pinot but it’s intriguing. Duvarita. Ridiculously thick and spicy the fruit crammed up to the rafters beautiful almost sprightly. The fruit is so heavy–thinly ripe while speared with crystaline sugar aspects–that the tannin is almost unnoticeable but it’s there. Keep an eye on this one. Fun new label from Ojai and not cheap.
Chalone kind of a grimy muddy fruit that isn’t super clean it hints at vegetal but not really 100% there either. Classic Chalone coloring outside the lines but not weirdly. In the mouth the fruit goes really really thick and beautiful bright but sullied with pomegranate and fun pithy stuff not slutty even in the slightest and tannins working so well with the licorice it’s almost mistakable. This was the 2019 ‘Normal’ Chalone 30 bucks? 2019 Reserve I honestly don’t like as well that’s pretty classic for me and Pinot.
2000 2018 Middle rRach Vineyard Domaine de la Riviere strange banana tropical soda texture to it. So ridiculously wound up, works pretty well but weirdly balanced pointing at not something I can get behind.
Domain de la Riviere single vineyard El Diablo. The nose goes a bit more serious. Calm cool leather in the nose, fruit not slutty at all, briar sharp and nice in the mouth nice integration really steely mineral good blood orange chalking hard. Is pretty ripe but it manages to work on a level that I can handle. These are good pinots.
Domaine de la Riviere 2019 Heritage this may be absolutely my favorite of the group the nose is so rosy and layered with flowers yet there’s a sharp actual briar to it that I can’t quite explain. In the mouth, sharp and almost approaches un-integrated but balances out perfectly because the roundness of the flush barnyard works so well. Nicely done.
Fringe Collective Chardonnay 2016 Sea Fall only 30% malo and 20% new oak, this is an imprint of fetzer/bonterra really nice bright fruit sharp and crisp filling, rich in the attack and rich in the mouth but incredible amount of spiciness to it. Sharp viscous dry which is kind of Chablis/shocking for this inexpensive wine.
2016 Rock Bound Bien Nacido Santa Maria Valley starting to show a little early age but really nicely put together rich and round I think it’s progressed a bit beyond what it should be for 2016 but it’s pretty fucking gorgeous. 2017 ridiculously transparent with heavy garnet no nose really closed down just a tiny spike of green-brier showing through. Goes shallow in the mouth not a whole lot going on, fruit is very light which I’m not angry about but the astringency on the finish is a bit strong. Very light and smooth and easy and uncomplicated I’m a bit shocked and the difference between the 16 and the 17.
2017 Gogi Errin Santa Rita Hills nice thin garnet pretty well put together in the mouth nice herbaceousness plus a little bit of age in the in the nose. Absolutely gorgeous as much as I want to hate a celebrity wine this is just absolutely gorgeous: fruit perfectly integrated down into really soft tannins I mean it could use a little bit more structure but what are you going to do. La Mer Gogi a little bit more ruby all the chalk and rust was in the nose not too much fruit but nice easy integration thick-smelling and kind of weirdly perfumed, I’m not a fan of this wine.
So four or five people insisted I taste Bee Hunter so…. 2017 Mendocino from mag it’s got a nice simple fruit to it a little bit of sweet briar. Very easy in the mouth but also wired with some pretty interesting things. Point to them.
2015 really funky dirty baby diaper gorgeousness, grimy and mired in citrus brier not a touch of age on it ripe tannins brilliant and amazing. 13 still pretty Rosy Ruby at the rim and odd nose kind of fading away. This one is rather boring and not interesting. 2018 Lichen there’s a little strange grainy flabbiness on the nose that I feel is a flaw early sulfur induced sort of cardboard texture. Wine is extremely un-pretty in the mouth in the prettiest way. Fruit way back in there but it’s underneath a thin awkward layer of interesting things I feel this might age really well. Rather like this.
2014 Wiley really really thin light garnet not much of a nose not really that expressive feels tired honestly and reflects pretty much the same things in the mouth. In a pretty nice place but it’s really sharply stringent. 2018 Anderson Valley $48 nice ruby tiny bit of garnet at the edge, vanilla with restraint in the nose not too much sluttyness coming through. Really strong and brilliant in the mouth I love the mouth feel on this one but I’m not in love with the nose good finish nice tannins.
2019 Liquid Farm Spear Vineyard really nice nose deep and dark grimy and bright at the same time Sharp astringency. Tasting it brings blood orange and heavy briar to the forefront. Young, maybe a touch out of balance but young.
Samsara 2015 beautiful fruit nose tinged in a sort of leathery brier both light and sweet. High notes of citrus-y brown sugar. In the mouth it’s just literally almost perfect I mean it’s a robust wine but not heavy, weighty enough to carry the fruit through all the raspy briar deftly. Absolutely no way you would ever guess 6 years of age probably the youngest of all the old wines I’ve tasted here today. Stupidly gorgeous.
2019 Barden beautiful green and shrill nice briar the fruit is so apparent down inside it’s impossible to ignore like I said many times this is a 30-year pinot pretty easily just so perfectly focused and structured down through the middle.
Clos de la Tech 2012 decanted. Nice rosy ripe orange ruby bricking, feels about perfect in the mouth for the age, after some juxtapositions of situations in the room where age does not exactly side with expected presentation, this is actually pretty gorgeous stuff. I’ve been a tepid fan of the brand over the years but I’m very happy here. Brilliantly deep dark brooding patina-ed tannins with a little bit of oxidation maybe but I’m okay with it. Beautiful Finish: Marshy Drivel and vividly fruited. A standout in the room.
2014 Native 9 brilliant garnet transparency absolute perfection in the nose greenbrier citrus graphite match head perfection with a tiny raspy patina of age but nothing to worry about. In the mouth the briny structure hits heavy and hard first but fruit is packed all the way through it. 2015 is ridiculously more austere I’m a little bit shocked at the way this shows being the third or fourth drought year its powerful version of restraint is rosy and gorgeous it’s perfumed and brilliant with a lot more Burgundian character than I expected. 16 and 17 continued on in this path, with 2017 going just flat-out BRILLIANT. Tasted these several times over the years, but never very seriously. Nicely done stuff.
Wrap-up by age:
2004 Fiddlehead perfect
2012 Clos de la Tech working well
2014 Native9 FARRRRR beyond expectations
2015 Samsara basically stunning
2017 GOGI Errin If you’ve got the money, honey: I’ve got the time
2018 Bee Hunter Mendo or Lichen making AV taste like AV again
2018 Papapietro Perry Nicely done
2019 Margerum BARDEN get these wines in your cellar
Stephen McConnell 