Diva
Walter Scott
Cuvée Ruth Pinot Noir 2017
Birthday dinner with Angela in steamboat Springs at Cafe Diva — 5 years ago
Tendril Wine Cellars
Pretender Willamette Valley Pinot Noir White 2014
I’m starting to understand that this White Pinot Noir is at its best with at least several years of bottle age. At 9+ years this Diva is singing with a rich, silky, supple, intricate voice. — a year ago
S. Anderson
Diva Prestige Cuvee Napa Valley Sparkling Blend 2001
Fabulous after 20 years. Took 15 min for a sour-tartness to mellow out, but it was delicious with fruity, flinty, and bready notes… wish we had more! — 3 years ago
Dirt Diva
Paso Robles Red Blend 2015
What a delicious medium bodied wine. Violet and allspice with tart apple. Fantastic — 5 years ago
Clendenen Family Vineyards
The Pip Santa Maria Valley Nebbiolo 2014
#Nebbiolo is a surprisingly rare grape. Even in its native Piedmont, it accounts for only 8% of vineyard land. There are fewer than 100 hectares planted in the United States. 🕵️♂️🍇
Over 80% of prewar Italian immigrants came from Sicily and Southern Italy. Piedmont was the wealthiest and most politically dominant region. But if fortunes were reversed, could Nebbiolo have taken Primitivo/Zinfandel’s place as a grape relatively uncommon on the boot but dominant in California? 🤔🇮🇹🇺🇸
Probably not. The Nebbiolo vine is *not* for beginners. It flowers early and ripens late, making it susceptible to both spring and autumn frosts. It loves the occasional fog bath (some say the name is derived from ‘nebbia’, Italian for fog ☁️☁️☁️) but is prone to the mildew that may result from such humid conditions. Its fussiness would make Pinot Noir blush: it demands southwesterly exposure, a proper gradient, constant sun above, and fog licking at its toes. #diva
Sound anything like California’s Central Coast? 🌅
In the Santa Maria Valley, where the East-West Transverse Range bends back into the North-South Coastal Range, it’s possible. Vineyard selection still requires extreme discretion - an eye like @JimClendenen’s, perhaps.
Jim began the Nebbiolo program at the legendary #BienNacido vineyard in 1994. Production is small, but if you track down his “The Pip” Nebbiolo, it will only run you about $30. You’ll believe anything is possible when you have real California Nebbiolo of this quality come wafting out of the glass at you! 🙌🙌
🏞.“The Pip” is named after Jim’s old cellar dog Pip, a border collie. So it only seemed right to include one of our own pips! 🐈 — 5 years ago
Il Molino di Grace
Riserva Chianti Classico Sangiovese 2016
Casta diva w n,a & c — 3 years ago
Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello
Mascarello Barolo Nebbiolo 1964
Tasted blind. Dark red and opaque. Notes of tart cherries, earth, molasses, some wood, and a hint of VA that blew off. Rich fruit in the mouth. Monolithic though, and very quiet compared to the diva 64 Giacosa that is singing next to it. Perhaps it was the less air time that this had. What a treat to taste two great 64 Barolos side by side, brought brown-bagged by two different people. — 5 years ago
Seth Masterson
Such a damn fine example what Muscat de petit grains dried in the sun can be. Made into the sweet (but not too sweet), spicy aromatic concoction that can be found in many countries. Miel? Yes but I get a lot of dried apricot equally. The residual sugar is IMHO perfectly balanced by the remaining acids. One of the best examples of desert Muscat I've had anywhere. Good cold but maybe even better at cool room temp.
Cellarer, Barcelona — 6 months ago