Sipping Fine Wine

8.9

Barrel aged 10 months sur lie! Medium lemon color with aromas of stone and citrus fruits with notes of warm baking spice. On the palate ripe apple and lemon flavors with vanilla and nutty toasty oak. Well balanced on medium finish ending, a bit buttery with slight oak and mineral notes. Drink now! — 16 days ago

Mark Osmers

9.2

Wine Spectator rated the ‘21 with an impressive 93 points and this Merlot was featured as #25 on the Top 100 wines of 2024.

flavor notes include blackberry, dark, cherry cedar, and that earthy Napa finish

I recommend this read to anyone who can find the 2021 vintage. Perhaps other years too. — a month ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.5

White peach, citrus, smoky/stony reduction of flintstone and struck match.
Combining wonderful freshness with a medium- to full-bodied structure.
Superb! — 3 months ago

Joe DAscoli

9.2

Auction wine. Broken cork. Again. Wine was at base of the neck. I think cakebread got a batch of bad corks. No wine into the cork and they all broke right at the end. Not sure how it affected the wine but it’s been a consistent issue

Wine exhibited some decent fruit but no real depth or grip. Very smooth and medium body but missing some power and complexity expected from this site.

— 6 months ago

DCH

9.4

Really impressed.
St. Innocent’s consistency of style lets terroir shine through their single vineyard series. Like a controlled experiment. 2021 Temperance Hill shows incredible levels of complexity and spice, while maintaining a great degree of balance and approachability. Put simply, it tastes great.

I haven’t had a chance to taste 2021 Momtazi, but this wine has similar levels of depth to prior vintages if memory serves, while being more easily appealing. I’ve tired 2021 Shea, but not side-by-side with this. While the Shea is an excellent wine, for my taste this is more expressive and interesting. — a month ago

Brenda Terzich-Garland

9.2

Color - dark ruby red. Nose - red fruit, floral and herbaceous nose with lingering scents of vanilla, potting soil. Taste - chalky, textured wine and restrained. Flavor leads off with blackberry, cedar, currants and pepper notes followed by secondary notes of vanilla and a long dry finish. — 2 months ago

with Leslie

Tom Garland

9.3

Pop and pour. A striking medium gold color. On the nose: wonderful aeromatics of apple, honeycomb, floral, lemon, almonds. Taste: lean, waxy, balanced mouthcoating wine with tart apple, saline, lemon rind, crushed stone, and a minerally orange peel lingering finish. YUM! Should have more time to go. — 6 months ago

with Brenda

Paul T HB

9.5

Needs a little air, great recommendation from @Somm David T
First mag of two — a month ago

Paul T HB

9.7

California’s version of White Burgundy. Great older bottle from recent auction. — 2 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

Pale lemon color with aromas of ripe fruits, citrus, vanilla and nutty scents. On the palate complex flavors of apple, peach, pineapple and lemon citrus, cinnamon notes, well balanced with acidity on a nice mouthfeel. Long finish ending with oak, vanilla, mineral and citrus notes, will continue to age. A beautiful Chardonnay. — 5 months ago