Took a while to settle. A black berry aftertaste. Very nice vino — 3 years ago
Ruby/purplish in color with medium intensity and a wide reddish rim.
Nice nose of red fruits with spices, light oak, licorice, chocolates, herbs, earth, light bell pepper and spices.
Medium plus in body with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with raspberries, cherries, red currants, peppercorn, dark chocolates, light earth and herbs.
Spicy finish with soft tannins and tangy raspberries.
This is a very tasty Pinot Noir from Santa Rita Hills in California. Elegant and fruit forward. Spicy and entertaining.
Well balanced with a nice mouthfeel, and heavier in style. A good quality wine that would be interesting to revisit in 3 years.
Good right out of the bottle, and better after an hour of airtime.
Easy drinking and good by itself or with food. I paired it with a charcuterie board of meats and cheeses. Paired nicely with the French Brie cheese.
Pinot Noir grapes (30% whole Cluster) were aged in 50% French oak barrels for 16 months.
14.9% alcohol by volume.
90 points.
$120. — 20 days ago
[Tasted on August 18, 2023 at etc in Nashville with Jay and on February 23, 2024 at Kayne Prime with Rachel]
Wine is 2019 Black List XXX, which is 100% Cabernet Franc sourced from Oak Knoll. Blueberry, blackberry and black raspberry fruit, with dried herbs. Silky and rich. — a year ago
This was one of my wines from my annual WWC hosting. The other whites were Bereche Brut Reserve for the champagne, a 2015 Bongran EJ Thevent (burgundy) Chardonnay and a 2017 Moone-Tsai Ritchie Chardonnay.
Color me impressed. I have enjoyed Calera’s pinots quite a bit, but I haven’t had as much experience with the Chardonnay’s. It was almost like a Aubert Larry Hyde “lite”. As this was tasted blind, most guessed this was Chardonnay, but lots of back and forth on where it would be from. Initially, this toed the line between steely and slightly oaked with bright citrus, lemon, clean aromatics…but after an hour in the glass, this really bulked up and sported a down-the-middle type medium bodied profile. Not lean, not powerful. The tart lemon turned to a more lemon cream profile with lots of floral/honeysuckle notes, alongside herb crusted yellow fruits. No problem opening now, but I’d love to try another one of these in a few years. 92+ — 3 years ago
"Odedi"
Moone Tsai Paige Cuvée Chardonnay 2021, Russian River Valley, California
Dark gold in color.
Medium plus in body with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with nice complexity and a soft mouthfeel.
Showing lemons, apples, pears, light earth, vanilla, bitter herbs, oak and minerals.
Tangy finish with almonds and limes.
This is very tasty Chardonnay from Russian River Valley. Still young, but already enjoyable. Elegant and soft. Rich and fruit forward. I really enjoyed the nose.
Needed 45 minutes in the bottle to open up properly, remove some of the oaky notes, and balance itself out.
Would be nice to revisit this Single Vineyard Chardonnay in 3 years, and see how it evolved.
Good by itself as a sipping wine, or with food. I paired it with a double cream Brie cheese.
100% Whole Cluster Chardonnay grapes were aged in (45% new) French Oak barrels for 17 months.
13.9% alcohol by volume.
91 points.
$120. — 12 days ago