Shay A

9.2

Today was my annual hosting of the Wednesday Wine Committee. There was 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds and 1 dessert, all provided by me. Tasted blind, as always.

I served this blind as the first red out of four in a flight of all cab francs. Every person in the room guessed Pinot based on color, and it’s hard to disagree. Certainly more translucent in color compared to most dark Cab francs. Chinon like and as far as the style of the wine itself, I think it’s also Chinon at its core with just a touch of new world flare. Not sure I’ve had such a floral cab franc. Lavender and rhubarb and the finish did a great job of requiring you to get another sip to analyze. Nice complexity. Nothing vegetal or green about this. One of the lightest cab francs I’ve had, and pairs well with lighter style meats. — 6 days ago

with Dan, Andrew and 3 others

"Odedi"

9.1

Pretty color of dark Ruby with a short reddish rim. Fruit forward with nice complexity and a great mouthfeel.

Full bodied and bold with medium acidity and long legs.

Showing black fruits with earth, chocolates, tobacco, spices, mocha, peppercorn aleather.

Tangy finish with fine grained tannins.

This is a nice surprise. A very enjoyable Zinfandel.

Good now and will be better in the next 3 years.

Needs a couple of hours to open up properly and show some tannins.

Less than 500 cases produced.

14.8% alcohol by volume.

91 points — 5 days ago

David L

9.3

15’ Tor Durell Vineyard Chardonnay. Orange Zestiness(tang/orange Slurpee, lemon peel, guava, A bit tart , splash of tropical spices.
This Chardonnay has absolutely evolved for the better with little time in the bottle. Drink them up in the next 2/3 years Edit- It truly starts to balance out with a little time in the glass. Nice bottle! — 15 days ago

Marshall Todd Herron DPM

9.3

The Calling from Alexander Valley. Cherry pie bouquet. The initial thought on the palate is black cherry , maybe because it was described on the back of the bottle. Then blackberry comes to mind, and a sweet passion fruit hint on the back end. This is a perfect sweet to a dry wine. Then comes the chocolate and ripe fig. Now as this dissipates the Earthy ending, moderately dry finish takes over. And yes, the aroma of sweet pipe tobacco lingers in the nose from the aromas escaping the palate. This is a great wine. I highly recommend it. Cheers! — a day ago

Shay A

9.4

Today was my annual hosting of the Wednesday Wine Committee. There was 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds and 1 dessert, all provided by me. Tasted blind, as always.

White number three. Copying notes from my recent note about 6 months ago. No surprise here, but this was rich and powerful. After it warmed up, the fruits became more honeyed, and there was an added smoked butter note. I enjoy Ritchie vineyard Chardonnays, and with Bevan’s take, I always get a very pronounced nutty type note...this vintage isn’t as pronounced at this stage. Not a bad or a good thing...just a thing. This vintages seems a bit more focused compared to previous vintages. In my opinion, the best vintage of Bevan’s Ritchie chard I’ve had. — 6 days ago

with Dan, Andrew and 3 others

Sipping Fine Wine

9.0

A fav with some great Sushi. Pale yellow with pleasing aromas of citrus and peaches. One of the few barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc's which adds a wonderful toasty oak flavor setting this wine apart from the rest. Complex palate of flavors, fresh fruit, lemons, grapefruit, peaches and Asian pears. Slight earthiness with a smooth and creamy well balanced finish ending with a gentle sweet character. Very nice! — 3 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.4

Needed a big friendly Zin to help obliterate an unusually stressful week at work. This Zin is so flavorful yet contained. Fruit, spice, intense minerality, concentration, length, balance. Hard to name a patch of earth that creates better Zin than Monte Rosso. Superb. — 11 days ago

Jason and Jennie

9.3

Very backward at the moment. Dark brooding cherry, dark berry. gravelly. 93 for now but this will develop/improve substantially over the years. — 7 days ago

Mark Flesher

9.0

This wine was definitely structured, but I wonder if it was also a bit shut down too. This wine has a good Asian pear nose and a hint of peach. Very viscous opening. But a little muted throughout. Very satisfying by itself, but I imagine that any substantial fare would probably crush this one. I am hoping this wine might just be in a weird spot right now because I have had other wines from this producer and they've all outdone this one. — 3 days ago

David Shaw

8.9

Purple-red, moderately to highly extracted pigment, very good clarity. Leather, mint-eucalyptus and red fruit (raspberry, strawberry, maybe blackberry) notes in nose, with a hint of butter and prune. Black currant and butterscotch flavors, some seed bitterness and chewy tongue coating tannins in finish. Mild skin astringency initially. Needs time for tannins to die down, but flavors are “good to go” on opening the bottle. Tart cherry and an almost-cranberry flavor emerge after 90 minutes. Yummier than I remember my previous tasting of this vintage. — 10 days ago