The Bench At Red Hill Estate
Vine Hill Ranch
Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
Bruce Phillips and his wife were pouring their 2021. Talked w/ him at length. Very nice couple.
The 2021 showed well young with room for improving with 10-25 years in bottle and beyond. It showed some evolution, wasn’t all primary. Elegant, very well balanced with excellent structure and finish. Drink 2033-45 properly stored.
The general Napa consensus on 2022 vintage will be a story of did you pick before or after the 6 days of extreme heat during the harvest window. One producer told me his would add 5% of 2023 to some of his 2022’s, which is allowed. He mentioned that he was going to add 15%. But, I think he just misspoke? Get ready for an amazing 2023 vintage from Napa. It was a cooler, not hot-hot, which was a near perfect growing season for long slow even ripening. Some say a vintage of a lifetime and others would only say exceptional.
The Saturday-Sunday Pavilion tasting at Pebble Beach Food & Wine is an excellent four hours to taste a lot wine, taste curated dishes from chefs from all over the country and meet the people behind the bottle. These short ribs were one of the top two or three things I tasted at the Pavilion Saturday. — 9 months ago
Home Hill
Kelly's Reserve Tasmania Pinot Noir 2014
Aromatic notes of rose and violet. Great depth of delicious flavour on the medium bodied palate. Red fruits - savoury and rich. See previous note for the 2014 - always excellent but 8 years of cellaring has enhanced this wine. To have won the Jimmy Watson Trophy for the Best One Year Old Dry Red at Royal Melbourne and still starring now at 8 years of age shows this is a wine for all seasons and all years. Should be a regular purchase. A Winner. — 2 years ago
Chalk Hill
Estate Red Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2009
[Tasted on March 15, 2024 at Richland Country Club in Nashville]
49% Cabernet Sauvignon; 21% Malbec; 17% Merlot; 8% Petit Verdot; 4% Syrah; 1% Carmenere. Chalk Hill AVA is a sub-appellation of the Russian River Valley AVA and is known for its chalky white ash soils. Restrained red currant fruit with mineral and graphite notes. Balanced and Bordeaux-like. — 10 months ago
Calluna Vineyards
Calluna Estate Chalk Hill Red Blend
13.6% ABV
Inky color, look at that cork!
47% Cab 20% Merlot 19% Cab Franc
10% Petit Verdot 4% Malbec — 3 years ago
Bodegas Volver
Tarima Hill Old Vines Alicante Monastrell 2018
Had 2020 at Wine Spectator event and it was delicious. $15 a bottle — 8 months ago
Henschke
Hill of Grace Vineyard Shiraz 1996
Still a very dense crimson with no tawny rim, at 28 years of age but the tawniness is beginning. A certain feral, Animale, earthy note. Palate is ultra smooth, medium bodied / very savoury yet with a sweetish earthy note with a hint of raspberry. Jancis Robinson was invited by Stephen Henschke to a vertical tasting at the winery in May 2013 to cover vintages back to the late 1950’s. She described the 1996 as “pure hedonism “ and gave it 19/20. Medium plus intensity on the delicious palate with those gnarled old 160 year vines showing through. An absolutely stunning wine - one of the best we’ve had this year. — 9 months ago
Bell Hill Vineyards
Canterbury Pinot Noir 2012
We opened the bottle for an hour before dinner. Initially a powerful aroma of blackberries flooded the dining room. Slowly it mutated to black and red cherries with earth. Multi layered complexity the wine was an absolute pleasure to drink with. If you look at QPR it would@blow all burgundies out of the water! Simply sensational! — 3 years ago
Scott E. Becker
[Tasted on January 10, 2025 at Tom’s House with Tom]
Jerusalem Hill vineyard is in Eola-Amity Hills AVA. Raspberry and red currant fruit, with earth, minerality and spice. — 2 years ago