Domaine Huet
Le Mont Sec Vouvray Chenin Blanc 2023
Casa de Santar
Single Estate Dão Branco 2021
Perfumed spice. Baking spices. Cloves. Black pepper. Leather.
Twas a fruitful dry Jan. 7th year in. Wine hits different after a month hiatus.
Gifted by a regular who loves talking up his Portuguese table wine. This is solid.
Warming peppercorn spice towards the back palate. Dark cherries. Brambly. Tart. Tannic.
— 21 days ago
Turley
Rinaldi Vineyard Zinfandel 2018
Soil, river, redwood.
Cranberries, tannin, dark cherries
Potentially slightly corked. Can still taste most of the promised notes, but definitely some taint dulling flavor profile.
The more I drink it, the more I realize it’s gone. Disappointing. But hey it happens. — 12 days ago
F.X. Pichler
Loibner Ried Klostersatz Grüner Veltliner 2023
Pale in the glass. Subtly off white beautiful.
Blades of grass aroma. Light, wind-swept reeds. A countryside of straw.
Really chewy/crunchy white. Elegant and yet bracing acidity and minerality. A punch of character. Love that.
Current blind at the wine bar evening service. We did a group blind tasting and everyone guessed every white grape varietal except gruner. Fun — 21 days ago
The Red Hook Winery
La Géante Reserve Chardonnay 2016
Papaya, melon fruits in general, after tasting persimmon, I feel it’s the perfect descriptor for a lot of skin contact wines that fall in this category. Also, orange creamsicle/sherbet.
Melon and persimmon notes translate to the palate well. Nice caramel and sherry type notes coming out (maybe I suspect with the 8-9 years of age on this one). I believe this is one of the last bottles of this vintage. Fun to drink. And welcome after the last bottle of Turkey was tainted…
— 12 days ago
The Red Hook Winery
Salt Crush Macari Vineyard Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc
Buttery, beach washed, sea salt.
Salt crush forreal. Melon, kind of Sauvignon Blanc-y. Tropical fruits. Balance leans towards acidity. — 19 days ago
S.S. Mandani
Let’s see if we have better luck with this bottle. Brought the last bottle back to Astor and they assessed it and said that it was indeed corked.
Cranberries, raspberries, and red fruits, with a note of spindrift from a fresh ocean wave. The breeze of a redwood forest sways through.
Yes. Much better luck. The ever so slight undercurrent of carmelized dark cherries. Beautiful tannic structure. Crunchy and expanding on the palate. A bouncy wine with a bunch of character but also an understated power, boldness, and spice.
This is what it’s supposed to taste like. — 2 days ago