Texan - Wine Nerd Herd Member
Always fun to celebrate a birthday with a birth year bottle! I opened a bottle of this a few months back and couldn’t believe how good it was.
Coming from the famed Caldwell vineyard, this has such a bright eucalyptus note! Deep red/black in the glass with no bricking! Dusty fig, sweet espresso, dirty red and black berry fruit. Even after following from bottle over 3-4hrs, this has a natural cool/minty vibe alongside dark cocoa and sweet black cassis. So much youth and tannin! I should have spaced my two bottles out…these are still cruising! — 21 days ago
Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
Fun to do a side by side with the ‘88, and also check in against the Montelena. Profile wise, this leans ripe and modern stylistically. There is a kiss of brett that takes you to Bordeaux but it’s mostly red and black fruit driven with a vanilla pipe tobacco sweetness, leather, cassis and a little bit of a floral note, especially aromatically. Big structure for the vintage, but open for business now if you can give it a few hours in the decanter. — 21 days ago
@Delectable Wine : This is the Emilien Allouchery La Scéne champagne. I didn’t see it in the database.
New producer I’ve started hearing about, and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to opening the BdN later.
80% fermentation in oak barrels, 20% in amphora. Disgorged May ‘23. 1 g/l dosage. 100% Chardonnay.
Bright, crisp and texturally really pretty. Classically grower champagne in style with the fruit center stage…borders on tropical (in a good way)…white peach, lemon zest, sea spray aromatics. IMO, a great example of where even 1gram dosage can help balance and lengthen out a champagne of this profile. Curious if the use of amphora adds to the mid-palate texture here? After an hour, little bit of sweet toast started to poke out, but it was second fiddle to the fruit. Balanced use of oak frames this well. Finish of chalk/limestone, sea salt, lemon confit, honeyed apple crisps. Worth seeking out. — 12 days ago
I tried this for the first time back in February when visiting the Hudson property during PNV and really liked it. Shocker, I loved it this time. Absolutely fantastic expression of Hudson fruit. Followed over two days, no change.
I love when fruit expresses where it’s from, and I feel Hudson fruit does that in spades. Such a distinctive ripe, opulent yellow fruit profile naturally. Juicy fruit jumps from the glass (pear, peaches) with honeysuckle, lemon scone, and sweet nutmeg. What separates this from the regular Hudson is the vein of acidity down the middle that has this really fresh. Waves of lemon cream, honey, tropical fruit and pink sea salt. Killer texture. Very Aubert Hudson-like. Delicious in every way. — 18 days ago
Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
I’ve had a few days to think on this wine, and I finally feel comfortable saying this is the greatest dessert wine I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. 100% semillon. Each grape is picked one-by-one by hand. This was the 9th time this wine was made since 1943.
Between dark gold and deep amber in color. Aromas of honeyed tropical fruits and sweet espresso that fill the room like a candle. Unctuous and oily on the palate, there is coconut richness with an insane amount of brown sugar and orange marmalade too…honey roasted cashews, pineapple upside down cake. As massive as this is, it still has structure but also a vein of acidity to keep this thing afloat. At 35yrs, this is unbelievably good and shockingly youthful. If you have a bottle, it’s no good. Send to me so that I can dispose of it for you… — 21 days ago
@Delectable Wine : This is the new Roy Piper Sanford & Benedict Pinot noir. I didn’t see it in the database.
After snagging one of these, I’ve been looking for a reason to open, so when a buddy asks, we opened a 2016 Piper cab next to it and enjoyed some beautiful wines from Roy.
I didn’t have the opportunity to decant ahead of time, but air is this wine’s friend right now. Poured half in to a decanter and consumed over two hours. The other half was left in bottle and consumed later in the evening.
Gorgeous translucent ruby in the glass. No dominant notes of oak or over-extraction. Bright floral notes alongside some citrus, herbs, spiced cranberries. Elegant yet commanding on the palate…the fruit has some pomegranate upfront before it turns darker in profile with black cherries providing a sweet crunch at the finish. Nervy acidity and excellent structure. Style wise, this leans toward a Cobb style but no whole cluster…loads of flavor and structure wrapped in a delicate and pretty profile.
The remaining wine from bottle later in the evening showed the citrus/pomegranate notes pick up with some black pepper and an earth/forest note reminiscent of certain OR Pinots. Definitely made in the Burgundian style Roy was going for…mission accomplished. Loads of upside. — 12 days ago
My choice for a Rhône style theme with my local group.
Definitely the oldest No Girls I’ve opened. As expected, these have a Burgundian flair to them in the way they are made when compared to Cayuse/HP/HC. Not as much depth/richness, but there is great acidity and the use of stems is clear. Faint ruby in the glass. Stemmy/green aromatics with herbs de Provence, black olive, Cayuse funk/iron on the nose. Saline, red and black berry driven on the palate with black pepper spice, truffle, beef jerky and big phenolics. Tart and acidic, I followed this over two days, and to my surprise, held up very well. Pop now. — 21 days ago
Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
A treat to try this next to the ‘88, and also against a mini-flight of Leoville Barton. This ‘14 was shockingly odd…unbelievably high toned, sharp, and bing cherry driven aromatically. It actually has this weird cherry reduction profile but also a malic/butter note that needs time to blow off. Crème de cassis and red licorice on the palate with a small amount of graphite. A lot of Calistoga cabs for me show the warmth of the region and this evidently is in that vein, but it’s very Montelena-esque at the end of the day. I’d hold another 5-7yrs. — 21 days ago
Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
Here we are six years after my last ‘88 Montelena and I’m looking at my old review as if I wrote it about this current bottle! So bright and lively. Gorgeous deep ruby color (darker than the ‘88 Leoville Barton). There is a Christmas spice (maybe more mint-driven) aromatic with bing cherries and floral notes. Red fruit to the core with some spiced blackberries, earthy/herbal savoriness, great acidity and a snappy/youthful finish. Cedar and espresso. Held strong over a few hours open. Not falling off a cliff, but don’t miss this window if you have some! — 21 days ago
Shay A
Quite the white wine blend! My last bottle as I have enjoyed crushing these during spring time the last few years. I’ve much preferred the 2019 experiment to the 2020 experiment (which is heavy Viognier and Albariño).
Roughly 25 SauvB/ 13 Grenache Blanc/ 12 roussanne/ 12 Viognier/ 11 Albariño/ 10 Vermentino/ 10 Marsanne/ 5 Picpoul Blanc
Aromatically, this comes across as SB and Viognier…it’s bright and semi-tropical (white peach, underripe guava) with honeysuckle and lemongrass. Wonderful texture channeling a spine of acidity with mineral/wet rock, some honeyed green apple crisps, and a sea-salted lemon finish. Oak doesn’t make much of an appearance. Profile wise, this falls in between your traditional Cali SBs and the newer “Super SauvBlanc” styles. Lovely. — 3 days ago