Isaac Pirolo

9.2

The flagship wine from Burn Cottage, a Central Otago, New Zealand producer focused on Pinot Noir. Husband and wife owners Dianne & Marquis Sauvage sought out Ted Lemon of Littorai, and SF Chronicle's winemaker of the year for 2010 (Jon Bonné: "The simple version of Ted Lemon's story: Young American goes to Burgundy. Becomes first American to run a Burgundian wine estate. Comes back and stays true to Pinot's motherland."). Lemon oversaw the planting of the vineyards, along with all aspects of vineyard management and winemaking, chief of which being Biodynamic from inception. The label is a derivative of a 1795 fairy tale called “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” which represents the ideal intersection of people and the land reflected in Biodynamics. Black cherry, citrus, and lavender pastille, with some secondary loam and herbs. — 8 years ago

Ron R

9.1

Very nice, BUT, The Chief at $20 per bottle goes toe-to-toe with this, and holds its own. Great structure, length and finish. Very exotic nose which rotates between coffee, bilberry and a hint of nutmeg. Good example. — 10 years ago

Branden Bidwell

9.4

Drinking Super Tuscan with the Fire Chief. Good day. — 10 years ago

Michael Mench

9.5

Chief and Roger for my 50th — 11 years ago

Michael Salazar

9.6

Carmenere has quickly become one of our favorites and 2009 would have more body but this 2012 is very good. — 11 years ago

Kari Hudnall

8.9

Middleburg/barrel oak — 11 years ago

Cathy Corison

Owner/Winemaker Corison Winery

9.5

Charity dinner for Sonoma Academy, chief CIA instructor Lars Kronmark at the stove. Masterful cooking, lovely wines. This was the wine of the night for me. — 12 years ago

C Burwell

9.7

treat w filets on open charcoal with the chief. party like it's 2007. — 8 years ago

Sasha Agapov

9.1

Angular brat from the Chief Vigneron of Burgundy. Very energetic, lean and at the same time with descent concentration. Love it! — 9 years ago

with Masha

Russ Bus

9.1

McDougal Fire Chief of Silonoma win land in card game in 60s - asked DG to manage it and have ever since. 8 acres. — 10 years ago

David Kline

9.2

Medium fine oceanic lacing. If the ocean were made of beer. Citrusy with orange blossom aromatics and an old tire floating in it. Cue Iron Eyes Cody's 70s Chief Indian tears. That's throwback for you, if I can be blunt. Tastes like a baseball card, iron and codeine with light yeast and quaalude. Yep. That IS throwback. — 10 years ago

Charles Antin

Senior Wine Specialist/Auctioneer Zachys

9.3

Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces.
Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin' chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, boson's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He's a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb. — 11 years ago

Martin Kelly

9.8

Our favourite value Shiraz from McLaren Vale. Named after chief winemaker of the oldest family vineyard in the vale. $30 well spent. — 12 years ago

with Ania

Angus Powles

9.0

WS. Buy again!! From chief buyer's selection. — 8 years ago

Rachel Goodspeed

8.9

A little spice to this dry wine. Full-bodied with a fruit flavor. There's a reason Wine Enthusiast gave this chief winemaker innovator of the year. — 8 years ago

Charine Tan

9.0

Backstory: Tasted this at the winery and loved it so much that we bought a bottle to take along with us to Mexico. Chad Melville is the owner and winemaker at Samsara. He's also the chief winegrower at Melville Winery.

Winemaking Process: Single vineyard wine with grapes harvested from the Cargasacchi vineyard, which is in the middle aka sweet spot of Santa Rital Hills. 75% whole cluster fermentation with native yeast. 50% in new French oak barrels for 22 months, followed by 12-month ageing in the bottle. Unfiltered.

Tasting Notes: Colour is ruby red with some clarity, no sediment. On the nose, it has blue fruit, cherry, cassis, cigar, asphalt, lambskin leather and pronounced earthy notes. On the palate, it is medium-bodied with full, mouth-filling texture. Red fruit notes appear first, and then the taste turns into an earthy, allspice notes, and finishes off with something so bright and refreshing that reminds us of orange peel. The tannins are soft. End palate is long, around 10 seconds, marked by minerality and cherry. I love this wine because unlike many Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara, it isn't over extracted and not too sweet (like fruit pastille). There's a fleeting burst of sweet red fruit flavour on the mid palate and the flavour quickly transits to earthy notes and tannins. It's a more earthy Pinot Noir but yet still elegant and ready to be consumed. At $55, I think it's well worth the price. — 9 years ago

Charles Gibbs

9.1

Pepe Galante was Catena's chief winemaker from 1976 - 2010. Widely considered the most important winemaker in Argentina's history. Around 1000 cases, the last vintage, which was the first vintage, got 94 points from Wilfred Wong. Search it out. You will not be dissapointed! — 11 years ago

Ryan Shatt

9.7

I like this better than the Big Chief. Medium bodied, fruit forward, aromas of dark chocolate and toffee. Well balanced. — 11 years ago

Lucy Macon

9.8

Love this Viognier blend! The Chardonnay cuts the sweetness and adds a lot. 2nd favorite wine. — 11 years ago

Jason Schrotenboer

9.0

Jammy, tasty with a big red fruit nose. Good wine after a manhattan. Typical Sunday night with the chief — 12 years ago