Exceptional and pure immediately come to mind and are affirmed over 2-3 hours. This is Sangiovese Grosso in a very Burgundian, transparent and very pure expression.
A new producer of sorts, the earliest wines were in 2006 under this label from what I recall.
Being my first Stella the color is uncommonly lighter for a Brunello than you would expect.
The nose is pure, with elegant raspberry and strawberry fruits that meld with Earthy minerality, mushroom and spice into a beautiful, sensual perfume.
The palate continues the purity party, marrying a persistence and depth that reminds me again of Burgundy. A long finish carries the fruit, fresh acids and the fine, supple tannin.
As great as it is now, will it reach even more heights? Only time will tell.
#brunello #sangiovese — 9 years ago
First thing that comes to mind is Fino, wonderfully fine. — 10 years ago
It may well not be their best vintage to date, but it's impossible not to resist its pure candied peach fruit and gentle spice flavors. Long and rewarding it offers lively acidity and lovely drinkability. Seductive comes to mind. The second bottle of this vintage in less than two months. Thanks Brorsan. — 10 years ago
About five bottles worth of flavor in one bottle of wine. This one is a mind-blower--needs a small party to finish, like a bottle of port--contains the entire flavor spectrum of cab franc, from vegetal to pruney, and everything in between. Thick like syrup, high alcohol. Somehow manages to be balanced though, maybe it's a Jedi mind trick. — 10 years ago
Mags of SB ! Don't mind if we do — 11 years ago
Nutty, spicy, some oak, ripe complexity more associated in my mind with aged white burgundy than champagne, honey, tannic structure, big and flavorful but balanced with lots of acidity. No question it's showy, but it manages to be really drinkable and delicious despite its over-the-top heft. — 12 years ago
I had originally ordered a 2014 Rafanelli Zin, but when it turned out to be a 2015, I changed my mind and asked for the 2009 Ridge from the cellar list. A really lovely wine, and the owner/sommelier charged us the price for my original selection. Not a huge dollar amount, but a really classy gesture. We'll be back. — 8 years ago
Wonderful with a Carbonara dish this evening. It also helps take my mind off the 2.5 feet of new snow outside. — 10 years ago
Never stops blowing my mind. Sour cherries, white pepper, beef jerky. So herbal. So yes. #canaryislandwine — 10 years ago
LOVED this wine. — 11 years ago
Don't mind if i do! — 11 years ago
Spring time pink roses come to mind when I first saw this fine light rose. Young strawberries and melon find my tastebuds.
Enjoy this refreshing Rose! — 8 years ago
This wine was decanted at noon. 7 hours later, it is still going strong. Makes the standard Beaucastel taste like a Côte du Rhône. The old vine Mourvèdre gives so much savory bacon to the glass that it blows the mind away. The magnum was to much. Would have aged faster in a standard bottle. This could have waited another 10 years easily. — 9 years ago
Beautifully balanced , received as a gift, dont think I would buy it — 10 years ago
A first taste of legendary geneticist Carole Meredith's wines from Mount Veeder. We had the 2011, 2012 and 2013, and while vintage variations were obvious, so was the sense of place common to all three. The 2012 is riper and broader than the leaner 2011, but classic Syrah pepper and floral notes are there. The 2013 was a touch sweet but these are wines clearly made with preservation of terroir character in mind. I'd love to retaste them with more age. Rating here is for the 2012. — 10 years ago
Dense, a deep crimson with a solid core - it looks less than half its age(!); incredibly distinctive (unmistakeable) nose of driftwood bonfires, sweaty leather bike-saddles and tarmacadam, cedar, Trinidad tobacco - never mind the palette, the NOSE lasts for 30 seconds AFTER you've put down the glass. It's still lightly tannic - not ambivalently, but elusively complex, and forcefully insistent. This has truly cemented me as an Haut-Brion convert. I cannot imagine a greater expression of the Graves. Utterly sensational - though after an hour and a half it started revealing a hint of VA and lost an inch of its engorgement. Oh well, it's only the first of my bottles and had the lowest level by far (4.5 cm)... — 10 years ago
My oh my oh my. Let me first try to describe this as objectively as I can before I start babbling in tongues about why it's awesome. So, okay, we'll start with the color, which is somewhere between a rosé and a pale red. That's as good a portent as any for what you get when you taste it, which is this ethereal, gossamer, lacy thing that would probably flutter to the earth even slower than a feather if it were a solid object. It has a sense of freshness and light without being overtly fruity, i.e. it features the freshness and essential perfume of the fruit without the sweetness or fat. It has a minerally element too, subtle (though everything about this is subtle) but clearly reminiscent of gravelly rock pulverized to an ultrafine powder (everything about this is ultrafine). The word "finesse" is a cliché, ditto for "ethereal," but ultimately that's what's so awesome about this. I have had a lot of disappointing German pinot noir, even from highly regarded producers, and they never turn out to be what you think German pinot noir ought to be (i.e., as clear and pure and transparent as riesling, with all that cool-climate lightness). Somehow some of them turn out to be big fat Sonoma pinot lookalikes, which I will never understand. This is not like that. I am really at a loss to think of anything from anywhere to compare this to that so effortlessly pulls off such a vivid personality out of material so fine it only barely seems to have a corporeal existence, and not a flaw or seam to be seen in the way it is all put together. I can think of a Jura pinot that was in the ballpark (the '08 Chais des Vieux Bourg) and the weight and physical presence bring to mind something like Coteaux Champenois or the Dirty & Rowdy reds, but as far as I am concerned this is sui generis. There are aspects that bring to mind all sorts of things but it really needs its own frame of reference. It is profound but not in the same way that grand cru Burgundy is profound; it's a brilliant soloist, not a symphony, almost minimalist in its simplicity and tranquility, best paired with your favorite easy chair and some quiet moments. — 10 years ago
It's very good. But to be totally honest there is a factor of: "yay I did it- check it off the list" but I've tasted wines for far less $$ and cool-factor that match up better against it. But nobody leaves a drop in the glass in your right mind! The co$t has to be considered when giving a rating. — 11 years ago
Martin G Rivard
The 2012 is absolutely mind blowing good. I decided to open a 13 to see how it would compare. It needs more time in the bottle. It wasn’t showing as I would have expected from this legendary vineyard. It was good but nowhere near as awesome as the 12. — 8 years ago