Free Range Flower Winery
Clos de l'Oratoire des Papes
Comtes de Neipperg St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 2014
Beautiful example of top class grand cru St. Emilion - 2014 was a decent year with a good spring, but fairly humid and grey in the summer with more rainfall than normal, and more than the left bank areas saw. Given clay isn't very free draining, the areas that had more sand and gravel drained a little better resulting in great Cabernet Franc, and decent Merlot. That being said, the wine from this estate is beautiful, fleshy, and supple, with acidity and slightly grippy tannins that will help this wine to continue aging. Black plummy fruits, cherry reduction, bell pepper, tobacco, purple flower florals. 90% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc, aged in new oak barrels 50% on lees for 17 months, and no fining. This is a great value to have in the cellar, especially if you secured any 2015's that absolutely will need time, these can be opened now but aged for several more years. — 7 years ago
Weingut Joh Matheus
Dhroner Hofberger Spätlese trocken Riesling 2002
Tasty! Age allowed for nicely nuanced characteristics - peach, petrol, floral. Had with Easter dinner; purchased from Free Range Wine. — 7 years ago
Fattoria dei Barbi (Colombini)
Brusco dei Barbi Toscana IGT Sangiovese 2013
Takes its name from the free-spirited gentleman named Bruscone who lived in the woods of the Barbi Estate. Ruby with bright aromas of red berry fruits and wild flower notes. On the palate strawberry and cherry flavors, well balanced with avidity & fine tannins. Lingering finish ending with earthy tones. Nice value. — 8 years ago
Craggy Range
Single Vineyard Martinborough Pinot Noir 2011
Abundant amount of red fruit, flower and hint of herbal grassy character. Very elegant and feminine version of pinot noir definitely have some grassy character on it. med body, med p acid, subtle, elegant delicate texture of pinot noir finishes with tons of minerality and structure. No sense of oak, pretty elegant pinot noir that can enjoy by the glass or pork chop. — 9 years ago
Schloss Schönborn
Pfaffenberg Riesling 1993
Wow. Such a dynamic range of flavors. Baked apple, light elder flower notes, walnuts, quince, honeyed...so interesting. This auslese was a lot of fun. Still has good acid. — 10 years ago
Château Fantin
Red Bordeaux Blend
Bought from free range spirits. Good steak wine — 11 years ago
Kilikanoon
Mort's Block Watervale Clare Valley Riesling 2012
Bone dry, crisp Riesling, reflecting the diurnal range resting the vines get at their altitude in the valley. No oak and only free run juice- perfect accompaniment to scallop or even oily fuller mackerel — 12 years ago
Anthill Farms
Campbell Ranch Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015
Searing bright acid, delicate floral accents, succulent red fruit, lively spice and silky tannins. Just a gorgeous Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir- transmitting unmistakable coastal terroir, intense yet elegant, concentrated yet clear. One of my favorite Anthill wines of the entire range and certainly the most overtly aromatic given its youthful status. I wouldn’t normally recommend drinking one of Anthony’s wines so young but 2015 was indeed an unusual vintage here in Sonoma that yielded its share of compact, ultra-concentrated wines that are developing at a brisk pace. Perhaps this is one of them. Whatever the case, feel free to enjoy now- it is already quite expressive and rewarding. Superb! — 7 years ago
Clos Solene
Hommage Blanc White Rhone Blend 2017
Nose of flower garden with herbs in the corner. Pure, clean, balanced, fresh. Honeysuckle and agave nectar with a touch of vanilla from the oak. Worth the investment as comparable enjoyment from a chardonay would have to be in a higher price range. This is a super nice white. — 7 years ago
Craggy Range
Aroha Te Muna Pinot Noir 2014
[alluvial free draining soil] Light garnet, diminished concentration and staining. Bright lush raspberry and cranberry. Licorice and a lot of minerals. Sweet and savory on the finish. Soft velvety tannins. Elevated acidity. Medium plus body. Some French oak. — 7 years ago
HRM Rex-Goliath Winery
Free Range White
As notable from the photo, we liked this wine! Tons of citrus--grapefruit and lemon with a fruity pear and apple, slightly sweet undertone. Extremely refreshing and eat pounding. — 9 years ago
Franco Serra
Barbaresco Nebbiolo 2008
Very nice Nebbiolo. Some fruit some tannin. Went very nice with free range stewing duck, with dried Porcini, celery, carrots and purple potatoes. — 10 years ago
Dirty & Rowdy
Unfamiliar Mourvedre 2017
Via Brooklyn Wine Exchange: Hardy Wallace is a bit of a superstar in the "New California" wine scene. He began his wine career in Atlanta, publishing a blog on the subject called Dirty South Wines. In 2009, he won a high-profile contest held by Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma, called "A Really Goode Job." Hardy beat out 2,000 other applicants for this stunt-job, acting as a sort of social media/pr coordinator for the winery. Upon completion of his six-month contract, he went to work for several legendary winemakers in the valley, including Cathy Corison (Chappellet, Corison) and Ehren Jordan (Turley, Failla). During this time, Hardy and his wife Kate also partnered with friends Matt and Amy Richardson to form a small label called Dirty & Rowdy Family Winery. For their first vintage, they purchased one ton of Mourvredre, the semi-obscure Provencal and Spanish variety that is rarely seen outside the context of a red blend in California.
Knowing that Dirty & Rowdy could distinguish itself in a ocean of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvigon with this curious and brawny grape, Hardy & Co. quickly bet the farm on Mourvedre, as a vehicle to express different styles of winemaking as well as the terroir of multiple regions within California. Flash-forward to current day, where Dirty & Rowdy has become the king of California Mourvedre, bottling multiple cuvees each year that sell out almost immediately.
Dirty & Rowdy is a well-known emblem of the domestic natural wine scene as well. Hardy buys almost exclusively from organic growers, and doesn't filter, acidify, or alter his wines in anyway. Sulfur use is extremely low, and the overall philosophy is to be as hands-off as possible.
That is until 2017. The fact that Dirty & Rowdy has a wine to present at all for this vintage is a miracle. Flashback to mid-July last year. The growing season wasn't going all that well. Tremendous heat spikes created growth problems at almost all the vineyards Hardy sources grapes from. It's hard enough to monitor vine issues on one vineyard, let alone almost a dozen parcles scattered around six counties stretching from the Central Coast all the way out to the Sierra Foothills. A case of shingles went from bad to worse, spreading to his eyes. Hardy completely lost his vision for three days. Kate's brother Angus, a ski instructor and artist from Aspen, drove out to lend a hand with the impending harvest. On his way out, he was involved in single-car crash along a treacherous stretch of interstate and tragically lost his life.
Then the fires started.
Hardy and Kate, like many other producers who make wines in communal "crush" facilities located in urban areas around Sonoma and Napa, had hoped to ride out the fires and continue their wine production. The fires spread rapidly and threatened both their house and their winery, located in Petaluma. They left their wine in the midst of alcoholic fermentation, one of the most crucial and stressful times of the year for a winemaker even in the best of situations. When they were able to return eight days later, the winery was luckily undamaged. The wine, however, didn't fare so well. most vats had experienced "stuck fermentation," meaning that the native yeast died before eating all the sugar. Hardy, like most forward-thinking American winemakers, is a firm believer in natural fermentation. This no-brainer aspect to his wine was now an virtual impossibility. Plus, the vats contained high levels of volatile acidity or "VA," which creates an unfavorable "nail polish" quality in wine. A little bit of VA can give lift and energy to wine. Too much, however, renders the wine undrinkable.
At this point, Hardy thought to sell all the wine off in bulk for pennies on the dollar. Or perhaps create a second label to distance himself from what was surely going to be an atypical wine. Instead, he decided to combine almost every vat of his Mourvedre for the vintage (including lots of his most expensive fruit), and go into the "Unfamliar" territory of interventionist winemaker. Stuck lots were restarted using a variety of methods. When the wines finally fermented to dryness, he borrowed a "reverse osmosis" filtration system, perhaps the most modern of all the modern wine doohickeys. This contraption allowed Hardy to literally suck out the volatile acidity to bring it down to a pleasing level, as well as moderate and stabilize the alcohol. Then he filtered the wine. Basically, he did all the things he never thought he would ever want to do to wine.
The resulting wine is something that we have never seen before, both from Dirty & Rowdy and the Mourvedre grape, in general. Much of the wine fermented carbonically in tank, so the expression is much closer in style to Beaujolais than Bandol. It is so light on its feet, in fact, that Hardy believes this wine could take a serious chill. (Hence the reason we are trying to get you to try a California Mourvedre in the middle of a sweltering summer!) The tannins are pretty much non-existent, and the fruit is pretty and pure. There is a lovely little purple flower note in the middle of the wine, and a hint of smokiness on the finish (smoke taint from the fires? Or is this just some sort of phantom association because of the context? Either way, it adds depth and personality to this gorgeous wine.)
Since their "Annus Horribilis" of 2017, order and peace has been restored in Hardy & Kate's life. Their daughter Maple turns two in a few days. They celebrated the free-spirited life of their brother with scores of his friends and ski students at Aspen Mountain's opening day last November. The motto of the celebration, "Live Like Angus," has inspired hundreds and hundreds of beautiful social media posts. And this year's Spring release of Dirty & Rowdy wines from earlier vintages has quickly sold out around the country, gobbled up by ravenous collectors, restaurants, and retailers (like this one.)
But to Hardy, this "Unfamiliar" wine, which doesn't fit stylistically or financially into the rest of the D&R portfolio, will always represent something completely different: The best of a unthinkably bad situation. "It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get that wine into bottle," Hardy wrote to us, just this morning. "Fortunately, it is fresh, delicious, soulful and somewhat of a Phoenix Rising from 2017. Though it is our least expensive wine ever, it is the wine I am most proud of." — 7 years ago
Luigi Maffini
Kleos Paestum Aglianico
What r u Drinking tonight for the premiere of #Girls & the #GoldenGlobes ? I'm digging this #Aglianico from #Campania #Italy from the #Coastal #Winery of #LuigiMaffini #Tart #Blackberry #Cherry #Clove #Cinnamon #Coffee #MeltedButter 👏 #Aged 8 months in used #French Casks #pair it with a #pizza or some #Spicy (Free range) meats or even #Chicken with #Capers ... #cheers #Wino #SundayFunday 🏈📺🍴🍷👍👍👍 $23.99 at #LeDuWines #Nyc — 11 years ago
Allison Lyzenga
Medium brown; pronounced aldehydic aromas of dried flower, brown sugar, molasses, dried fig, mincemeat, pastry crust, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, chopped nuts; developing; dry, medium acid, high alcohol, full body, pronounced intensity flavors of vanilla, cedar, charred wood, roasted walnuts, forest floor, tobacco, earth, beef stock, cinnamon , spiced orange peel, long finish; outstanding due to very concentrated and complex range of flavors, primary, secondary , and tertiary flavors — 7 years ago