Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

The 2015 Magician is 100% Riesling from Evergreen Vineyard, located high on the cliffs high above the Columbia River in the middle of Washington State. On the nose; nice tropicals, green apple, pear, lemon, lime, a little white pepper and fresh yellow florals. On the palate, fresh, bright fruits of; green apple, lemon, lime, pineapple, green melon and guava. Spring florals, saline, chalky minerals, nice round acidity and beautiful, slightly oily, round finish. Photos of; their tasting bar, Trey Busch - Co-owner/Winemaker and old Jukebox in their tasting room. Producer/Owner notes...A Pearl Jam concert is one of the reasons Trey ended up in the Pacific NW after seeing them in his first concert ever in Atlanta. In 1992, Trey moved to the Pacific Northwest. He got a job at Nordstrom and worked there for 8 years. Trey was then offered the chance to get into the wine business with the Dunham Cellars. Eric Dunham, the winemaker and owner of Dunham Cellars help shape Trey for his career in winemaking. Trey got hooked on winemaking after his first crush at Dunham Cellars where he stayed until starting "Sleight of Hand Cellars" in 2007. — 9 years ago

DAL 9000

9.0

Aromas of plums and raspberries. Peppery and jammy with a burst to the roof of your mouth plum dryness in the middle. Soft jammy finish. — 10 years ago

Brian W. Anderson

9.5

GIANT mouth for style. Great malt, with a perfect kiss of sour right in the middle. — 10 years ago

with Joy

Loren Loftesnes

9.0

Middle of the road — 10 years ago

Craig Becraft

9.1

Ripe fruit up front then briary earthy middle dusty tannin end delightful complexity — 9 years ago

Scott Wiegand

9.2

Typical northwest IPA but very well done. Obviously they have the best selection of hops available given that the brewery is literally in the middle of their own hop fields. The beer has good citrusy and somewhat grassy hop nose and sweet malt. On he palate, it is well balanced with hop bitterness and slightly sweet and lightly biscuity malt. Very local, so this is an easy go-to beer for me. — 9 years ago

Jason McLaren

8.9

So so Zin. Middle of the road — 10 years ago

Mark Bosko

Director of Sales, Alexana Estate Vineyard and Winery

9.3

Whole cluster co-ferment in amphora buried in the middle of their vineyard. A seriously cool wine. — 10 years ago

Steve Hahn

9.1

Very nice red dessert wine. Clean and nutty, the chocolate adds a nice mellowing flavor in the middle. — 11 years ago

Brandon Boesch

9.0

Middle brow curriculum vitae. Interesting, but disjointed. I felt I could taste wine, blueberries and a saison, but not very integrated. — 9 years ago

Helen Kennedy

9.1

The label says "claret style", but we're thinking it drinks more like an Italian style blend. Lots of ancient vine Zin flavors and 14.5% alcohol. We enjoyed it with Middle Eastern food. — 10 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. — 10 years ago

Rachel Zellem

10

so approachable. relatively light bodied and a little bit of spice hits right at the middle of the palate. my co-op was demoing this wine a few weeks ago and I've bought tgree — 10 years ago