Kyle Zeman

9.2

Vanilla, light, sage — 5 years ago

Randy Fuller

9.4

This rich, golden, sweet wine smells like honey and dried apricots. There's a layer of earthy minerals, a chalkiness, that beautifully counterpoints the sweetness. On the palate, a viscous mouthfeel carries marmalade-like fruit flavors along on a subtle wave of acidity. This is dessert on its own, but why limit such a wonderful wine? Have it with hard cheese, almonds or a lobster roll. — 5 years ago

Sean Beck

10

Buy, yummy — 7 years ago

Francesco Federico

9.8

Spectacular expression of terroir. You can actually feel the 2006 heat wave! Wonderful notes of acacia honey, spices and yellow flowers. A masterpiece. — 8 years ago

Lauren Rosillo

9.2

Mineral, fresh and very drinkable now. One of my favourite new wave producer — 8 years ago

Jack Cranley, Backroads Wine Club & Cascadia Premium Wines

9.6

Absolutely terrific wine. Bound to uplift even the most doomy-gloomy mood. As such, it pairs well with political discourse and the prospect of "President Trump." Go ahead, drink those sorrows away. You deserve it.

Beautiful, shimmering golden color. I believe it's actually already deepening with age. (2012 vintage consumed in mid-2016)

On the nose, apricot fruit and unrefined honey dominate but is accompanied with a menagerie of rare and precious aromatics. The result is a feeling of having something truly exotic in your glass. This is a world-class wine for which there could never be any argument over its worthiness. You will be taken by this wine and there's really no way to over-hype it and set the expectation bar too high because this wine will meet it every time.

As we dig in deeper past the obvious top notes, we discover a treasure chest filled with persimmon, sandalwood, white flower, and vanilla bean.

Upon first entry in the mouth you are met with a zippy liveliness but then that melts gently across your palate to really give you a fine, pervasive coating that excites the taste buds in every corner of your mouth. This is a POWERHOUSE of assertive flavor. This wine will stage a veritable coup d'etat upon your complacent palate. There will be an ouster of your resident ennui. No incumbent sense of boredom will be safe from this wave of populist essence. There will be a complete and total transition of power in the halls of your mind's parliament leading to a peaceful but efficacious revolution. With your personal Congress in shambles, this fresh new confederacy shall draft a Constitution that will usher in a new era of utopian cooperation and transcendental civic euphoria!

Sorry, maybe for a little carried away there. For reals though. Drink this wine when you're feeling down and feel the BURN! Well, not really - because the alcohol is really well-integrated. ;) — 9 years ago

Gae Saccoccio - NdC

9.6

Really complicated on these so suspect days, expose themselves with concepts such as: tradition, terroir, identity without falling into the most sinister rhetoric if not sounds just trite and hypocritical as the counterfeit currency with which even large-scale industries - supported by marketing - pays back its inattentive mass audience riding the wave of the country of origin or protected typicality. A diabolical mechanism this one for which even the most noble ideas probably the right practices and good experiences completed in the scale of centuries to human measure and not on massive industrial scale, are trivialized by sleazy slogan, emptied of meaning to be more or less surreptitious thanks to barbaric persuasion techniques and brain-washing propaganda.
Yet with the Valentini's Trebbiano you may not groped to summarize in words if not by drawing on terms so appropriate to express it. Now concerning this iconic label we've got behind it a local grape variety, a real family and a great wine that collect in a bottle the past and present story of a side of Abruzzo who claims to defeats victories and sacrifices to dominate the abuses (on and of) nature, miseries and splendours of agricultural seasons. Places, people, vision, wines such as Valentini are here to remind us how each bottle stay so proudly standing as non-reproducible beauty and fermented goodness expressing all its artisanal uniqueness and authenticity which are just that suspect to industrial wine production in manufacturing chains on standardized quantities; wines that are all equal to themselves even though wine itself is not much left at the end of the day/cycle. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Valentini 1998 is what we have to rate right now: rusticity with class; style, purity and glory of a local grape recognized by many admirers from all over the world: act local think global this is another slogan-cliché which in this specific Valentini's wine exemple could sounds a little less false and more effective. — 9 years ago

with Alberto and Giovanni

Shawn Summey

9.0

Fruity Golden Ale — 5 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

The opportunity to enjoy a small glass of this came rather unexpectedly yesterday afternoon and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the experience. I was looking over a collection of wines that needed a new home and a friend of mine who was the collection’s custodian, mentioned that he had something he had been meaning to share with me and without any fanfare, he walks back into the room with two small glasses and this ancient bottle. I hardly had any time to react before he poured me a small glass....as I looked three times to confirm that I was, in fact, drinking from a pre-war bottle of Madeira. The nose was stunning. A massive wave of confected fruit like candied citron. You know those beautiful syrup glazed orange (and other fruit) slices you’ll often see in European chocolate shops? Yeah...it smelled like that. Just a touch of VA. On the palate, this was totally mind bending. It’s almost all hazelnuts; remarkably dry; and there is pronounced acidity. The finish lasted for minutes. I can categorically state that this wine is very much alive and well but it’s a nerd’s wine as it’s super rustic and best served as an aperitif. — 6 years ago

Deborah M

8.9

Fruit jumps out at you. Then a wave of smokiness hits you. Cherries and red fruit dominate in this most un-cab like red blend. Dense. Deep red color. Good bottle overall. Drank 2013 — 8 years ago

Eric Lovalvo

9.6

Surprisingly phenomenal — 8 years ago

Erik Helms

Sommelier/Wine & Beer Buyer Whole Foods Oakland

9.1

This 100 degree heat wave called for a Txakolina flight! Freshly cut, pungent lime, aromatic lime peel, lemon flowers, and the familiar bite of Txakolina's mouthwatering acidity. Slight effervescence and salinity pairs it perfectly with a Cordobes cheese recommendation from @Lauren Vance! — 9 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Consistly one of the top values in Bordeaux. This 01 is over delivering the vintage and my expectation. Rich dark cassis. Ripe blackberries, blueberries, strawberries paint the background. Rich wet dark earth, black tea, velvety leather, nice baking spices and a long rich elegant finish. It's hit it's stride with even better evolution ahead. Just got a wave of warm chocolate fudge brownie with raspberries. — 9 years ago

S.S. Mandani

8.9

Deep magenta hues.

A wave of tobacco soaked cinnamon scent on the nose.

Forward kick of black pepper spice, culminating in a dark cherry mid palate, and ending with a welcome coupling of plum and star anise.

Its good. It’s fruity. It’s spicy. It’s dry. It’s not focused. — 5 years ago

Mike Levin

9.3

Tropical blast, tree nuts, spicy herbs, and a diabolical wave of nervy life force. — 6 years ago

with Ben

Bret Barker

9.0

Tasting at Copain. Beautiful winery with some sweeping views of Sonoma. Again no bottles so just the menu. The Laurel grades was an amazing wine, parcel of land by the ocean. It had that salt/mineral undertone and was crisp. Tidal wave was also very good and similar to a savignon blanc. The high rock Syrah was very good they let’s us try an 09 to give an idea of how it evolves. Solid wine. The 2014 was too tannic to get a good feel for the wine. — 7 years ago

Nathan Wegener

9.3

Stunning fruit filled flavour. Good depth and joyous with BBQ pork ribs + apple sweet potato bake! — 8 years ago

Frank Kuo

9.4

Deep inky purple color almost like Syrah. Noses are simply intense and beautiful, characterized by smoky oaks and dark fruits like cherries. Taste is silky and powerful. Flavors of cherries, oaky notes come in first wave, while acidity and graphite notes come in second. Layers of flavors mix really well. Aftertaste is long and enjoyable, with graphite on the back of the tongue, oaky notes all around, and string tannins reminding you that the wine had the ability to age. If price is right stock them up. — 9 years ago

Frank Kuo

9.2

Translucent burgundy color with just a tiny bit of haze on the rim and slow flowing legs. Nose of nice cranberry, herbs, a touch of soy sauce, a bit of salty mineral, baking spice, and dressed with powerful alcohol. Taste of bright and sharp acidity, with sweetness comes at the second wave, peppery and a bit zesty like grapefruit zest, cherries and cranberries, and baking spice. Aftertaste is zesty and sweet, medium finish with peppery note lingering on the base of tongue. A nice flavorful and refreshing Pinot. — 9 years ago

Stephen Becker

8.9

Pearls, vintage Chris Craft, night time ride across the lake, low moon flashes behind the trees, underwear in your pocket this time. The green flash of the aurora borealis comes out of nowhere, a slow serpentine sine-wave pulsing across the Milky Way. — 9 years ago