While Giovanna Drei Donà “hates” technical questions about wine, she is fond of horses; maybe more fond of horses than her children Ida Vittoria and Enrico, the fourth generation who have helped to run the winemaking operations at the picturesque Drei Donà estate now owned by her husband Count Claudio Drei Donà (who focused on…
Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For March 18, 2019
2014 Dry Creek Vineyard The Mariner Meritage (Dry Creek Valley): Both classy and, one could argue, now classic in a Fitz Henry Lane painting kind of way. $40 A- 2016 Hess Collection Panthera Chardonnay (Russian River Valley): A promising start, for sure, though still needs to rise above the inevitable cougar-juice cheap shots that are…
And Then There Were… Five (Tenuta Casali Recent Releases)
What gives one the impetus to isolate yeasts, experiment with, say, cumbersome large barriques, and pursue crafting world-class Sangiovese in a region best known for bulk wine? Probably having regional winemaking in your blood. That’s the sense that one might take away from a visit to Tenuta Casali, in Romagna’s Mercato Saraceno, where Silvia, Francesco…
Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For March 11, 2019
2017 Sidebar Kerner (Mokelumne River): Probably more richness and intrigue than we mere mortals deserve from this kind of price-point… $28 A- 2011 LangeTwins Centennial Zinfandel (Lodi): Tender and succulent slabs of smoked brisket IN YO FACE!!! $55 B+ 2013 Brack Mountain Cyprus Cabernet Sauvignon (Knights Valley): An embarrassment of riches in soft, herbal-tinged blackcurrant…