I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- NV Party Favor Pinot Grigio (California): Fun it has in spades; balance it has in… a lot less than spades. $19 C+
- 2013 Fiddlehead Cellars ‘Cuvee Seven Twenty Eight’ Fiddlestix Pinot Noir (Sta Rita Hills): You’ll only really be saying “ah, fiddlesticks!” when the bottle is (all to quickly) emptied. $44 A-
- 2016 McIntyre Vineyards Estate Chardonnay (Santa Lucia Highlands): The California accent is lusciously, sexily thick when this one speaks up. $30 B+
- 2016 ZD Wines Founder’s Reserve Pinot Noir (Carneros): About as polar opposite to shy and small as Carneros fruit can reasonably get. $82 A-
- 2015 Venge Vineyards “Silencieux” Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Not a proper namesake when it comes to its abundant fruitiness. Luckily for us. $55 A-
- 2016 Muti Albariño (Rias Baixas): Mineral, pithy, substantial, and glorious; white lovers, rejoice, for your Autumn sipper hath arrived. $36 A-
- 2016 Mastroberardino Lacrimarosa Irpinia Rosato (Irpinia): A small glass of pure joy, masterfully poured and dutifully considered. $20 B+
- 2013 Künstler Pinot Noir Dry (Rheingau): The real art here is how they managed to get Pinot from Germany this good out of the country before the Germans drank it all fore themselves… $30 A-
- 2016 Concha y Toro Gran Reserva Serie Riberas Malbec (Central Valley): Caught somewhere between South America, Western Europe, and an entire oak forest. $20 B
- 2016 Mt. Beautiful Sauvignon Blanc (North Canterbury): Pungent and pretty coexisting quite happily, if a bit enthusiastically. $17 B+