A curated collection of wine reviews from the top wine writers in America. Every day, we highlight the best wines available in America. From the staff at the National Wine School in California.
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!
There’s nothing like a good scandal to encourage a hit of the reset button.
Or, in the case of Sonoma’s venerable Flowers Winery, it’s more akin to just hitting the next-phase button.
Small production, big felled trees (at Flowers Winery’s tasting room in Healdsburg)
Flowers has always seem to operate a bit under-the-radar by upper-tier California wine brand standards; which makes sense, considering that founders Joan and Walt Flowers were Bucks County, Pennsylvania folk who just happened to fall in love with the Sonoma Coast area. By the close of the `80s, the Flowers saw an ad in an issue of Wine Spectator for available land in an area that most people cautioned them against using as a vineyard. But they saw potential there above the fog line, made the purchase, and, as history in the bottle has mostly borne out, it turns out that they were right.
According to Flowers, the Huneeus Vintners board is (understandably) more involved these days, after Agustin Huneeus Jr. was speedily sped out, and his father stepping in to retake the company reins. Flowers, due to its size in the Huneeus portfolio, acted with a good deal of autonomy through it all, being in, as one employee there put it, “the outer reaches of the solar system” within the parent company. And so Flowers went chugging right along, opening up a new Healdsburg tasting room, and basically just making the same thought-provoking, scandal-free stuff they always have. Speaking of which…
This is a nice gateway drug for what Flowers is all about; easy to imbibe (red berry flavors, tart plums, floral aromas), but with a core of seriousness throughout (vibrant acidity, and an elegant, lengthy finish). Having said that, things aren’t too serious, and this is definitely an example of Flowers letting their hair down.
You get a good deal of elegant bang for your hard-earned buck here, even at a price tag that’s just shy of fifty bones. That’s because most of the fruit for this comes from their Sea View Ridge property. With 11 months in barrel and 3 months on the lees, you’d expect some lemon curd and tropical fruit action, which you most certainly get. But that Sea View specialness cannot be undone; minerals, peach, white flowers, and vivacious structure abound, as does an elegant demeanor.
This is about as overtly showy as Flowers gets. Mostly crafted from Camp Meeting Ridge vineyard fruit, with 25%-or-so new French oak imparting cedar notes, there’s grit, ripe cherry, and plenty of zing here. Violets, palate lift, and a kiss of tannins round things out, but the youthful, energetic sense of juicy fruitiness takes command and never really lets go of it.
There’s simply nothing about this Pinot not to love, apart from its sticker price. Opening with dried herbs and spices, citrus peel hints, saline notes, mineral action, and moving to dark cherry fruits, it’s a contemplative and expertly-crafted little affair. Having said that, it’s not delicate in structure, nor is it skimpy in its long, spicy finish. Put simply, it’s gorgeous, and likely has a long, graceful aging curve in front of it.
I often find single-vineyard wines to be a bit overrated, but wines like this tend to be exceptional, well, exceptions. Camp Meeting Ridge is windy, rocky, relatively high (at 1300 feet), and within spitting distance of the Pacific’s influences. What you get from this truly coastal specimen is a sea-breeze, saline quality, citrus, toast, wet stones, lemon peel, and a few dozen kinds of white peaches. The palate is lively, long, piquant, and clearly on the young side. Stellar stuff, even understated at times, and about as far from scandalous as you can get.
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!
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!
Goode’s take on the situation in more on the informational side, but the online reactions were mostly pitchforks-and-torches negative, with the ire planted squarely in the “Big = Bad!” mindset.
My friend Fred Swan penned a cogent, even-handed, level-headed piece in response to the online outcry, in which he extols the virtues of industrial-scale wines in consumer terms:
“Aficionados of “fine wine” may find …affordable, high-volume, big-brand bottlings too bold, too sweet, too simple, or not varietally representative. The wines aren’t made for those people. They’re made for specific, but very large. audiences, are made with intention, and made after considerable research and development by highly-trained people.”
My response today, on the other hand, will be neither level-headed nor even-handed, though hopefully it will be cogent enough for the detractors of industrial-scale wine to understand that they are acting like morons when they lash out against high-volume, low-cost wines as having no place in a modern wine market. The truth is that those high-volume, low-cost wines make up the majority of the fine wine market, and without them the high-end market would likely be in severe economic dire straights…
Before I lay down the truth slapping, however, a clarification is in order.
Industrial scale wines are, on the whole, nowhere near as good as their (often) more expensive, (almost certainly) lower-production, (is this even really a word?) artisinal, and (usually) higher quality counterparts. I know this both from the standpoints of practical experience (in tasting thousands and thousands of wines per year in critically settings) and, more importantly, rational logic. For the latter, industrial wines are more likely, by necessity, to include less complex fruit, use more additives, and employ lower-cost methods of production.
A comparison will likely help here: there’s no shame in, say, enjoying a burger from McDonald’s; where we would make a huge mistake is in insisting that a McD’s burger is on the same quality level as a Kobe beef burger where the cows are massaged multiple times an hour and fed only hormone-free, wild grass species grown from rare seeds imported from Japan. You can prefer the McD’s burger, but you make a serious mistake if you consider it a better overall burger than the Kobe, all other things being equal.
Similarly, in wine we can get a tasty, clean, varietally-correct bottle for something like $5-$7 USD. It will not be made by farmers who wake with the dawn, go outside to feed the chickens, and then tend lovingly to their vines by hand. That’s the myth that fine wine markets to us, but the reality is that the costs of that kind of hand-tendered farming automatically would put the wine into a price category at least four times the entry-level cost above. Any other interpretation is simply an act of deluding yourself as a consumer, for which (in today’s age of instantly-available detailed information) there is little excuse.
“The existence of price-sensitive consumers who care little about product quality intensifies competition among the high-end firms. The existence of low-end firms functions as a credible threat, which induces the high-end firms not to overproduce because price-sensitive consumers buy products from the low-end firms.”
“…a consumer who is exposed to a dense set of alternatives (think now of the choice of coffee or yogurt at your local supermarket) concludes instead that like-minded consumers must care about even small differences in quality, so this consumer should follow suit.”
So… while their are undoubtedly issues with how wine is distributed in the USA due to largely unchecked capitalism and outdated laws, the mere existence of lower-end wines – which are essential for meeting consumer demand for such products, and provide an economic market base upon which the higher tiers of craft-level wine production relies and from which it organically grows what is likely a not insubstantial portion of its consumers – does not appear to hamper the high-end market anywhere near as much as its detractors claim, if it does so at all.
TLDR version (which, yeah, I unfairly stuck at the bottom): The high-end wine market needs the low-end wine market; without the latter, the former would probably not be as successful as it has been, and it probably actually benefits from the situation. get over it.
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!
A Bordeaux-style blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and aged for two years in mostly older oak barriques. Cedar and wildflowers frame a classy move into old-world finesse. Flavors of Asian five-spice and sun-dried cherries flesh out this beautiful bottling.
A Syrah-Cabernet Sauvignon blend made by Buty Winery (Buty and the Beast, see what they did there?). To push the in-joke further they release the BEAST on Halloween. Despite the PR stunt, this is an excellent wine made by a small family-owned winery. Black and blue fruit flavors give way to garrigue and cracked black pepper. Fleshed out and fun, aided with well-heeled tannins and a smokey finish.
Pricing in PA: $13.99
Wine Rating: 90 Points
Brian Carter Cellars 2017 “Oriana” White, Yakima Valley
Brian Carter Cellars, Yakima Valley
A Rhone blend of Viognier and Roussanne with a splash of Riesling (10%). The note of jasmine in this wine is unmistakable. There’s at least one scientific paper that claims Jasmine is better than valium for decreasing anxiety. Note sure we believe that, but it would explain why 80% of all perfumes are based in Jasmine.
That’s a long way to go about saying we really love the nose on this wine. Complemented with peach pit, lychee, and marmalade. There is a waxy richness here, lifted with electric acidity.
Pricing in PA: $14.99
Wine Rating: 90 Points
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Owen Roe 2012 Red, Union Gap Vineyard, Yakima Valley
Owen Roe, Union Gap Vineyard
From their estate vineyard, this is a Cabernet Franc dominated (45%) red wine with Cab Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec filling in the gaps. This Owen Roe bottling luxury-level bottling shows the potential of Cabernet Franc in Washington. Supple and edged with burnt sage, hibiscus, and chocolate. Fresh strawberries and figs are here as offerings to Bacchus and various other booze gods. Cola and hawthorne on the finish.
Pricing in PA: $35.99.
Wine Rating: 94 Points
Owen Roe 2012 Red, Red Willow Vineyard, Yakima Valley
Owen Roe, Yakima Valley
One of the top vineyards In Washington, Red Willow is located inside the Yakama Indian Reservation. This wine is nearly equal parts of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The flavors here are complex and deep. They will likely evolve over the next 5 years. Aromas of honeysuckle, ripe bing cherries, gravel, and seaside pebbles. Flavors of dark fruit, licorice and Belgiandark chocolate. This is a richly textured wine, full-bodied and sporting a gloss of new oak. This bottling, like the other Owen Roe featured here, is usually priced at over twice the current price in PA. This is a steal.
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!
2015 Kishor Vineyard GSM (Galilee): A bistro-style sipper that delivers the leathery, herbal complexity goods over a generous portion of brambly red fruits. $26 B+
2017 Flowers Chardonnay (Sonoma Coast, $45)
