Calina
Alcance Sauvignon Blanc 2021
‘Reserva’! Good sunflower oil color to it. Aroma of lemon peels and lemon verbena. Hint of Pinesol? Flavors are excellent. Pineapple without the sugar. Lemon peels without the bite and grass without the itch. A bit of grapefruit too. This is a lovely Sauv Blanc for a steal. — 16 days ago
Bodega Garzon
Reserva Maldonado Tannat 2020
Label has old school vibes with a lot of very small writing in español. Dark purple approaching black in the glass. Aroma of tar, molasses and tobacco plants. Flavors are decently complex. Bit of dried black cherries and blackberry sauce. Black currant and black licorice are both also in there. Tannic. Dense. Weighty. Plummy finish. This doesn’t sing out with the herbal, earthy, wet bushes in the hills thing some Tannat is famous for, but it’s lovely red with character. Would meet a steak and shake its hand firmly with a next match. — 9 days ago
Marco Abella
Olbieta Terra Alta Grenache Blend 2020
Very nice bee and flower art on the label. Color is translucent, but ruby. Aroma is baked cherry and rose-hip tea. Hints of potpourri. Flavors are bit thin, but a nice Red Zinger tea (meaning hibiscus and rosehip) meets raspberry syrup (minus the sugars). This is fresh red/pink fruits, fresh fennel and herbal/fruit teas over licorice, inks and berry pastry desserts. It’s still pretty elegant and deeply flavored. Would be fun to compare it to other styles of Granacha. — 15 days ago
Rick Boyer
Santa Barbara County Syrah 2021
The label design is slightly intriguing. Leaves instead of flowers or critters. High alcohol for Santa Barbara fruit at 14.3%. Color of blood. Not as dark as some Syrah, but a decent amount of grape pigment in there. Smells like baked cherries/berries and olives. Flavors are cooked fruits as well. Lacking in the strange savory, heady licorice, kalamata olive and tobacco leaf of my favorite type of Syrah. This is more of a CA red blend type of wine. Label says ‘blackberry and savory vanilla flavors.’ That’s about right. — 17 days ago
Altvs
Alexander Valley Red Blend 2019
Big beefy bottle. Ruby red color. Smells a bit candied. Bit of veg (red and green peppers) in there too. Flavors are pretty standard CA red blend with a liberal dose of the vanilla and caramel oak sauce the modern CA winemaker seems to love. Decent fruits. It’s overkill to put this in the heavy glass bottle. It’s a mid-shelf CA-style over the top fruit-forward red. Not my fav. — 12 days ago
Naberauli
Qvevri Dry Aleksandrouli 2020
Lovely bottle design. Aroma is forest and wild berries from the bramble. Flavors are nimble and make me think of fresh cherry/berry fruit in an all wood sauna. Really bright, but supple and herbal. Packed with flavor. Tart, dry and full all at the same time. This is amazing stuff. Complex and vibrant with some density and plenty of zing. A style apart, but a delicious example of how they make red wine in that part of the world. — 13 days ago
Tree Kilpatrick
Basic, but fairly classy label. Color has a hint of rust and a lighter hue than other Tannat I’ve had. Smells like charred (not burned) pine board, fresh latex paint, and cherry juice. Maybe the slightest of band-aide as well. The palate has lots of acid zip and some decent tannin. Not an extra-dry style, but dry enough. Slight cherry brandy vibes. Mint in the mix. Tiny bit funky. This has a fancy CA red wine vibe, but it’s not as beefy and brutal as I characterize most Tannat. It’s fun to contrast with others, and is pretty tasty in its own right, but it’s not the kind of Tannat I absolutely adore. It just good-to great. — 9 days ago