Sipping Fine Wine

9.5

First of all Kudos to Ant Hill love the wax seal over cork! Deep Ruby with aromas of dark Berry fruits with notes of herbs, citrus, floral and earthy spice. On the palate flavors of blackberry and cherry, tea, vanilla and herb tones, well balanced with acidity. Firm fine tannins on a long finish ending with fruit and floral herb character. Very nice! Will age well! — a month ago

B A

9.2

A real treat at ten years old. Key lime pie and slate — 6 months ago

Erik Longabardi

9.2

Compared to the ‘03 on a hot vintage this was also fire (but the ‘03 was the winner). — 6 months ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

One of the few CA Chardonnay I enjoy. You can spend more on one, but for under $40, this works really well.

Arnot-Robert’s rides the fence of CA Chardonnay & White Burgundy nicely. Has a bit of Ca Chardonnay backbone with the creamy body of White Burgundy.

Nose does not show much at first. Green apple, pear, lemon, lime. White peach, caramel notes, cardamom, paraffin, cream, yellow & spring flowers.

The body is creamy with nice viscosity. Green apple, pear, lemon, lime. White peach, caramel notes, cardamom, paraffin, cream, very light honey notes, sea spray, light chalkiness, yellow & spring flowers. Excellent round acidity, beautiful, soft structure, well balanced and a pleasant finish.

A couple more years in bottle add a point or two & more complexity. .

A little history from their website. Watson Ranch Vineyard is perched on a steep hillside overlooking the San Pablo Bay at the southernmost end of the Napa Valley. The ranch was named after early Napa attorney, Augustus Watson, who owned the property in the early 1900s. The adjacent property is an abandoned limestone quarry which historically employed over 300 people, mining material to make portland cement used to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. — 8 months ago

Turd Ferguson

9.4

Touch of skin contact. Stellar. Don’t drink this too young, chumps — 2 months ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

Bruce Phillips and his wife were pouring their 2021. Talked w/ him at length. Very nice couple.

The 2021 showed well young with room for improving with 10-25 years in bottle and beyond. It showed some evolution, wasn’t all primary. Elegant, very well balanced with excellent structure and finish. Drink 2033-45 properly stored.

The general Napa consensus on 2022 vintage will be a story of did you pick before or after the 6 days of extreme heat during the harvest window. One producer told me his would add 5% of 2023 to some of his 2022’s, which is allowed. He mentioned that he was going to add 15%. But, I think he just misspoke? Get ready for an amazing 2023 vintage from Napa. It was a cooler, not hot-hot, which was a near perfect growing season for long slow even ripening. Some say a vintage of a lifetime and others would only say exceptional.

The Saturday-Sunday Pavilion tasting at Pebble Beach Food & Wine is an excellent four hours to taste a lot wine, taste curated dishes from chefs from all over the country and meet the people behind the bottle. These short ribs were one of the top two or three things I tasted at the Pavilion Saturday. — 6 months ago

Ray Vanderhoff

9.1

Bright ruby red color. Bountiful aromas of red berries and dried violets. Pallet is full of strawberry and raspberry fruit with hints of black tea, baking spices, earth and pepper spice. Just a bit of a “gamey” quality as well. Nice hint of oak on the clean finish. Fine tannins and bright acidity. Creamy texture. Rich and nicely rounded. Absolutely a “California-Style” Pinot Noir. Nice choice, Mark Smith. — 2 years ago

Ken Mitchell

9.2

Heavy on the cherry / red fruit flavour — and that’s not a bad thing at all — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.1

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of a couple of hours. The 2016 Pagani Ranch pours a deep ruby with near opaque core; medium+ viscosity with light staining and some signs of sediment. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of red and black brambles, toasted coconut, dill, wood, baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannins and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and tart. This is in a lovely spot yet, it still exhibiting quite a bit of freshness so I expect this will be quite long-lived. Drink now through 2031+. — 4 months ago

Brian Hearty

9.1

2015. Big “port-like” dark fruits. Went great with a meaty spaghetti dinner on a seasonable first day of spring in the Alaskan interior! Corked up the remaining half a bottle and was worried it might get even more porty the next day, but it was exactly the opposite as it gained some balance and more complex finish. Rating slightly higher for second day. — 7 months ago