Jay Kline

9.3

Popped and poured; consumed over two days. Today, the 1989 Grattamacco pours a translucent light garnet color with a slightly watery rim. There is some browning around the edges. There is quite a bit of fine sediment (which some might prefer to decant off; we didn’t bother). Medium viscosity; no obvious staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is initially a bit musty, funky cherry and leathery, showing off predominately secondary characteristics. However, after 90 minutes of air it really started to brighten up and after the old musty character has lifted, the wine revealed beautiful desiccated cherries, black tea, mushrooms, leather, dry leaf tobacco, and just a touch of bell pepper. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium/medium+ acid. All of the notes from the nose are confirmed. The fruit is wizened but gives a perception of sweetness that is just lovely. The tannins are completely integrated and the acid gives everything a nice lift. The finish is long and elicits a Duchenne smile. A delightfully aged bottle with obviously super provenance (thank you Tim!). We spent several hours enjoying this wine and it only became more ruddy and seemed to gain freshness with air. Drink now and enjoy. — 2 years ago

Winston Jones

Host OrganicWineReview, Assistant Buyer Savvy Cellar Wine Bar

9.0

Consistent! I’ve tasted several vintages and I’m mostly very pleased. Drinking Very Local. I may be biased, as I am currently living 3 miles south of the winery, sometimes that can cloud your perception. But this stuff is good. The QPR is out of this world. Can’t wait to visit the winery and taste through the lineup. — 4 years ago

Jay Kline

9.1

Tasted double-blind. The nose showed white flowers; sort of a mix of magnolia, jasmine and citrus blossom. The palate came across off-dry with some potential residual sugar. Pastilles and honeysuckle. I thought this was well balanced and seemed to have higher acid. My call was a Chenin Blanc; a Vouvray, demi-sec from a recent vintage. Obviously, I was way off. I’m told the relatively higher ABV in these wines, plus the fact that they are made in stainless steel, give the perception of higher acid. Anyway, it’s nice to drink Viognier that tastes like this. Now I wish I had a dozen oysters! — 4 years ago

Brad Bader

9.0

This definitely changed my perception of Zinfandel. Incredible character and taste. — 2 years ago

Andrew Holod

National Sales Grapes of Spain

9.1

Pours a surprisingly deep yellow. Nose offers plenty of ripe golden fruit. Palate entry medium sweet and seemingly a bit simple.
Day two paired with German brats braised in caramelized onions/carrots and sauerkraut. The sauerkraut completely changes this wine converting the sweetness to a fresh acid and the flavor profile to an almond tinged white cherry and plum. Very, very interesting food and wine pairing.
Try this with picked/fermented foods as umeshu, kimchi, sauerkraut etc for an interesting change in perception. — 3 years ago

Mike Duffy

9.2

Absolutely stunning nose, classically riesling. Bright, zippy, fresh, and every other adjective to describe the vivacity of this taught and angular juice. Tons of citrus washing over the mineral backbone like a tsunami, this wine is extremely expressive and approachable, even if you dont like riesling because its “too sweet”. This wine will change your perception tout suite. Its fully dry and is fantastic with food ( currently enjoying it with some rouge creamery oregon organic blue cheese, [voted best cheese in the world in 2019!] value wise, I dont think it gets better than this, this wine will continue to be amazing in 10-20 years, hopefully some of it lasts until then — 4 years ago

Matt

9.6

Effusive and elegant. Poached black plums, macerated black berries, spicecake, clove, dried rose petals, Ceylon cinnamon, star anise, cool herbs, moss, fir, gravel, leaves, leather and a kiss of cured meat. Big time deliciousness right here, just enough heady richness balanced by wonderful whole cluster perception of tannin and acid. Love the development, in the zone for my palate. There’s some serious wine in the glass right now. — 4 years ago

Josh Morgenthau

9.3

Beautiful transparency, but also very ripe with great fruit density. Raspberry and brambley herbs, slight perception of sweetness. Clean as a whistle. — 2 years ago

Josh Morgenthau

9.5

Blue flower perfume. Anise seed. Dusty minerality, granitic. Delicate tannins within a supremely long, tart, palate of purple raspberries. Elegant and juicy body and finish, with a firm mineral spine. Fantastic. Such elegant wine. Subtle and pretty. Nice perception of sweetness. Will only get better. — 4 years ago

Doug Powers

9.5

Lovely older Porto, seems consistent with my perception of Taylor as big structure, and a tad drier style, only nit might be that it seemed initially like the spirit and Porto were no longer in total harmony, but still really fine! — 4 years ago

with Jim