2023 Sphaerics On Days and Nights Chardonnay

 My next adventure in this new project, with their Russian River Valley expression.

It begins with a lovely nose with an underlying leesy-ness and a lemon meringue pie quality. This is followed by notes of fresh, crunchy pineapple, apricot, white peach and a bit of chalky, stony minerality. 

It has a lovely entry with a lithe texture and great finesse. It's not racy, nor is it dense, which put it in a nice goldilocks zone. It takes the flavors a little while to emerge, framed by lively acidity. The palate is of fresh citrus with flavors of Meyer lemon, graham cracker pie crust, golden apple, D'Anjou pear and Rainier cherry. The minerality is a through line, but isn't overly pronounced, providing a lovely backdrop to loads of freshness. 

This should progress nicely over the next 5 or so years and may unfurl a bit more. I look forward to it tonight with a lovely piece of king salmon and English peas. 

All the love the pro critics are giving these wines is fully warranted. They're wonderful and well worth seeking out. 

TOR Kenward Family Wines- Current, New and Soon to be bottled

 I have accepted a new position with TOR wines, so got a deep dive into the wines.

After 27 years at Beringer, responsible for pioneering the food and wine experience in the Napa Valley with Julia Child and Gary Danko and mentored by Andre Tchelistcheff and Myron Nightingale, Tor Kenward launched his own family brand in 2001. Tor has a close longstanding relationship with superstar grower Andy Beckstoffer and TOR winemaker Jeff Ames, a student of Thomas Rivers Brown at Turley, Schrader, Maybach and Outpost.

I enjoyed pouring the small allocations of these wines we had to work with in 2015 at Maisonry and am so excited to be able to work with them again, right from the source!

These were open a while from a critic tasting that had occurred prior and I got to them around 3 PM, April 28. See further down for more recent notes on 23s. 

    2022 "Cuvee Torchiana" Chardonnay- Beresini Vineyard, Carneros

Aromas of apple, pear, peach and tangerine with a touch of oak. On the palate, ripe, forward fruit- peaches and cream. Some underyling hazelnut. It's a richer, creamier style but remains in balance.

    2022 "Cuvee Susan" Chardonnay- Hyde Vineyard, Carneros

A more subdued nose with lots of minerality. A higher acid, more focused and precise expression loaded with citrus, mandarin, orange blossom and nectarine with good verve.

    2023 "Cuvee Susan" Chardonnay- Hyde Vineyard, Carneros

Nose of chrysanthemum tea, lemon peel, fresh cream and a touch of toasty vanilla. On the palate, it had bright acidity over ripe fruit. Nice energy on this wine, which is very floral. Just underripe apricot, white peach, Cara Cara orange and lemon zest. 

    2023 "Cuvee Torchiana" Chardonnay- Beresini Vineyard, Carneros

A nose of fresh cream, butter, nectarine and orange and almost a fresh cut summer squash note, with hints of toasted pineapple. It is rich, but balanced with ripe orange, nectarine, pineapple with a touch of lemon and pea tendril. 

    2021 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

Nose of dried rose petals, brick, cedar, red and black currant, black cherry and a touch of bay leaf. The entry is warm berry tart, loaded with red and black berry fruit with nice baking spice. It has warmth and lift from the acidity, not alcohol. Finishes on sweet vanilla. 

    2022 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

A fresher, slightly stemmy nose of brioche dough, red and black berry. It's lively and vibrant on the palate with loads of red and black fruit with a touch of star anise on the finish.

    2022 Vaca Ridge (Upper Range Vineyard) Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa

Igneous, volcanic rock on the nose with red-leaning fruit; currant, pomegranate, cherry. It's got a grippy entry, but a velvety texture over all. The palate is a touch darker than the nose indicates, but is still more high-toned fruit. Blackberry, currant and black cherry. It's an "edgy" expression.

    2022 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Dusty accent over higher toned red and black fruit. Warm spice. On the palate, it's luscious and generous. Loads of plum, cherry, currant and blackberry that just keeps giving and going. Really an outstanding wine. 

    2022 Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

Nose of clay and brick minerality with red-leaning fruit. Lots of red and black cherry, plum and a touch of herbaceousness. High-toned palate dominated by red fruits. It has flavors of plum, cherry and currant and is nicely focused. It's an elegant wine, which was the leanest in profile of the Cabernets at this tasting. Good texture and structure with a Bordeaux suggestion in its form.

    2023 Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon (barrel sample)

Lifted, red-fruited nose. Flavors of warm berry compote and pastry crust. It has layers of red and black fruit but leans into the more tart red fruits a bit more. 

    2023 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon (barrel sample)

The nose begins on sandalwood that moves into a blue and black fruit base, lifted by brighter red tones. On the palate, it has verve and vibrancy with an elegant structure. It has power, but with a satiny texture and pretty fruit. 

2023 Pre-Bottling samples-

    Beckstoffer Dr Crane- 

Mineral driven nose of iron and graphite, wet stone. Some cedar accents. Red and black berries, plum. Palate- Reminiscent of St. Estephe in it’s profile. Florals over minerality. Nice structure and texture with some blueberry hints over red and black plum and berry fruit. Notes of bay, black tea and a savory quality.

    Vine Hill Ranch- 

Pine and garrigue with almost a hint of mint over higher toned, more red fruit- currant, cherry, Luxardo/kirsch. Palate warm and welcoming. Nice baking spice with loads of red and black cherry, currant, boysenberry, and red plum skin with elegant structure, polished fine tannin. Pretty.

    Beckstoffer To Kalon- 

Very expressive and fragrant! Loads of fresh florals and ripe berry compote. Beautiful black plum and blackberry and cassis lifted by bright red tones of cherry and currant. Slight vanilla and almost hints of cardamom among the baking spices. Voluptuous and vibrant while remaining within balance. Loads of ripe red and black fruit over a sexy, elegant frame that is goldilocks between pretty and power. Long lingering and really outstanding.

    Beckstoffer To Kalon "BFD"-

Darker profile, more blue and black focused. Oak and cedar dust entry followed by black plum, cassis, a tinge of black licorice and wet slate. Palate follows with brooding black fruits, plum, cassis, marionberry and some underbrush suggestions with a savory sage suggestion. More powerful then To Kalon Cab in feel and structure.

    Pure Magic- 

Dusty spice leads the nose, followed by spiced plum, candy apple skin, boysenberry and cassis. Nice grip on entry. Fine grained tannin over a powerful, somewhat earthy frame of dark blue, purple and black fruits. Suggestions underlying of cola, garrigue, toasted vanilla and graham cracker crust.

    Black Magic- 

Touch more closed nose at the moment. Blackberry and currant leaf, with cassis and underbrush notes with suggestion of turned damp soil. Big and dark on the palate. Black fruited with some lift on the midpalate from a streak of warm spice. Earthy frame with notes of espresso, bitter chocolate shavings, graphite and dried herb with hints of mushroom.

Waldele Family Wines Flight

 With Waldele Family being my Oenovangelist featured winery offer for May, I asked Hannes to taste through the wines and he generously poured me the lineup we focused on and then some. He is a talented winemaker and I cannot recommend his personal wines enough. They are well worth a try, then acquiring to give some age to more.

2023 Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc- 

A fresh and vibrant style with aromas of lemon, lime zest, passionfruit and a bit of underripe pineapple. On the palate, the flavors follow the aromas with added hints of gooseberry. It has nice acidity, keeping it crisp and refreshing with nice texture from aging in neutral oak puncheons. 

2022 Ricci Vineyard, Los Carneros Chardonnay- 

A kernel aroma first greets the nose, along with rich notes of toasted brioche and vanilla bean as well as hazelnut. It has a lovely texture making it seem on the richer side, but it's balanced by good acidity. The flavors are immediately warm apple tart, along with supporting flavors of pear, lemon curd and pie crust accents. It's a luscious wine without being overly heavy or cloying and according to the winemaker, received no ML treatment. 

2021 Carneros, Sonoma Pinot Noir

Planted to clone 828 planted in 1992. This wine received 33% new French oak. Aromas of red cherry, currant, strawberry and cranberry along with a dark earthy note of perhaps black tea and forest. It has bright acid which balanced its more brooding fruit character of red plum, cranberry, currant, pomegranate and cherry. It's fresh and crisp with a touch of oak spice on the finish. It sits nicely between a European expression and California.

2023 Roberts Road, Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir

20% whole cluster inclusion with the added work of browning the stems and reintroducing them into the juice. It has a very expressive nose oh high toned red fruit and meadow flowers. It's juicy and vivacious on the palate with loads of fruit, including cherry, pomegranate, strawberry and candied apple. It's a really gorgeous wine, dare I say sexy. Luscious and round, it's a plush expression of what makes balanced CA Pinot so beautiful. 

2022 Murray Ranch, Sonoma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Nose of red and black fruits with hints of fresh boysenberry. On the palate, it's dominated by red fruits- currant, plum and black cherry. It has polished tannin and really nice texture. The finish is persistent and very nice.

Solera Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

A fun bonus we got to try! Made from 3 vintages of dramatic sites in Napa- Howell Mtn., Oakville and Coombsville. It has a floral perfume over dark berry fruit. The palate is refined and loaded with an array of red and black fruits. I confess we were deep into discussion, so I didn't take as many notes here. But this is a very well made wine that will please the Napa Cab lover, staying in the sweet spot between beauty and beast. Highly recommend it if the price point of $175 fits. 

2023 Caldwell Vineyard, Coombsville Chardonnay

We ended the tasting with this, so in context of having just had Cabernet- It has loads of minerality and almost petrichor to it. It has "crunchier" fruit leaning on its green edge, but doesn't come across as under ripe. It has verve and tension and layers of flavor with bright acidity throughout. 

Golan Heights Winery Yarden Galilee Chardonnay 2021

Given that we're in Passover and Easter weekend, while picking up some wines for a little get-together, I saw this on a shelf with other kosher wines. 

Given my affinity for good Chardonnay, I was curious to try this. They also had a 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, so that may also be of interest. 

It has a fairly pale straw/lemon color with a tinge of green out to the rim. 

There are hints of oak aging on the front nose. It's not an overly aromatically expressive wine. It offers apple and pear aromas along with some citrus pith and slightly underripe nectarine. 

It was given some texture with partial malolactic treatment, but remains pretty bright with nice acidity. Over all, it's a tasty and pleasant wine with flavors of nectarine and white peach just bordering on being ripe with some golden apple and D'Anjou pear and even a hint of persimmon. There is just a kiss of oak spice along with some nice underlying chalky minerality. 

High altitude rocky volcanic soils and a cooler climate allow this to show some nice verve and there is restraint as well in the winemaking. If you're seeking kosher wine for a seder or other celebration, this is a nice, enjoyable bottle and should easily pair well with a wide range of cuisine. 

Keplinger- The Oenovangelist Flight

 As Oenovangelist subscribers are currently offered a select allocation of Keplinger wines for a limited time, I took the opportunity to taste through them myself and wanted to share my own impressions. 

If there is a hallmark of Helen's winemaking style, it might be a toss up between texture and persistence. The wines are all beautiful with wonderful purity of fruit, focused and balanced. It is worth noting that DJ indicated all were on day 3 and none of the wines were showing any oxidation or dullness whatsoever.

2023 Zio Tony Ranch Chardonnay- Beautifully balanced wine that rather reminded me of a Corton Charlemagne I had recently, though a touch riper. It's loaded with layers of apple, Asian pear, peach and bright citrus notes with honeycomb and hints of hazelnut. It's medium bodied and has verve from balancing acidity. Though it has good acid, it also has a lengthy finish without becoming heavy or unctuous. It exhibits gorgeous ripeness along with considerable restraint. 

2022 Opalus (Grenache)- Richly textured style of Grenache, with an entry of smoked herbs and meat, brambly red and purple fruit and streaks of sage, cocoa dust and a lovely mushroom-esque umami. There are undertones of cinnamon graham and the finish is generous and long. 

2022 Fuego y Mar (Syrah)- Stunning wine! Absolutely beautiful. It enters with a delicacy rather of Pinot Noir and then builds into a voluptuousness of fruit focused on black cherry, plum, acai, blackberry and currant. There is a floral edge with slight herbal accents, but this is a fruit-focused Syrah. It maintains excellent balance and a very long finish. Really a gorgeous wine throughout, with the sweet spot between pretty and powerful. Think of the floral lift of a Cote Rotie underpinned by dense, ripe red and black fruit. 

2022 Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon- This has a pretty nose of pure cassis. It's rather rare to find that anymore in Napa Cabernet without loads of oak influence. 

Entry is spiced plum, cola and red and black currant. There are strong hints of cinnamon over strawberry/raspberry preserves and hints of vanilla. This is a sexy wine. It leans toward blueberry fruit on the finish. It has voluptuous fruit and intense perfume and flavor while maintaining verve and structure, which is impressive. It's a generous, giving wine that goes down easy. Lovely accents toward the finish of cocoa and marzipan with an overall fresh berry tart construction. Really, a beautiful Cabernet. 

Cotiere Bentrock Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021

 If memory serves, this one made the biggest impression on me at our tasting last June. Cotiere is always a must-visit when in Santa Maria, after I met proprietor/winemaker Kevin Law at World of Pinot years back. I was impressed with his wines then and remain an enthusiastic advocate of all his wines. His Chards and Pinots from greater Santa Barbara County always deliver and he also does some Bordeaux varieties with equal deftness, from NorCal. 

This has dusty aromas of bright, tart red fruit- cranberry, red cherry, currant and pomegranate. There are undercurrents of dry desert brush, chaparral and creosote. 

It's lean entry to finish, but very flavorful. Warm spices lead into high toned red fruits like those on the nose. There are accents of hot clay along with some roasted mushroom umami and almost a hickory smoke aspect. It's complex while remaining lithe, has polished moderate tannins and lively acidity that keeps the flavor expanding through the finish. 

The Bentrock Vineyard is in the Santa Rita Hills. 

Aside from Mendocino and a few selections from the larger Sonoma Coast, I think some of my favorite Pinots stateside are coming from Santa Maria, SRH and the larger Santa Barbara area. Cotiere and others are well worth seeking out.boots?

Sphaerics pt 1

 I am excited to have my first sampling of wines from this new label. 

Sphaerics is a project by my former boss, Brian Ball, now GM at Skipstone, and wife Laura Jones, Skipstone winemaker since 2022. 

Laura was assistant winemaker for 5 years at Aubert. She has also gained experience at Cliff Lede and Domaine Armand Rousseau in Gevrey-Chambertin.

Their first release in 2022 garnered high praise from Jeb Dunnuck, Owen Bargreen and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and as an ardent Chardonnay fan, I was anxious to get to try the wine. 

I got two of the wines from the 2023 vintage and am first exploring here, the 2023 Overline, from Carneros. 

It has a focused nose of fruit, unencumbered by loads of new oak and malolactic influence. There is a lovely briny quality along with noticeable minerality over lifted floral notes and aromas of nectarine, white peach and Mandarin orange with whiffs of white pepper. 

It has a racy entry with excellent acidity to accompany a lithe texture and plenty of verve and tension. This is definitely crafted with deference to a more Burgundian "architecture" achieving ripeness without being heavy or leaning too into tropical flavors and lushness, but with plenty of freshness and vibrancy. 

It is youthful, but already shows plenty of stone fruit character lifted by lemon and Buddah's hand zest with a slightly chalky undertone and a tinge of meringue-like sweetness that amplifies the fruit character. It's a gorgeous wine, deftly balanced in its delicacy and restraint. 

This is a wine I can readily and enthusiastically recommend to folks who love a leaner, fruit-forward style of Chardonnay that provides lusciousness without becoming flabby or simply, good Burgundy. 

Capture the peak- 2019 Pine Mountain Merlot

 This brand has had a fascinating evolution. Began originally by the late Denis Malbec and his wife May-Britt, it was a Bordeaux-inspired range of high elevation reds from the Cloverdale Peak area. I'd had some in the past and they were always delicious. Once I began working within The Spire Collection, I still enjoyed pouring and tasting the library vintages that Denis had crafted, that were acquired along with the brand by Jackson Family Wines. If memory serves, Denis' last vintage was 2012 and Graham Weerts oversaw the 2013 vintage. 

As the brand was entering in renaissance in 2015, winemaker Sam Teakle took over crafting these wines. The label has always provided a delicious Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Since my departure, more varietals are now on offer. On a visit to Spire within the last year, I was struck by this wine, so had to take some home. 

This vineyard sits at 2866' elevation atop Pine Mountain, in Cloverdale at the top of the Mayacamas range. 

It has a dark, brooding nose of Luxardo cherries, shaved cocoa, Marionberry, black currant and Kirsch. There are also underlying hints of clove, espresso and pine resin along with sueded leather.

It has an interesting black cherry cola entry quickly balanced by marked minerality of slate and granite.  There is a lovely grilled herb quality underlying black plum, blackberry, black cherry and acai. It has nice verve and acidity and has youthful, grippy yet polished tannin. 

In addition to Sam's varied world-wide experience, working with Graham at Stonestreet and the "master of Merlot" himself, Christopher Carpenter at Cardinale and Lokoya, his deftness with Cab and Merlot is apparent. 

This is a serious wine, yet at a very affordable price point given its pedigree. I highly recommend this and others by Sam. 

2022 Maggy Hawk Skycrest Vineyard Chardonnay

 Since this wine was added to the MH lineup, I have enjoyed it. It's a wine that offers nicely balanced fruit and vibrancy with a bit of weight and texture. 

For those who like a "Goldilocks zone" Chardonnay, Mendocino County is a good place to start. This is a much, from that region. 

It enters with lovely aromas of peaches and cream. Piecrust spices underlie nice notes of baked apples and pears, fresh tangerine and citrus. 

It begins how it ends, with lovely structure. There is a gorgeous balance of acidity and texture. There is richness in the ripeness of the fruit and from barrel and fermentation style, but it is kept in check with nice acid. For me, it sits in the sweet spot of being a nice Chard with the best of both worlds. 

Flavors follow the aromas of peaches and cream, apple/pear tart, tangerine, Mandarin and subtle lemon influence all over roasted vanilla bean, fresh baked piecrust and a subtle hazelnut character. 

Very nice and imminently food friendly. I recommend this wine, readily. 

A celebrity... Pursued by bear.

I'd been curious about the Pursued by Bear wines since learning about them.

 Proprietor/actor Kyle MacLachlan has been making wines from his home of Washington state for nearly two decades. I am always curious about a "celebrity wine", but he seems to really enjoy wine, so would at least have a passion to make a quality product. I'd say, he very much does. 

2023 Twin Bear Yakima Valley Chardonnay-

Fairly subtle nose on this wine. Hints of apple, pear and citrus with suggestions of spice.

It has lively acidity that awakens the palate to more delicate flavors of golden and MacIntosh apple, D'Anjou pear and barely ripe white peach all accented by Meyer lemon and hints of pie crust. 

It's a nice wine to simply sip and enjoy without too much focus or contemplation. Simply, wonderfully balanced and very tasty. Those who like leaner Chard with zippy acidity will be pleased with this wine. As such, it's sure to be super food-friendly.