Raise A Glass
Now to a special wine, because Saturday February 26 is a date for the diary: Open that Bottle Night - there's always a wine-themed day on the calendar if you look hard enough. The idea is to encourage people to open special wines and enjoy them right now. I bet you have one you're hanging on to for a special occasion? Why wait? Open That Bottle Night's ethos is about sharing and celebrating. Make the day you're waiting for, that day or you may forever be procrastinating. My "practise run" was with Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2020. Yes its special, by golly it is. But that's the point. The wine is fermented in oak, some old, some new; and aged in the same. It has a honeyed, buttery nose, with dried and fresh apples, and peach. The palate is crisp, zesty and mouthwatering.

The 2019 Lassègue is packed with super-ripe dark cherry, plum, sweet spice, new leather, licorice, kirsch and a kick of sweet French oak. This is an especially ripe, succulent style, but it works well.

This vintage was hand-harvested during a crisp autumn, producing whole cluster grapes that were settled then transferred to French oak barrels. The result is a wine that tastes of tangerine and starfruit, with an acidity on the finish that pairs perfectly with a roasted chicken and vegetables.

A collective “whoa” was the response I received when I shared this wine with my family, and I felt bad for any bottle that was to come afterward. A remarkable reflection of Willamette Valley’s terroir, with aromas of chamomile tea and earth, and on the palate, delicate boysenberries and orange peel. Sublime, really.

A Year Of Drinking While Being A Homeowner
What I drank when I finished my kitchen renovation, sat back and admired the result of blood (yes), sweat and tears. Gran Moraine “Dropstone” Chardonnay 2018, Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon. So delicious, I wish I had saved it for a more stylish occasion, but this Burgundian imposter was a perfect reward for weeks of plaster and saw dust, paint and tung oil fumes, spackle, caulk and wood filler (and the erratic schedule of handyman No. 3). Creamy baked yellow apple, some wood-spice caramel and hazelnut tones, and a rich, textured mouthfeel and full-bodied but extremely nuanced.

Richly flavored but light on its feet. Finely textured, tart and dry with lingering notes of cherry cola, black plum, bay leaf, cedar and cinnamon.

Delicate, silky, tart and dry with notes of cranberry, raspberry, cherry, red plum, sage, fresh oregano, mushroom and cedar.

Full, lusciously fruity, finely textured and dry with notes of red currant, cherry, blackberry, boysenberry, black licorice and cedar.

Very silky, unctuous, delicate and fresh with lingering notes of lemon zest, flan, ginger wafer, almond biscotti and apple galette.

Red fruit and dark chocolate covered cherries with hints of leather and spice. Layered palate of ripe red fruit and vanilla gives way to a complex and textured finish.

Whenever a customer asks for an excellent organic or “biodynamic” Chard, I always recommend Cambria’s Katherine bottle. It is “Certified Sustainable”, which is as good as it gets when not deemed “organic” on the label. All the return customers thank me mucho for the great tip. “Made in a plush, creamy and well-spiced style, this bottling is sourced from a large single-vineyard site in northern Santa Barbara County that is rich with ancient marine sediments…it’s close proximity to the Pacific, whose summer fogs and breezes help provide a backbone of acidity to the area’s wines.

Wells Guthrie has been working with Yorkville Highlands fruit sources for more than a decade, and has passed his confident hand onto Ryan Zepaltas, who’s made the wines since 2017. This wine is dark with leathery reduction when first poured, becoming more floral with air. The flavors of plum and carob are dark and brooding, but the texture is impossibly seductive, fine and silky, invigorating in its juicy succulence, the tannins so silky they feel almost cool to the touch.

High Rock Ranch is Copain’s estate vineyard in the Yorkville Highlands, a stark, barren hilltop composed of schist and exposed to plenty of Pacific wind, cold and fog. This syrah leads with baking spices and smoke, coolly delivering a dark array of fruit—fig and carob and black plum—with a finely wrought texture that feels firm and balanced. For grilled pork.

A side project from Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton wines, this brings out the funk from Santa Barbara vines. Its dark concentration yields with scents of thyme, ash, olive and cheese rind over blackberries. The brushy herbal notes provide a savory backdrop to a wine that’s packed with flavor, for ribs.

Grown in Chalone’s limestone soils, this stylish, mildly rustic syrah delivers savory olive, plum skin and pine sap notes along with a salty tang. That all plays nicely into the wine’s dark plum flavors, with the grippy tannins to age.

A warm red with scents of baking spices, mulled cider and baked fruit, this is soft and complex. Its lean profile will meld into slow-cooked braises.

Grown at the Jackson Family’s Far Coast Vineyard in Annapolis, this has the tight fruit of a cool-climate syrah, enriched by oak to an espresso-roast coffee-bean character. It’s robust, a potent red for short ribs.

Full bottle 1,603 g. Certified organic and biodynamic. Old bush vines planted in 1946. Single vineyard on sandy soils. Pale and clear ruby. Hibiscus florals and raspberry-leaf tea florality on the nose. So perfumed. Red apples. Fresh-shucked pomegranate seeds. Bite-bright acidity. Cherries doing handstands. Blood-orange citrus on a fairground carousel. Someone get this wine down from the trapeze. Absolutely out of this world. So pure and clear this is like listening to choirboys singing soprano in a cathedral with sunlight pouring through red stained-glass windows, dust motes dancing inches above foot-pressed-ancient flagstones with the faint smell of incense and a grandmother’s prayer shawl and old pew polish in the air.

This inky midnight purple colored Cabernet Sauvignon sourced mainly from the Helena Montana (62%) and the Helena Dakota (23%) vineyards opens with a mild black currant and cocoa bouquet with a hint of black cherry and eucalyptus. On the palate, this wine is full bodied with medium plus acidity. The mouthfeel is balanced, soft and very smooth. The flavor profile is a subtle black currant and dark chocolate blend with notes of graphite and black cherry. I also detected hints of dried herbs, black tea, and gentle boysenberry at the very end. The finish is very dry, and its monster tannins stick around for a very long time. You will need to decant this big boy for quite some time in the near term. I would pair this impressive Cab with Roy's rib roast and friends!

2019 offers pomegranate, dried cranberry and tart cherry aromas. On the medium-bodied palate, smooth tannins, pinot berry fruit, barrel spice and earthen notes. Long, clean, smooth finish extends the flavors. 2019 is already drinking well.

2017 has dried cherry, strawberry and sage aromas, raspberry and thyme flavors with a long finish that has pleasing vanilla notes.

Brilliant ruby. Powerful, spice-accented black raspberry, cherry cola and floral scents are complicated by subtle licorice and vanilla notes. Appealingly sweet and expansive on the palate, offering juicy red and dark berry and spicecake flavors that pick up a hint of cocoa powder on the back half. Round, well-knit tannins frame the impressively persistent finish, which leaves behind red berry liqueur and mocha notes.

Brilliant violet. An expansive, spice-tinged bouquet evokes ripe red and blue fruits, cola, licorice and mocha, and a smoky mineral topnote emerges with air. Broad and fleshy in the mouth, offering sappy blueberry, raspberry preserve, vanilla and fruitcake flavors supported by a spine of juicy acidity. Smoothly blends depth and energy and shows fine definition and floral lift on an impressively long finish that features rounded tannins and a resonating blue fruit note.

Glistening ruby. Pungent, spice- and smoke-accented cherry cola and black raspberry scents convey a sexy potpourri quality. Silky and expansive in the mouth, offering sappy red and dark fruit preserve, candied rose, vanilla and spicecake flavors that smoothly meld depth and vivacity. Finishes very long and juicy, with velvety tannins framing resonating cherry, floral and exotic spice notes.

Bright ruby. Powerful black raspberry, boysenberry, floral pastille and fruitcake scents are sharpened by emerging spice and smoky mineral flourishes. Juicy, concentrated red and blue fruit preserve flavors show unlikely vivacity for their heft. The floral and spice notes drive an impressively long finish that features well-judged tannins and sweetening mocha and vanilla accents. 35% new French oak.