Wine Musings @ 50: The Half Century

Wine of Merit: ****+Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Estate Vineyard, Paulliac, cabernet sauvignon, 1999: A stately, formidable wine. Archetypal Paulliac nose of blue fruits, cassis, graphite, chalk, licorice root. Amazing depth. Strong, gripping palate, the emphasis on balance and integration makes it surprisingly full and rich at the same time. Harmonious. Lithe yet sure footed. Perfectly toned, almost sculpted. A serious wine that almost lulls you to sleep with its grace – but upon deeper inspection approaches mythological stature (the painted reference to the eclipse above the label and the sprightly engraved “1999” on the bottle only adding to the effect). At over $400, no longer a screaming buy…but certainly worthy.

****Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Estate Vineyard, Paulliac, cabernet sauvignon, 1999: Pure Sex. You know the sex Dudley Moore fantasized about with Bo Derek on the beach in “10”? That kind of sex. Wonderful, thick roiling layers of red fruit, currants, cigar smoke, cedar, morels, Provencal herbs, lavender waft up from the glass. Velvety, coating, voluptuous palate of black and blue fruits, mint chocolate, wood spices. Dried cherries and black pepper on the long, sweet finish. Youthful, well balanced, enthusiastic…nubile? Not that this wine would ever be confused with an 82, 86 or 00 Mouton, but it does possess a wonderful come hither quality that cannot be ignored. And at a price point south of $200 – a great buy and drinking great right now.

****Newton, Unfiltered, Napa Valley, chardonnay, 2003: Wonderful. I much prefer this vintage to the 2002, which garnered much more press due primarily to its flamboyant style. This wine has better balance and integration. I have reviewed this wine before and the earlier notes stay true – fresh, perfumed verbena, citrus, lemon custard, fine minerality, orange blossom. Kissed with oak, long in the finish…dynamite wine. Hard to believe you can get this at $30. Great buy.

***Cavallotto, Bricco Boschis, Langhe, Friesa, 2005: My luck with lower priced wines continues! Here is another sub $20 red very worthy of consideration. Cavalotto is well known for making good, honest, Piemontese wines from Faletto, of exceptional note their Barolo from their estate on the Bricco Boschis site. This Friesa – a lighter bodied grape known for higher acids - lacks the seriousness of the Barolo perhaps, but it makes up for it in youthful exuberance and approachability. Bright red fruit, violets, great minerals and pepper. On the palate – more red fruit and pepper…the racy acids make this a great food wine and I bet would go great with tomato based sauces, almost like a full bodied pinot noir. The finish is soft with baking spices. Yummy!

***Slaughterhouse Cellars, Proprietors Reserve, Rutherford, cabernet sauvignon, 2002: Lovely. We can argue later whether naming a wine slaughterhouse is a good idea…the wine is worthy of compliment. Very red fruit / plum driven and rose petal perfumed, almost feminine, this reminds me of a Dr. Crane vineyard cabernet. The fruit notes integrate in a velvety mélange with soy, cedar, pipe tobacco and melted licorice. Cab Franc adds some richness and depth, along with morel and espresso macchiato. The palate is open knit and welcoming, coating front to back. Not super long but fine and silky. Really very nice indeed.

***John Tyler, Baciagalupi Vineyard, Russain River Valley, pinot noir, 2002: Who doesn’t like to say “Baciagalupi”? It is simply fun to say! And this wine is fun to drink. Simply delicious. Great expression of RRV terroir, this creamy, black cherry, cola driven pinot is plain old yummy. Great integration of Provencal herbs, Malabar pepper on the palate and a fine, silky sweet finish. I have had this wine previously on release and I think it has gotten even better. This time I am impressed with its depth and texture, great mouthfeel and balance. Another pound the table buy at around $30. No excuses needed to enjoy this wine while thinking to yourself, “Baciagalupi! Hee hee”.

**++David Coffaro Vineyard and Winery, Estate Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, carignane, 1996: How can you not love David Coffaro? His joyous, centered attitude just infiltrates every aspect of his wine. You can taste the pleasure winemaking brings him right in the glass. I would soundly recommend that anybody who is not familiar with David check him and his wine out…especially his futures program which offers yummy wine at ridiculously low prices ($10 a pop when I bought this, now maybe $20). As it turns out, his wines are really wonderful – I love his estate cuvee. This wine probably could have been drunk awhile back but still offers lots of pleasure right now. Camphor, dry creek spicy red fruit, briar, black pepper…racy acids add a zing that makes this a great food wine. Finish is still spicy and long. Great example of Dry Creek terroir. No surprise Doug Nalle sources from here. Thanks David.

**++Bjornstad Cellars, Ritchie Vineyard, Russian River Valley, chardonnay, 2005: Very good, if paling significantly against the Aubert and Ramey iterations of the same. I think that may actually be a perfect tasting note; it is just like those wines but much less so. Less perfumed, less meyer lemon, less corton-like linseed, marzipan and custard. A touch more malic, wood slightly more evident on the palate, less oily and unctuous…very nicely balanced…just not what I have come to expect from this RRV gran cru vineyard. And at $50 there is little value here.

Wine Musings Vol#49

Wine of Merit: ****Shibumi Knoll, Shibumi Knoll Vineyards, Napa Valley, cabernet sauvignon, 2004: Wonderfully elegant, even if perhaps a bit short of its Japanese meaning, “Effortless Perfection” (though I admire the pluck). Still…this is a classic effort. Extremely well crafted, it is reminiscent of the Lokoya wines that I cellar with enthusiasm. Stylish, somewhat reserved notes of cassis, red currant, graphite and pipe tobacco weave themselves together seamlessly. With time, these characteristics are enhanced with more redolent black fruit notes. The palate feel is pronounced but not overwhelming, its presence complementary to the flavors, coating from entry to finish, now introducing melted licorice and mint, a hint of hazelnut from the oak, adding to the wines overall gravitas and sense of balance and harmony. The finish is very firm and long but never really out of balance with the rest of the experience. Certainly a wine that will reward cellaring. I am blown away by how sophisticated this effort is, in the winery’s second vintage. One to watch with enthusiasm. At $80, expensive…and worth it. Kudos!

***+Chateau Saint Martin de la Garrigues, Le Bronzinelle, Coteaux du Languedoc, 1999: This wine was literally and figuratively a gift. Offered to me by a dear friend, brought home gingerly from a trip to Paris, this wine is wonderful in its simplicity and exuberance. A Syrah, Grenache, Mouvedre, Carignan blend. Plush, fragrant Languedoc aromas of plump red fruit, grilled meats, bell pepper, smoke and yes garrigue waft from the glass. Velvety and round on the palate, with blackberry, briar and chocolate elements all integrated and smooth. Not that the wine is flabby – the acids are lively but nicely integrated with the flavors, all kept in balance. The finish is silky and sweet, with a touch of café au lait and wood spices. Drinking perfectly now. I don’t have the heart to tell her it is imported by Kermit Lynch and can be had for under $20 (in fact under $15). But I will tell you all – and pound the table as it is a steal. I love the Languedoc!

**++Newton, Unfiltered, chardonnay, 1994: It’s alive! A surprise find while digging through the cellar, I did not hold out much hope. Given the dark glass bottle, I could not tell the color but expected that dark, almost persimmon hue that typically suggests maderized chard. Instead…voila! A promising pale gold. Could it be? Fresh if demure aromatics of lemon curd, pineapple, mango and clover. The palate is bright and surprisingly firm…a slight sprtiz at entry, tangerine and a very nice mineral flintiness. The finish is lightly honeyed, showing a touch of tobacco and spicy oak that sadly just turns bitter at the very end. Wow! I would never have guessed this wine would have held on this long. A very nice surprise indeed.

**++Chehalem, 3 Vineyards, Willamette Valley, pinot noir, 2006: Delightful. Still sorting itself out, the 2006 Chehalem 3 vineyards, their entry pinot if you will, still offers bright, tangy cherry fruit, green tea, herbs and a nice cherry blossom element. The palate is also bright and racy, with more red fruit and licorice. Fine, spicy finish. Fairly simple, this is a nice, quaffable pinot noir. Perhaps it will add more weight and complexity with age, but for now it is pleasant and a very nice “first wine” at any meal.

A few side notes: The **Turjanis, Buena Tierra, Russian River Valley, chardonnay, 2001 and the **Chasseur, Lorenzo Vineyard, Russian River Valley, chardonnay 2003 have either passed their primes or were not very special to begin with. Funny, as both boast excellent provenance. This is the second wine from Karen Bower Turjanis that has left me tepid, the other being the Steiner pinot, it too from great grapes. Odd as she has made such great wines for Lokoya and others in the past. In this case, the nose is demure, the palate lemony and vanilla with too much oak showing through, the finish flaccid. The Chasseur is a problem. I like Bill Hunter’s wines so much when they are young…really great stuff. But even just a little bit of bottle age seems to knock his wines for a loop. Here the wine is already showing a mute nose and candied palate flavors with a touch of hazelnut, on its way to old age after only 3 years in bottle. Disappointing.

Wine Musings Vol#48

Wine of Merit: ***+Chateau La Nerthe, Chateauneuf du Pape, 2004: Ripe and delicious. Mostly Grenache, this wine is a wonderful example of what Chateauneuf can offer when the weather cooperates and ripeness of fruit is attained. Wonderful, roiling aromas of blackberry, grilled meats, black olive, rosemary, bittersweet chocolate are available right from the glass. Notes of black licorice and pepper – and deep minerals - are added on a very welcoming, coating, open knit palate. Excellent structure holds this wine together and integrates perfectly with the long, fine finish. A youngster, this wine is great now and can be cellared confidently for 10 years. At under $40…Terrific!

***+Whetstone, Pleasant Hill Vineyard, Russian River Valley, 2006: Jamie Whetstone is one of the up and coming winemakers in Northern California. I am a VERY big fan of the wine he makes for Jocelyn Lonen. After a spotty past making over extracted wines for Turley Cellars, I think he is finally beginning to appreciate how important balance, integration and natural flavors can be to the endeavor of crafting great wine. Previous Whetstone pinot noir efforts have not been, in my opinion, nearly as good as this one. Make no mistake, this wine is big and deep. Even cloaked in baby fat, this wine exhibits lots of structure and intensity of flavor, with bolts of red currant fruit, pomegranate and creamy Queen Anne cherry notes jumping from the glass . But now this wine has balance – and the flavors integrated flawlessly with one another to create a harmonious presence. Added to the fruit are warm baking spices, a touch of pine and marjoram. Yes the wine shows a steel spine and a firm, if fine, tannic finish, but they are deftly integrated, cloaked by velvety red fruit, liquid minerals and white pepper. A very classy effort, this wine will age nicely in the cellar but can be appreciated in the short term for its youthful exuberance. At $50, this wine is appropriately priced. Nicely done!

***Boudin, Fourchaume, Chablis 1er Cru, 2005: Lovely – and surprisingly ready to drink. I have a thing for Chablis. I welcome its slightly more austere character and the malic, nuanced, mineral nature of the chardonnay made from that region. Typically however time is required in the cellar before the aromatic elements can be coaxed out and the biting acidity has a chance to tone itself down a bit. This wine delivers all of those aromatic cues and a bright but not abrasive palate...all at a surprisingly young age. Pale straw in color, this young Chablis steps to the fore with wonderful Anjou pear, Meyer lemon and Calla Lilly aromatics. Surprisingly rich, the palate is bracing but not biting, adding dynamite minerality and more citrus…now perhaps more toward tangerine. Long, spicy, mineral finish. At under $30 a bottle I have to recommend this wine strongly as a great value. Wonderful!

***Tenuta Sette Ponti, Crognolo, Toscana, 2004: Delicious. This wine is Sette Ponte’s “other” wine – their flagship effort Oreno getting most of the ink and accolades (see vol#8 for my musings). I find the Crognolo, a 50/50 sangiovese/merlot blend, much more to my liking. Where the Oreno is the poster child for the international style of winemaking, this wine celebrates its sense of place – there is no mistaking this for anything other than Italian. Further, while I appreciate purity and focus of fruit, this wine is not afraid to accompany its cherry and blackberry flavors with nuances of black truffle, earth and funghi trifolati (sautéed wild mushrooms with garlic and parsley) – making the wine an ideal complement for lamb or any roasted meats. The palate is full but not lush, as the acids are bright and more in the foreground. An added element of espresso bean and vanilla on the fine, silky finish hint at toasted oak. A super food wine and at under $30, a much better bargain than the $70+ Oreno. Great!

**Babcock Grand Cuvee, Santa Barbara County, chardonnay, 2006: I have loved the Grand Cuvee in past vintages. The 1998 was actually very special (See Musings Vol#2). This wine seems to have conceded the Babcock estate “Corton-ness” I knew and loved for more traditional, mass produced cali chardonnay elements. Tart, bright bubble gum and pineapple juice notes are immediately evident with nary a swirl required. The wine is full on the palate with more tropical fruit, some citrus, verbena and vanilla. The finish seems almost sugary but tart at the same time…a sweet tart finish? Not my style…

Wine Musings Vol#47

Wine of Merit: ***++Ca’ Marcanda, Magari, Bolgheri, Toscana IGT, 2000: Our Maremma journey continues. This wine is produced by Angelo Gaja, he of Barolo and Barbaresco fame. “Magari” can be translated from Italian to mean “If Only”…and while I do not know the context for this wine, I can say that “Magari all wines were this delicious!” Similar to Ornellaia, Magari is focused on Bordeaux varietals, in this case 50% Merlot with the remaining 50% equally divided between Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc. And yet this is clearly, wonderfully Italian. Just a dynamite wine. Immediately expressive, the Italian coastal merlot and cab franc eagerly offer deep, ripe plum, saddle leather, grilled meats and licorice. Palate nuances include more red and black berry fruit, chocolate, tobacco and spice. While opulent and open, this wine still offers a perfectly integrated tannic backbone that keeps everything in balance from start to the long, fine finish. Exceptional.

***++Aubert, The Quarry Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, chardonnay, 2004: Having recently opened both the Ritchie and Lauren vineyard iterations, I thought I would try the Quarry. I am familiar with the vineyard from Peter Michael Winery and wanted to see how if at all it changed in Mark Aubert’s hands (of course Mark made Peter Michael wines before moving on to his namesake endeavor). I suppose the bottom line is that this wine is equally delicious, though nuanced in different ways. Where both the Ritchie and Lauren wines are oily, unctuous wines, I find this vineyard designate a bit more high toned and bright. The fruit profile just seems more vivid, slightly more malic and the mineral notes more pronounced. It offers heady, perfumed aromas of lemon curd and marzipan, but key lime and green apple are added. The palate is still full and rich, with new wood integration adding delicious spice and café elements. Still, it is not quite as round as the others, the acids a bit brighter. This wine is in no way a lesser wine, just a slightly different style, perhaps more Mersualt to the others Corton. And I have had wines from this vineyard that age effortlessly for a decade – and I bet this one will too. A lovely addition to the portfolio (though I understand that this vineyard will not be included in 2006).

***+Flowers, Sonoma Coast, pinot noir, 2002: This is a deep, sappy pinot. Darker fruit, floral tisane and briar notes are intense but not overpowering. The palate is muscular and toned, offering more red fruit, deep minerals, Asian spice and very nice new oak integration. Acids are still bright but not racy. The finish is long and while firm still very much in balance with the overall wine. I have to say this is not the first Flowers wine that I have found to improve significantly with bottle age – the rough edges really do smooth out, allowing for appreciation of the depth and nuance these wines can deliver. Maybe Walt Flowers should be thinking like Ampeau and releasing these things later in their life…I think this wine could probably continue to improve with a few more years in the cellar, though it is delicious now.

**+Lion’s Run, Vintner’s Reserve, Napa Valley, cabernet sauvignon, 2002: A wine and winery I had not seen before. Evidently it is a Gary Galleron boutique project. Given all of the Galleron successes, certainly worth trying. This wine is extremely ripe, showing off a black cherry, chocolate liquor and a pine needle bouquet. Thick in the mid palate, more ripe fruit, melted licorice and chocolate, along with lavish oak elements. Medium finish. A nice wine to drink with a chocolate desert or a cheese plate.

Wine Musings Vol#46

Wine of Merit: ****Aubert, Lauren Vineyard, Sonoma coast, chardonnay, 2004: Very Special. Even more Burgundian than the Ritchie vineyard. Rich, perfumed, unctuous nose of clover honey, white flowers, marzipan and linseed. Over time, more tropical fruit is added. Fat, but not flabby, the palate shows more candied orange zest, lovely minerals and a hint of café latte. Finish is long, with Asian spice and more citrus. Like the Ritchie, I am impressed that a wine of this complexity can still be so seamlessly presented and so fresh. So worth it - though on the open market it is getting pricey.

***++Favia, Cerro Sur, Napa valley, cabernet franc, 2004: Wonderful, open knit signature of ripe plum, red fruit, espresso and black truffle. Very inviting – like a crackling fire on a winter day. The palate is seamlessly integrated and coating, and not shy on oak, adding licorice, sandalwood and baker’s chocolate. Firm, fine finish that still integrates beautifully with the rest of the palate tells me that this wine is age worthy – meaning it is great now and I am sure will develop added complexity and nuance if you can just keep you hands off of it in the short term. Good luck! I bought a few bottles at Amanti Vino but will buy more, even at $80+.

***++Andrew Will, Ciel du Cheval Red, Washington State, 2005: Fabulous. I have paid tribute to Chris Camarada in other postings…I dig his wines very much. They age effortlessly and always put balance and flavor integration at the head of the class – where they belong. This wine is simply delicious. Ripe and velvety, it offers warm, merlot-driven aromas and flavors of blackberry, violets, black cherry and mocha. Plenty of well integrated oak. The cab franc adds yummy black truffle, bay leaf and earth. Satiny, lush, but not flabby at all it still has great concentration, nice minerals and even though very approachable – a promise of a long life. The finish is long, succulent and sweet. Dynamite. At $50 a pop I would buy this before I would buy say Blackbird vineyard merlot from Napa – not that the latter is not delicious…it is just $30 more a bottle and I’m not sure why.

***++Beringer, Private Reserve, Napa valley, cabernet sauvignon, 1990: I have heard about inconsistent aging for this wine, so I wasn’t sure. Instead it was lovely. Juicy, almost chewy…delicious, right out of the bottle. Elements of ripe plums and chocolate covered blueberry, licorice root and fresh topsoil…wonderfully complex and intense but very much integrated. This wine has great stuffing…it approaches my “meal in a glass” definition. The palate is expansive and shows off that juicy-fruit goodness. The finish is long and silky. Nice balance throughout. A wine you can very much enjoy now, though it is not going anywhere soon. Hooray!

***+Paolo Scavino, Carobric, Barolo, 2000: Poetic. Lyrical. Surprisingly light in hue and intensity of color, the wine still delivers lovely, almost pinot like aromas of red currant, ripe plum and black cherry fruit, slate, green tea and spice box. With time more blue fruit and a beautiful candied violet. The palate is still very firm, adding more minerals and briar. Great, seamless structure. Long, fine finish – lots to spare here. Amazing how the fragile flavors complement the huge frame in almost a harmonic way. Wine as song! Surprisingly affordable at under $70.

***+JL Chave, Silene, Crozes Hermitage, 2005: What a buy this wine is. Available at under $20 a pop, this unassuming Crozes is well crafted, almost delicate and absolutely delicious. Bright red cherry and currant fruit, a nuance of garrigue, briar and cracked pepper, each element amazingly detailed, jump from the glass. The palate is also bright and lively, with a nice backbone from beginning to end, red fruit and iron, the finish medium-long, peppery and fine – a great food wine. Easy to drink, correct, could be a killer every day wine…as in I could drink it everyday! Super!

**++Eric Texier, Brezeme Pergault VV, Cotes du Rhone, 2005: Texier and I definitely see eye to eye. He has a clear and strong appreciation for balance, integration and natural flavors. This CdR was offered by Crush Wines in NYC as their best buy in 2007 (@$26). It is an old vines, 100% syrah based wine. In fact, it is much more Hermitage than it is Cotes du Rhone. Initially very racy red/blue berry, pine needle and chalk and camphor, time in the glass reveals bacon fat, grilled meat and groovy Mediterranean / North African spices. Wonderful integration of flavors and aromas. The palate perhaps is more CdR, bright acids, black pepper, more red fruit and olives – but still showing a strong backbone. Long, firm finish. This wine shows the balance and structure that will reward aging. Very nice.

**+Herman Story, White Hawk vineyard, syrah, Santa Barbara county, 2005: I was drawn to this wine because of its shared provenance with our own Trois Fils syrah, of the same vintage. Further, this wine has received accolades; including a 93 point score from Vinfolio and an assertion that winemaker Russell From was their “Winemaker of the Year”. Fair enough. To the wine: Trois Fils on steroids! It is the wine Pax would have made with my grapes. Everything about it is, in my opinion, exaggerated. 16.2% alcohol, it is a huge wine, with a fiercely tannic backbone and maximum extraction. The fruit characteristics are almost identical to Trois Fils; baked blueberry cobbler, mulling spices, vanilla bean, white flowers…all there with perhaps a more syrupy juiciness about them. The palate and finish are disjointed, at once fat and harsh. It has an added element of briar and green-ness…I am guessing because of an increased addition of stems or “whole cluster” as it is called (Trois Fils is whole berry, no stems). Honestly, very much a Pax-let’s-make-jet-fuel style of wine that I am sure Parker would love. Russell From says that as a winemaker he is more a carpenter than an architect…he sees himself as a cook, using the best ingredients – and I would agree. I think this wine lacks finesse…it is not like art that emerges from its medium but it is rather built from components - much more a recipe wine. Regardless of pride of authorship, I find it yummy but recognize that the White Hawk vineyard can make better wine. I think I should add a star to the Trois Fils rating!

Wine Musings Vol#45

Wine of Merit: ***+Kenwood Artist Series, Sonoma Valley cabernet sauvignon, 1986: I don’t know…something about Sonoma is beckoning me this week. I have always had fondness for the Kenwood Artist Series wines. I find them to be, depending on the vintage, the St. Julien trending to St. Estephe wines of California. This is somewhere between a Montrose and a Gruaud Larose – and like those wines in dynamite vintages built for the long haul. First off, it has lovely color and bright clarity, with slight bricking. The nose offers meaty aromas of red currant, plum, blood, tobacco leaf and baker’s chocolate. A heavyweight, with less than 13% alcohol! The palate is still very firm with a strong tannic ledge running from entry to finish. I imagine this wine to have been just gigantic on release. Still the mouth feel is coating and the flavors - all blackberries, minerals and pepper - deep. The finish is still a blockbuster and of endless length. Decanted and tasted over 3 hours. I think this 21+ year old wine is just hitting its stride. Huh…who would have guessed!

***+Trois Fils, White Hawk Vineyard, Santa Barbara county, syrah, 2005: Our home brew – courtesy of Crushpad. Just checking in on it. I have to say – I wouldn’t consider this a serious wine per se…but it is yummy. The co-fermented viognier really kicks the aromatics up a notch. Strawberry jam, blueberry cobber, cinnamon, vanilla pudding, pine needles…all bright and focused. No funk to this wine, it reminds me of a Two Hands Bella’s Garden if anything. The palate sings. More blueberry and baking spices. Nice, lengthy, spicy finish. No bitterness at all. Just a wonderful expression of fruit. While no one will confuse this with a Texier cote rotie, I could drink a lot of this – and have!

***B.R. Cohn, Olive Hill vineyard, Sonoma valley, merlot, 1994: I like Sonoma valley merlot. Older vintage Matanzas Creek and Newton wines are a treat. This was Bruce Cohn’s inaugural merlot release. I guess it is working out as he still currently makes one. I think his current releases go with the tried and true Sangiacomo merlot fruit, while this was an experiment with vines planted right there on his estate. This iteration is yummy. Typical varietal notes of plum fruit, dark chocolate and candied violets are accompanied by a briny, green olive note that nuances the wine. Open knit and inviting, the palate is velvety, still offering good depth and fullness. Very nice minerality. Surprisingly youthful, not tired at all. The wine holds up in the glass for an extended period of time and finishes with a firm but fine tannic edge of notable length. A very nice effort.

**++Ferrari Carano, Reserve, Sonoma county, red table wine, 1990: Well, the package is certainly beautiful. All fiery and brooding, it virtually promises that an exciting wine experience awaits if one had but the temerity to open the imposing bottle. Ok, then…deep breath and…screwpull! This Reserve – now labeled Tresor, or treasure by Ferrari Carano - is another Bordeaux-like blend, based mostly on mountain cabernet sauvignon. Though some of the most primary elements of this wine’s signature are breaking down, the fiery label does in more ways than one give something of a precursor to the wine itself. Built around a still fairly intense core of spicy red / black currant fruit, the wine displays nuances of tobacco and dusty earth. The palate adds blueberry, black licorice and herbs hinting of rosemary. The mouth feel thins a bit and perhaps is bit disjointed – showing some awkward heat and peppery pucker on the finish despite the fairly low 13.5% alcohol content (pretty standard for the time) and age. A serious effort – but I will cellar Laurel Glen and Kenwood Artist with confidence, as those wines seem to prize balance and integration to a greater degree.

**+Stolpman Vineyards, L’Avion, Lompoc, roussanne, 2005: Given the pedigree, I was hoping for something like a Sine Qua Non roussanne-based white (think The Hussy or The Boot). Further, this has been raved about by Vinfolio and Robert Parker. Instead…not so lucky. Nice enough – the wine shows a floral, banana cream pie thing and bright candied orange zest – but light on the palate (I do get some nice minerals and more citrus) and a bit racy. The finish is spicy but shows a slight greenness and bitterness. A $26 roussanne that is worth…about $26.