Oh sweet winter sex. The kind of wine you open and take one sniff of and are instantly torn between *glad you opened* and *shit I regret opening this*. Dank and delirious in the nose, tertiary trying desperately to over-power the still-vibrant fruit. It's a perfect balance of sweat and piss and blood, oak and…

Furious rose. Loads of bubbles in the bottle, flattening out visibly in the glass. But oh the spritz on the tongue is no joke. This thing carries a sizzling zing, start to long after finish. Big clean Apple bottom beauty in the nose, frankly quite filling the room upon popping the wax-dipped crown cap. Any…

Serious garnet, ambering out to pale rosiness at the edge. Smoky, coffee roast, campfire in your eyes, dark miso broth with a Dr. Pepper sha-WING reflecting dark, dirty fruit. And I mean DIRTY. Not hot, cooked dirty like Paso Pinot, a lively spicy soil more akin to Anderson Valley--but with out the green-briar. It smells…

2000 BRANDER Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Heavy brick, good sediment. Gorgeous tertiary with a spicy fruit center, a core of licorice and mint and still-bright lavender-tinged charry. Ridiculously polished in the mouth, but still with a verve of bitter angst. This was their first cab reserve, and an absolutely STUNNING wine. Showing FAR better than the…

I opened a Primitivo today in honor of #nationalzinfandelday for a couple reasons: First of all because it's a fake #influencer holiday and I purposely never open the *proper* wines on those days but more importantly in honor of the 80's and early 90's when we were told it was the original Zinfandel and a…

Glorious purple with a wide pink edge. Weedy fruit, all funk and rock, the bright barnyard melded perfectly into green strawberry, roasted tomatillo and zesty floral. I don't have to sell you on this wine. Everyone knows how beautiful this organic darling expresses ALL the craziness of CF in an inexpensive package designed to geekily…

These Corvinas are amazing wines, impossibly full of flavor in a delicate package, Alpine-shrill and Veneto-round, they pack SO MUCH GOOD STUFF into an inexpensive bottle nearly unknown in the United States. This particular organic, native-yeast one is ridiculously Grenache-like in appearance, smell and taste. An easy garnet lightness with a rosy core fills the…

Why can't California make Nebbiolo? I've wondered this for years. There doesn't seem to be any huge obvious reason why we can't lurking in the room, but yet..... Oh yes and I've had my fair share. I keep trying--and people keep recommending--and EVERYTHING falls short. And I mean EVERYTHING. There literally are no exceptions. Otherwise…

Completely transparent light ruby with an ambering beige far out into the wide clear edges. Ridiculous barnyard flies in your face fresh in the pour, blowing off quickly to sharp egg white, lemon zest and olive oil combining to help the brilliant pie cherry maintain an upper hand on the horse manure and sawdust tempered…

A historic producer--probably most known for Chaucer's Mead--not popping up on the radar often--and that's a shame, as the roster is packed with bargain goodies, including $40-$60 flagship reds and numerous 30-dollar Pinots. SCM is an absolute GEM on the Central Coast (though it's not in the CC AVA), oft-forgotten by the bling-crowd for its…

Mountain-cool and Windex-clear and--like everything they make--will be unlike almost everything you have tasted from this variety. Full ripe nose shining of Chardonnay, a little newsprint and neutral barrel bringing creamy decadence to a nose full of melon and apple and green brushy charm. Dank burnished tones to the herbaceous play well with the slight…

After a week of plugging leaks and mopping up, was ready for something big and beautiful tonight and noticed I had a couple of these babies in the queue. Quick taste, heavy decant, and let the glory of Napa Cab flow through you. Deep, nearly impenetrable ruby with distinct purple-blue at the rim. Bitter, glorious…

Light, clear garnet. It seriously looks like Nebbiolo in the glass, but that is where the comparison ENDS. Spicy nose, beautiful baked goods, cherry syrup--but not cloying and liqueur-ish--not really maraschino at all, more of a Rutherford dust sorta richness, a smoky campfire and warm soil explanation in the bouquet. Rich and decadent, but not…

Pale canary with powerful structure attacking nearly as spritz. Ripe peach, pear and soggy newsprint in the nose, sweet and angsty and beautiful though with a chalky angularity lined with Italian parsley and freshly-shampooed malamute. The micro-air suspended in the glass releases sharp and biting on the tongue, driving an early softness into hard theory.…

The nose on this wine will just NOT STOP. Layers and layers of dusty chocolate: heady and concentrated; shrubbery clippings: green and packed with thorny briar; godawful amounts of fruit: a cherry tincture part maraschino and part fresh-firm; a cellar-floor worn but clean; I could smell this wine forever. High-elevation expressions of conifer and volcanic…

This is about as safe of a Merlot as you can get. Just solid, normal, beautiful Merlot. Found it on a not-exemplary winelist for a song and it seemed the least-offensive thing to choose. I was not wrong. Deep rich clear color, beautiful spicy nose with proper amounts of briar and oak. Modest asnd restrained…

This is done so nicely. Beautiful clear ruby with a purple edge. A very subdued saline nose, funky eraser-head, maybe a teensy tiny bit of VA--but nicely layered in with lanolin, chunky vegetal and graphite-berry muddling around in what *feels* like sans soufre. I had opened this thinking it was Cab--for some reason I had…

Crisp but decadent, big smoky fruit roiled with peat and herb. Brilliantly acidic, the sharp points prodding the ridiculous black cherry and cran-apple along with absolute focus. Firm tannins scream out--going almost hot--forcefully drowned by a concentration of sultry berry second-to-none. Green stemmy shards of brilliance poke out in all directions, making a teeth-wiping stew…

Clear light red, that cherry hue so magical in some wines--mostly pinots--that is transparent without a trace of garnet: clear and translucent and black at its core but not blue at the rim. A heady green stemmy nose, dark and dirty, rich with shoe leather and tar, a little volatility coaxing more richness--this time cherry…

Big buttery-rich layers of tropical and banana in the nose, decidedly ripe, but with a nice conifer mint and dusty earth SOLID everywhere. It smells quite gorgeous and is thick and blackish-garnet in the glass. The blackberry is a brambly mess, wound impossibly tight and thorny over a mountain stream, splashing petrichor in all directions.…