The best Quality-Price-Ratio (QPR) California Pinot Noir we’ve tasted in years! It’s from one of the Central Coast’s very first Pinot Noir vineyards, Mission Ranch in the Salinas Valley planted in 1961. Fifty-five... Read More
New Zealand native Angela Osborne moved to California in 2006 with a simple dream: to make Grenache. Over the years, she's established herself as one of the few masters of crafting Grenache that's bursting with fruit but... Read More
A classic rich and buttery (but not too much!) Russian River Chardonnay with enough oak for spice. Big, ripe, aromas and flavors of yellow pear, apple, almond and more coat the palate nicely before cleaning up with a squirt of... Read More
Made by Rob Mondavi,Jr (grandson of the Napa legend), this does an outstanding job of balancing Napa's richness with a fine minerality and structure. Plenty of blackcurrant and blackberry fruit, a touch of dried herb, a dash... Read More
Rich and creamy Russian River Chardonnay with spiced pear fruit and juicy accents of fresh butter and cream. Hard to resist for fans of more full-bodied Chardonnay!
Jim Clendenen is sadly gone, but his legacy lives on at the winery that more or less put Santa Barbara on the wine map. This is fully ripe at 13.5 alcohol, shaped (but not overwhelmed) by malolactic fermentation and time in French... Read More
Lower ABV Absurdly delicious cool-climate, California, Syrah that delivers layers of savory complexity, whole cluster (50%) grip, and still has enough fruit to just drink sexy. Double 95 point reviews for the 2019 will be repreated... Read More
A big snoot- and mouth-ful of crushed berries and cherries with some cocoa dust, a touch of acidic/tannic bite, and a “I dare you to stop drinking me” finish that keeps you coming back for more. Like an Italian Chianti... Read More
One of the longest-running high-quality “value” Pinots we know of. As Robert Parker said of the 2013 edition: An authentic tasting Pinot Noir that sells for a song. Aromas of sweet red and black cherry fruit intermixed... Read More
A terrific value Cabernet from Alexander Valley, north of Napa. Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with splashes of Malbec and Petit Verdot, this pairs rich blackberry and currant fruit with Alexander Valley’s signature... Read More
From the tenderloin of Alexander Valley, this has plenty of size but also a bit of grace. Lots of blackberry, raspberry and currant fruit with accents of cedar and baking spice. The French oak shows on the trace of vanilla on... Read More
From a foggy vineyard near the Pacific (and one that stayed smoke-free in 2020), this is classic California Chardonnay in a fresh, almost mineral, style and just 13.7% alcohol. Bright green and yellow apple and stone fruit aromas... Read More
From a California Sparkling wine specialist, this is elegant, nicely textured, Chardonnay of fine freshness and length. In 2022, it’s all Russian River fruit from a vineyard next door to Kistler and Ritchie Vineyards and... Read More
Brick & Mortar is really a California sparkling house, meaning they grow a lot of cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. When Pinot gets a bit too ripe for fizz, it’s perfect for elegant, pure, juicy still wines like this... Read More
Stags Leap is the smallest AVA in Napa but has loomed large in wine-lovers’ minds ever since Warren Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon Cask 23 1973 shocked the wine world by beating out the best of Bordeaux... Read More
Grown just north and east of Napa, most Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon ends up as part of the allowable 20% of non-AVA fruit in “Napa” Cabernet. Here it shines mostly solo as the main component in this delicious, ripe,... Read More
Organic/Bio From the sister winery of Radio-Couteau, County Line wines look to deliver that level of style and quality in a more immediately drinkable (and less expensive) format. Fermented in steel and aged in neutral (meaning... Read More
Seeing this on the shelf, a great Chardonnay customer reminisced that she and her husband first visited Cuvaison in the 1970s. Through the boom in super-butter Chard in the '80s and '90s and the reactionary trend towards... Read More
While brother Tim has gone the artisanal route with his Continuum project, Michael Mondavi has focused more on making plenty of good-drinking, well-made, Napa-typical selections. Like this which showcases plenty of deep Napa Cab... Read More
Michael and Robert Mondavi, Jr. make California Chardonnay that's both very traditional and a bit more up-to-date. The rich body and ripe stone fruit, sliced pear, lemon curd and green melon flavors are just what you expect... Read More
Look, we’ve yet to find a Zin that was both satisfyingly ripe (i.e., not toughly tannic and herbal) and under 14.5% alcohol. The grape needs hang time and that means alcohol. But it turns out you can make 15% abv Zin that... Read More
These guys make just one wine, a Lodi blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Sirah and Merlot brought in rich and ripe at 13.5% alcohol and given plenty of French oak spice and toast. It’s richer and more ripe than the modest... Read More
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