2017 Unico Zelo Clare Valley Truffle Hound Red Blend. Red magenta to violet in color, consistent throughout, deeply hued as well as transparent. The nose is exceedingly volatile at first and it only calms down moderately with over an hour’s air time, candied cherries and black currants lifted by menthol notes. Medium-bodied, smoother here if not smooth per se. Large portion of the experience is eucalyptus and then vanilla to buttered toast. Leathery in an animal hide, sweat way. Fine richness to the cherry, dark berry fruit. Really wanted to like this and while it did improve over time still not nearly enough. 70% Barbera, 30% Nebbiolo. (Composite Cork: Diam)
2002 Lengs & Cooter Riesling Watervale. Deepened gold falling short of amber, only moderate loss at the rims, flat, lusterless surface. Solid dose of rubber and oil slick to the nose, mainly grounded in angular pineapple, papaya to nectarine fruit scents and pulped grapefruit, light stoniness, not getting anything which speaks of its age. Full-bodied, still sets itself squarely in the mouth, the acidity muffles like a wet blanket. That said, there’s so much sourness in the fruit and citrus that it can’t help but crackle and pop. That oil/diesel element woven in nicely, not obtrusive. Maybe a tad minty. Nothing profound, would have hoped for more tertiary development but for an 18 year old wine I paid $18 for in 2003 can’t complain. (Screwcap)
2015 Cast Wines Zinfandel DCV Watson Vineyard Old Vine. Any purple in the core washed out by a crimson hue, fresh brick red rims. The nose tends to be blunt and a little alcoholic yet there’s a satisfying richness and a surfeit of juicy mixed berry fruit topped off by menthol and licorice. Medium-bodied, presents a velvety grip that slows progress across the palate. Blueberry, raspberry, boysenberry fruit, the full iHop syrup selection. Sweet grill smoke, molasses crisp, vanilla fudge, total “throwback Thursday” style. Minty, mentholated finish with lift and cleanliness. With an eye towards being fair to the widening expression of the variety, this is what I want from the Zinfandel arrow in my quiver. Flavor overload.
2018 Sandlands Cinsault Lodi. Pinkish ruby to rose, unblemished and consistent into the rims, attractive sparkle. The nose is airy and gentle with youthfully fresh strawberry, cherry scents, supported by sweet garden herbs, lavender, neutral sandy earth, light and flighty. Light-bodied, sufficient tannin to provide a frame but if you demand structure for a wine to be “serious” that ain’t that. Strawberry, blueberry fruit, some mixed citrus tang, sweet tea leaf, spent potpourri. Gets a little twiggy, leafy near the end. If your main point of comparison is the Languedoc it’s correct to type. Fruity, bit puckering as well as chewy.
2016 MoniClaire Vineyards Zinfandel DCV Vista. Ruby red to rose red on the main, light and completely transparent, do not discern any visual sign of aging. Hard candy nose of strawberry, raspberry, touch of green apple, fills in with meadow scrub, mild eucalyptus, pure but not that complex. Medium-bodied, if that, the syrupy texture helps build palate presence. Spicy with more florality as well as a dash of citrus. Same red berry fruit array. Turns bitter at the finish where you also get a cloud of caramel, butterscotch oak. Nothing remarkable, nothing horrible. It’s wine.
2001 Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Clear, fully bricked core, orange rust rims, looks its age. Wooly, forest floor nose with a strong smokiness, syrupy cherry to raspberry scents, clearly alcoholic but it actually seems to fit, brings out a piney note. Medium-bodied, has a velvety texture, grips the palate fully. Roasty quality to the cherry, blackberry, raspberry fruit, still good freshness for its age. Light nuttiness with a pressed flower and nutmeg touch. If there’s any complaint it might be that it’s too fruit forward and one reasonably could expect more tertiary nuances. 65% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, 15% Syrah, 5% Cinsault.
2013 Tupinier-Bautista Mercurey Les Vieilles Vignes. Touch of violet to the core, otherwise it’s all brick and rust red, clean throughout, glowing rims. Some initial flatulence, band-aid to the nose, flips over into camphor, pressed flowers, flickering spice, the cherry, blackberry scents show pleasing ripeness. Medium-bodied, tannin perceptible from first sip yet there’s nice soft contours. Spicy with citric tang, no slouch and makes the finish pop. Here the florality gets lost some. Conversely, the ripeness in the boysenberry, blueberry fruit more pronounced. Mild metallic ring at the end. Wouldn’t label it “vin de garde” but inclined in that general direction. (Composite Cork: Diam5)
2013 Vincent Ledy Savigny-Les-Beaune. Reddish purple, gauzy from a very fine silt throughout, this even after standing up for weeks. Stony, dusty nose, the hard candy cherry component gets shoved here and there, unsettled, more leather than any greenness, roughhewn texturally, grinds through the nostrils. Medium-bodied, tough cookie here too where the tannin has mad kung fu grip and the acidity then kicks you when you’re down. To be fair does relax slightly with a lot of air. Mixed sour citrus perk up the raspberry, blackberry fruit, wiry yet thankfully not excessively angular. Poor dirt and rocks. Would not venture a guess on if/when it might escape the structural handcuffs.
2011 Charles Helfenbein Syrah Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes La Syrah. The opaque purple core fades easily into dried blood red rims, liquid seems clear. Smoky nose of kindling wood and ham hocks, an unattractive rubbery element throws you off for a moment, currant to black cherry scents, touch green but not volatile, kind of finds itself but takes awhile. Full-bodied, round and more supple than expected, tannic but any roughness burred off. That plastic thing persists, pretty much takes it from “hell, yeah” to “not so much” territory. No lack of plum, black currant fruit. Chocolaty, cocoa patina to the grill smoke, meat fat. Second experience with this producer, both underwhelming but for reasons which to me seem intentional, like if you were drinking this with the winemaker he’d be “yup, nailed it.” (Synthetic Cork: Nomacorc)
2017 Jean-Luc Jamet Pinot Noir Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes Schistes. Darkish purple to ruby red, sort of flat, there’s not much life to the hue, no noted filminess. Super sour, biting nose of mulberry, blueberry, Italian plum fruit, barnyard funk, close to reductive, dusty stone, very active and tends to swirl around aggressively. Medium-bodied, tannic almost to a fault, acidity not helping to win friends either. Rhubarb, blackberry fruit, hard to tell through the pucker. Briny, pickled, stony, pulped lemons, close to animal hide. Consumed a glass over a good long while and it never changed and by that I mean it never redeemed itself. Here, long finish is a negative.
2010 Vincent Girardin Chassagne-Montrachet Clos du Cailleret. Advanced golden color, not quite to amber territory, not a lot of luster but there’s some glow to help it fill the glass. Crisp nose still dominated by oak, the vanilla, lime, buttered toast at least more high-toned than sugary, floral, wasn’t really expecting much stone nor minerality but the lack of fruit scent is odd. Medium-bodied plus, sour and here the oak takes on a cedar, dill aspect along with the lime, blood orange citrus. Some bubblegum accents. Touch more yeasty close to room temperature. Credible acidity. Pineapple, guava, nectarine fruit, all bite and no juice. Not the type of wine I drink frequently, not sure I am being fair to it. Albeit there’s a reason I don’t frequently drink this type of wine.
2002 Domaine du Closel Savennières Clos du Papillon. Fully bronzed color, good shine still, despite general darkness the rims appear somewhat washed out. Smoky nose offering orange marmalade, persimmon, quince, shows more doughy notes as it warms, beeswax, minimal persistence. Full-bodied, acidity has some kick but it’s genially sitting in the wheelchair watching the world go by. Yeast, bread dough, wax muffle any lingering citrus or tropical fruit. Texture is clumpy. Very bitter finish, almost notes of raw chestnuts. On the positive side, one fewer bottle in storage.
2004 Produttori del Barbaresco Ovello Riserva. Any trace of violet more or less replaced by brick red and further out orange zinc hues. Licorice, dried rose petals, pulped oranges and a touch of matted grasses comprise a comforting nose, makes the cherry, red berry scents almost an afterthought, vague syrupy texture extends it. Medium-bodied, drinking noticeably youthfully. The tamed tannin one of the few signs it’s of a certain age. Stronger potpourri here, along with the licorice and orange spice it has a beefy kind of prettiness. Along these lines, it’s no graceful swan, more like watching Jackie Gleason dance, which he could with aplomb. The raspberry, strawberry, cherry fruit lasts fully into the finish. This kicking and although one could argue it is not far into its plateau just pop it.
2018 Sulin Estate Malvasia Nera Casorzo Voület. Pours with an cracking fizz which disappears quickly enough, leaves a film across the surface, dark violet to ruby, darker than expected. Sour berry fruit driven nose, floral with a tangerine zest lift, not sure how but there’s is a mild cleaning sensation in the nostrils. Medium to full-bodied, feels quite heavy at times, helps it soak in and maximize the rich, sweet berry fruit flavors. Maybe a hint of fizz right when it first hits the tongue. Same floral and citrusy support. In fact it’s pretty monochrome but for what it is — low alcohol, sweet wine — have had much worse and it was cheap. (Composite Cork)
2018 Colombera & Garella Coste della Sesia Cascina Cottignano. Gauzy ruby red, bright through the rims, looks warm and inviting. There’s an herbaceous, foresty snap to the nose, not underripe per se, something close to volcanic ash as well, the red berry fruits seem a genial afterthought. Light-bodied, the tannin level flirts with too much for balance but after a few sips your palate more or less acclimates. Sourness enlivens the raspberry, red cherry fruit and this gets heightened by a white grapefruit accent. There’s leather in proportionate that that herbal element. All in all it’s nice enough and “on point” but personally the dryness diminishes drinkability. 70% Nebbiolo, 15% Croatina, 15% Vespolina. (Composite Cork: Diam5)
2017 Querciabella Maremma Mongrana. Clean, unblemished, the purple core gives way to scarlet red with ease, plenty of youthful saturation. Erect bearing in the nose, sour and cleansing, blackberry to boysenberry fruit, more deeper currant as it opens, touch leathery with a bit of cedar, compact and muscular, arguably to a fault. In the mouth it is medium-bodied, while there’s no lack of tannin and acidity it manages to flow steadily so you don’t feel like you got slugged in the jaw. Good fruit ripeness, here it is more currant, plum with dark berry as supplement. Graphite, stone, pressed flowers, cedar, just a little too close to green at times for my liking. Not going to back down to no one, could stand to lose the chip on its shoulder. 50% Sangiovese, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot. (Composite Cork: Diam5)
2016 Produttori di Nebbiolo di Carema Carema Normale. Perfectly clean, transparent and shiny, lively visuals, the color an orange rust to dried rose color, the core more clay red. Nose of strewn rocks, dirt and grass, sneeze inducing dry texture, mild tarriness, semi-muted cherry, raspberry fruit scents. Light-bodied, the acidity gets your mouth salivating right off. More tarry here with a borderline scorched character, campfire. The core of the same cherry, red berry fruit is sweet nevertheless not particularly longlasting. Nicely embellished by orange, grapefruit accents. Purchased for consumption as a “everyday drinker” and find it too tough a nut for that level of casual consumption.
2019 Tiberio Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. Very dark pinkish rose to watermelon hue, unblemished and transparent. Needs to get close to room temperature for the nose to rev up, chalk dust and saline dance with the cherry, strawberry fruit scents, develops a lemony edge, more power overall than lift. Full-bodied, tannic and from the first sip appears to have the structure to age. Here the ripeness of the cherry, strawberry, raspberry fruit sets the pace, sour enough that the white citrus bite easily noticeable. Perhaps as herbaceous as chalky through the finish. Never loosens its grip. Quite like it, especially as Valentini Cerasuolo is now priced out of my league.
2018 Dominó (Vitor Claro) Castelão Lisboa Colar. Light ruby-violet color, transparent with a slight gauziness, rims almost pinkish. Some kind of reductive funk or something on the nose at first, smells like ass, slowly moderates into stone, hard clay, matted grasses and mixed berry fruit, smelling it a bit of a chore. Light-bodied, firming tannin and acidity, rugged from the first sip. Lemon, dusty pebbles, grasses, evokes a mountainside jaunt. Good thing it’s wound around a core of juicy rhubarb, blackberry, boysenberry fruit. Displays clarity of purpose and eschews makeup. Certain it will find its fans but I’m not in with the in crowd on this one.
2017 Quinta do Crasto “Crasto”. Fully glowing and saturated, purple to redder magenta, clean, no loss of intensity at the rims. Blunt nose, hits you hard then backs off leaving a void, plum, currant to blackberry fruit scents, offers earth and leather in a calculated fashion, a halfhearted attempt at florality fails, not much there. In the mouth it’s medium-bodied with a pleasing layered sensation. Tobacco wrapper, leather, autumnal fallen matter, it’s a muted background for the chunky plum, cherry, dark berry fruit. Not much more to say, overall it’s okay but close to uncouth. 35% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz, 25% Touriga Franca, 10% Tinta Barroca.
