Hi All,
I know a few of us are headed out there but who else out there might be going to the tasting tomorrow. There will be many great producers to check out. I’ll be pouring wine at the Sandar amd Hem table. Please come by and say hi
Also don’t miss out on rising star, Madson Wines. They craft a fantastic selection of AFWE wines and are absolutely worth your attention.
I’ll share my thoughts on the event on monday. Hope to see you out there…
See you there, Sean! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I did drink a S&H Mindego Chardonnay last night, delicious
Looking forward to your report Sean.
Sean, Rob and Recha got swamped. Sean said it was because Sandar & Hem got this write-up prior to the event:
I started at the other end, so got to them fairly late. Sean got to sneak off for a pour of the '05 Kathryn Kennedy Estate, at my urging, but not sure if he got to try anything else. Well, maybe Ridge. I heard they got to chat with the new Monte Bello winemaker, who was the next table over.
Several of us Berserkers were there, so maybe a few will chime in. With over 40 wineries, I couldn’t get to everything I wanted. Some of my highlights:
Alfaro '20 Chard Trout Gulch
Alfaro '20 PN Trout Gulch
Big Basin '18 PN Alfaro Vyd
Charmant '19 Chard Tondre Grapefield - stunning! Vibrant fruit, perfect degree of matchstick, great acid and length.
Charmant '18 PN Estate
Equinox '19 Blanc de Noir
House Family '17 Chard Vintner’s Reserve Estate
House Family '18 PN Camel Hill
House Family '17 Syrah Coastview
House Family '16 CS Estate
Kathryn Kennedy '05 CS Estate - Holy moly! Drinking beatifully.
Kathryn Kennedy '18 CS Estate - needs a decade.
M. Mathis '21 Albarino
Left Bend '18 Cabernet Franc Camel Hill - classic and drinking nicely. Impressive for current drinking, but soft, so I wouldn’t age it.
Madson '20 Chard SCM
Madson '20 PN Toyon
Mount Eden '18 Chard Estate
Mount Eden '18 PN Estate
Mount Eden '17 CS Estate - I wouldn’t quibble anyone giving this 100pts. Absolutely stunning, though very tannic.
Neely '19 Chard Bee Block
Neely '18 PN Hidden Block
Neely '18 PN Picnic Block
Ridge '20 Geyserville - showing what it’s about, but not drining well. Give it 8+ years…
Roberts Ranch '19 PN Estate
Sandar & Hem '20 Rose of Grenache Bates Ranch
Sandar & Hem '19 Chard Bruzzone
Sandar & Hem '19 Chard Bald Mountain
Sandar & Hem '19 PN Mindego Ridge
I see a lot of good wines I didn’t get to. George Chadwick raved about the Roudin-Smith '12 Merlot. The '18 Monte Bello was apparently a huge hit, but gone by the time I got there. Then, there was apparently talk that Ridge will be playing with more French oak and less new oak, but that will be gradual ongoing experimentation.
Nice list of wines, Wes! I tasted most of your favorites, missed some, tasted a few others. I’ll have to see if I have time later today to post a brief summary and maybe a couple of photos. There will be a Grape-Nutz.com report on this tasting coming up too, hopefully before too long. First tasting event for me since early March 2020 and it was a perfect day for it, outdoors at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.
Picked up some 2017 Mount Eden Estate CS based on this report! Price increase is a shame (for consumers) but this wine was way under priced at the $65-85 that it was available for previously.
It was a great day. Nice list, Wes! Pretty much agree with it. I missed House Family completely. Oh well, next time.
Wes, I agree pretty much with your list. I didn’t get to Equinox, House Family, or Kathryn Kennedy. Wines I thought were among the highlights of the tasting that I’d add to your list include:
Aptos 2019 “Opening Remarks” Pinot Noir
Armitage 2018 Estate “Heart O’ The Mountain” Pinot Noir
Big Basin “Sixty-Two Terraces” Syrah
Lester Estate “Domingo” Pinot Noir
Neely 2021 Spring Ridge Vineyard Block Verde Grüner Veltliner
Ridge 2018 “Monte Bello”
Sante Arcangeli 2017 Split Rail Vineyard “Ron’s Reserve” Syrah
Windy Oaks 2019 “100% Whole Cluster” Pinot Noir
Woodside 2016 King’s Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
There were others that were very good as well, and the overall quality of the wines I tasted was consistently good across just about all producers whose wines I tried.
Its a great wine. I’ve had it 3 times now and has potential.
Been backfilling as much as possible. Have you had 2016 by chance and can you compare? I have plenty of both but I always seem to drink these too young, so never hurts to add more.