Galloni "Best of Sonoma"

I’ve just started to scan the report. Off the top, I’d say that I relate to Antonio’s palate well. Some excellent showings by the likes of Arnot-Roberts, Bedrock, Carlisle, Copain, Dehlinger, Hartford, Rochioli, Littorai, Martinelli, Rivers-Marie and Wind Gap.

Glad to see some of my favorites get positive feedback on their excellent work.

That’s good news for my cellar too as it mirrors much of what I own.

Would love to see it but the site is moving like a snail.

The database is currently moving so slow that it’s taking up to several minutes for things to load. Virtually unusable.

Has he taken any positions that are more than a couple points divergent from Parker’s historical view of the producer(s)?

edit: Roy, you beat me to it!

Looks to me that the higher octane Pinots and Chards got the 1-2 point downgrades similar to how the Cabs did and Syrahs did in his two previous issues. I also nailed the call of him giving Littorai the big upgrade (4 highest WA scores for him ever) a la Ridge and Dunn. Also predicted the 100 for Beuasejour Duffau Lagarosse by the big man. Overall, exactly what I thought would happen to Sonoma. I think already a Galloni-style is starting to emerge.

Without doing a statistical review, I get the sense that Antonio is giving more love (vs. recent RMP reviews) to the “lighter”, more subtle end of the taste spectrum … the Copains, Arnot Roberts, Littorais.

He has an omnivore palate that I relate to and respect.

There is no way Ceritas would have scored in the 90s by Parker. No way, it is just not his style.

The scores were very moderate, with very few above 95. I think a lot of winemakers in Sonoma, especially those who like lower alc wines, will be quite happy with the results, as he scores them in the 90s, not just the full-throttle ones.

When I first stumbled on Littorai last year I was somewhat dumbfounded. Here was a property absolutely on the vanguard of the new-world, traditionally styled Pinot wave that seemed (to me anyway) to get little notice.

People may start to notice more now. It certainly didn’t take Antonio long to pick up on this property.

Hard to believe so many people are logging on to see what kind of points Galloni gave the Anthill wines!

Mike, some of us have been noticing for a while :wink:

I actually found them at least 1 point low across the board. Anthill is quickly moving up my ladder of Pinot producers.

I noticed that Kosta-Browne and Williams-Selyem were a little lower than I would have guessed.

I have to wait for the paper copy :frowning: Any hints on Peay or Donelan ??

It might be quicker to wait for the paper copy. This website is so slow.


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Haven’t seen them yet, the site is krunked.

I like the long video for Bordeaux, with Bob and Antonio.

The SF Chronicle awarded Ted Lemon their wine maker of the year. I think it was 2010. Last year I attended a Littorai dinner in SF. The effect of the award was there were lots of folks at the dinner who had literally yet to taste a Littorai wine. They were just there due to the press. (They had signed up for the mailing list, not necessarily bought anything, and were there because Littorai emailed the invite to those in the local zip codes.)

e-Tony has to separate himself from e-Bob to get things rolling, otherwise he will be accused of being
e-Bob redux. Give it a year or two and you will see scores begin to converge. If not, e-Tony will be gone.

I visited Littorai a few weeks ago. The wines are spectacular. The perfect example of a CA winery making an old world Pinot Noir without it turning into a disjointed, acidic mess. The vineyards they source from are in perfect areas for CA Pinot, for my taste at least.

I couldn’t read the reviews yet because the site was slow, but I was able to browse through the scores. I do like the wide range of scores instead of the typical 638 of 676 wines being between 91-93. That tells me nothing.

As far as the list of wineries, I was introduced to some that I have not heard of. I love this. They should continue to introduce a few new wineries every issue instead of always listing the same wineries, year after year. That being typed, however, I was surprised to see many wineries not reviewed. But I guess that’s what one has to do in order to make room for the newcomers.

I am looking forward to reading the reviews when the hard copy arrives.

Eric, did Ted lead the tour?

I wound up passing on the tour. The weather was very drizzly and cold, and I was more interested in just sampling the lineup anyway. That left us extra time for lunch at Underwood, a great spot especially on a gloomy day. That Boddington’s was almost as good as the Haven and Mays Canyon. [cheers.gif]