2020 BG Clark & Telephone Vineyard PN & Glasir Holt Chardonnay

WINE TALK
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2020 Belle Glos Pinot Noir Clark & Telephone Vineyard:
Deep, rich, structured. Utterly spectacular from the first sniff to the last taste. Incredible depth and purity of fruit. Completely seamless. Powerful and concentrated with no heaviness. Everything is in the right place. Nothing to nitpick, there’s just no doubt. Ethereal nose packed of aromas. The signature dried flower of violet and primrose, some grilled meat, amazingly backward but afloat, with great bubbly tannin. Fragrant but delicate; truly excellent. 98 points. Benchmark!

2020 Belle Glos Chardonnay Glasir Holt:
Wonderfully fresh, rich and balanced! It is immediately clear this is a powerhouse of a wine, even with the reduction that took 15+ minutes to disappear–but I love a little matchstick and flint. Complex peach, apple and pear aromas with floral, vanilla and sweet spice notes. Legendary concentration and length. The fruit is clearly ripe, but a slightly tart background bass-line seemed to gradually emerge that adding another intriguing nuance. This started out as slightly monolithic, and slowly emerged from its shell with more air and as it warmed up. Best taste was the last, when between cellar and room temperature. Great now, upside from here. This is their first vintage of this wine. 96 points!

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All of the vineyards used for Belle Glos’ wines see significant influence from the Pacific Ocean, but the grapes grown in each one are impacted by particular variations in fog, wind, sun, and soil—and the wines produced from these grapes showcase those unique qualities. The same holds true with the Glasir Holt Chardonnay.

The Glasir Holt Vineyard sits near the western edge of the Santa Rita Hills, in Santa Barbara County. The nearby ocean creates cool yet sunny days and even cooler nights, lending the grapes grown here to wines with bright flavors and fresh acidity. Though Wagner originally intended for this vineyard to be planted to Pinot Noir, he noticed that part of the land was home to chalky, calcareous soils and realized that it could be exceptionally well-suited to Chardonnay instead.

The result is the mineral-laden, elegant, expressive Belle Glos Glasir Holt Chardonnay (SRP: $55). With the intention of transmitting a crystal-clear sense of terroir, Wagner relies on native yeast fermentation in 10 percent concrete tanks and 90 percent new French oak barrels, where the wine is aged for 12 months. Bright fruit like crunchy apple and melon meets notes of toasted marshmallow, brioche, and buttery pie crust, coming together on a smooth and concentrated palate that is lifted by mouthwatering acidity.

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What’s really interesting is what they are doing with vine density and Massal selection.

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Very similar to La Tache

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So serious!

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Interesting take on this wine. I’ve only ever had one BG Pinot, the 2019 Clark & Telephone. It was blinded on a group of family members and nobody even came close to identifying it as Pinot Noir - it was a complete abomination of the grape. Here’s my note from that wine:

2019 Belle Glos Pinot Noir Clark & Telephone Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley (11/5/2022)
14.9% abv.
My brother double-blinded a group of 5 of us (mostly siblings) on this.
This was very dark and almost opaque, darker than any Pinot that I've ever seen. On the palate, this was low acid and pretty heavily oaked with a heavy mouthfeel and some noticeable sweetness. High abv was also obvious. I was thinking new world and warm climate without a doubt, but what variety? No real markers that I could discern, but the style reminded me of some over-the-top Zins, so I guessed 2019 Zinfandel from Lodi, $25 (as this seemed to be fairly high quality oak treatment). The four other guesses were California Cabernet. All were surprised this was Pinot, but after I saw the wax covering half of the bottle, it made sense (Belle Glos being the big brother of Meiomi and produced by the Wagner family).
As a Pinot this is an abomination, more of a "beverage" than honestly made red wine. It's sweet and pleasing in the way that chocolate cake is - a wine made for the non-Wine geek palate.
The blind wine that followed this was an A to Z Oregon Pinot Noir 2018 ($18) - everyone guessed it as Pinot Noir without hesitation (though I was the only one who placed it as Oregon). The juxtaposition was a stark contrast to this "Pinot" that illustrated how manipulated this Belle Glos is.

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Sounds like it was corked? This is a great producer. A real AFWE kind of wine.

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Not corked (what about my not even suggests cTCA?). Are you familiar at all with the Wagner wines - BG, Meiomi (back in the day), Caymus? This is their style - overblown, over-oaked, sweet, low-acid wines (Ok, maybe not Caymus Special Select, but all of the others). They make wines that are extremely popular and sell very, very well, but they are high production, formula wines that are the antithesis of terroir. Our double-blind tasting was proof positive (in my mind, at least) that these BG Pinots are not “real” Pinot - in our group of 7 not one person was even considering Pinot as a possibility.

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Belle Glos AFWE? Uh, no.

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Paul…me thinks you be getting reeled in here.:partying_face:

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Ugh, Damn it! April Fool’s Day. :blush:

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:clap::clap::clap:

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Scoundrel - you really got me there!

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He reeled you in like a barracuda.:crazy_face:

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I’m just surprised that anyone here has actually tried it!

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My brother brought it to a family tasting - I think he said that it was a gift. If you read the CT notes, the majority of people seem to really like it. Go figure.

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Ha ha! That was awesome - i was super confused for a minute. Well done buddy!!

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The second worst thing about that wine is the too precious and enormous wax thing. That alone would prevent me from buying the wine.

-Al

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