I’ve gone through the Bondle lineup with the help of a few gatherings. My fav for current consumption is the chenin but everything has been delicious and well-received. There is some upside to cellaring the champagnes and the cabernet franc, in particular, but I wouldn’t hesitate to open any of them.
With temps heating up, anyone in the northeast receive their Ladd Cellars BD15 order?
Last time I talked to Eric, they were slowly going out. Send him a text and put “BD15” at the beginning of it.
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Six Cloves Zinfandel - opened tonight PNP and had with pizza… wonderful and interesting.
I don’t even really drink Zinfandel but I loved this.
Complex and lovely. Raspberries for sure, maybe cherry…
Really looking forward to a glass tomorrow night and then on Day 3 to see how it opens up with more time but first impression is excellent.
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Check our Thanks @TylerS for opening up the Zinfandel! This has been drinking very well recently and one of my local wine bar clients pours this Zin by the glass blind.They said it is such a fun wine for wine professionals that some thought it was Gamay!!
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Thank you! I really loved it.
Been enjoying lots of my BD15 purchases (and owe the thread some more TNs), but that was definitely the one that’s impressed me the most so far.
Looking forward to trying more (and to the Six Cloves blend I haven’t popped yet!)…
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Anyone else try the SchoneTal Hirschy Pinots? This was the 2017:
Splash decant. Nose: really lovely floral, pinotberry/cherry, Asian spices, the kind that keeps you coming back to stick your nose in the glass to enjoy. Taste: like a lot of pinots, the palate doesn’t quite live up to the nose; lighter bodied, savory, crispy/crunchy with some spice, earthiness, but more a whisper of red berry/cherry fruit than a clear voice. Okay, but would be much higher on my enjoyment scale with more fruit. Hopefully the 18 and 19 will have more. Will more time help? Hard to believe it will since already 7 years in bottle, but I guess I’ll hold to see and drink the 18 to compare. Could just be a lighter OR style that isn’t in my wheelhouse.
This was nice with grilled fish tacos:
Edaphos Petite Arvine 2021
PnP; nice, crispy white, well made, some tropical notes. Okay as a change from the usual suspects.
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Enjoy 19 Red @TylerS ! Other newer vintage are tasting very good now as well. Hope you come back and try the rest as well. Cheers!
Went on an Alder Springs binge lately to see if I could get a feel for the vineyard (and maybe Mendo more broadly as I haven’t had much from that far north). All enjoyable, and mostly from BD15.
The Six Cloves pinot (2021) and chard (2021) were nice and bright, bunch of acid and lots happening on the nose for both. I thought the pinot was totally ready to go and that the chard would probably be better in a year but not a need to wait. Pinot had some interesting spice elements to it and I thought the partial malo on the chard gave it some softer notes while still having some minerality. Edaphos trousseau was my first go of the varietal and I thought it was really interesting. Again, light and bright, reddish fruits. (My other Alder Spring was the 2017 Under the Wire which was killer.)
Lastly, not Alder Springs, but did a Sabelli-Frisch Faun Lauchland zin last night. Very good stuff, gingerbread on the nose and a lighter style than I’d (apparently totally incorrectly) thought Lodi could do.
Being a first timer, I remain very impressed by the participants and am already in grave fear of my storage capabilities for next year.
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It gets worse. 
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We just had the “New Gold Dream” 2022 Riesling from SABELLI-FRISCH @Adam_Frisch with salmon and Caesar salad. This wine is fantastic! It’s wonderfully dry and bright with a refreshing acidity. I regret not buying more and will certainly rectify that in the fall.
It wasn’t a BD15 purchase, but we also recently had the SABELLI-FRISCH red blend and loved it. It was a delightful red wine.
I’m going to have to be better prepared for BD16 
.
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I commented about this wine upthread (April 12) and was similarly impressed. 
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Thank you, @J_P_Cart, for your comments! A couple of weeks ago, I brought my Japanese clients to Alder Springs. I’ve always found it hard to describe the characteristics of Alder Springs wines when I poured them in the past. However, Stuart explained that the pine forest surrounding the vineyard may significantly contribute to their wine characteristics! In addition to Pinot’s unique and aromatic clone (459), I used 50% whole cluster to make it more complex and agable. One side effect of using whole clusters is color loss, which is why my Pinots are always paler than other producers who avoid it. I have recently received excellent ratings on these two wines from Wine Enthusiast, and the ratings will be revealed online after 7/22. They were supposed to be reviewed blind, but the reviewers must have figured out that the wines were made from grapes from this superb vineyard.
Cheers to great wines and their great growers!
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