Made an appointment some time back and with my wife and daughter met Will at the house in Calistoga week before last. Will is a great guy and was oh so generous with the wines and his time. And what a neat house. I’ve been buying for some time now but I haven’t popped a ton of these and tend to drink single bottles so sitting down and doing some A/B comparisons was a treat. Didn’t take notes and I’m not very good at writing them anyway, but this is what I recall. I was spitting as well so the memory banks were somewhat intact at least. And Thomas stopped in and said hello, was nice to meet him.
Started off with the 2012 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. My first RM chard since the ’07 Theriot that I wasn’t particularly fond of. (although I think I have a couple '08 and ‘09’s buried somewhere) This was very good, nice restrained fruit , balanced with good acidity and a nice finish. Glad I bought my two. My daughter will have her eyes on these when they show up I’m sure and she’s not a chardonnay lover.
Next up 2012 Occidental Ridge pinot. Lighter in color than the next two wines, a somewhat semi-transparent ruby. Noticing some spice in the nose that transferred to the taste. A nice bright wine that I really enjoyed. Alot.
On to the 2012 Summa. I really enjoy the Summa pinot but they need a little time. This was showing a nice core of fruit on the darker side that really picked up in the middle.
Then the 2012 Silver Eagle. This just seemed a little muddled to me in comparison to the other two pinot noirs. Leaning towards some dark cherry flavors but just kind of unfocused right now.
Still going now, it’s cab time. I’ve been a buyer of a few bottles of Napa cab only in past vintages, never venturing to the single vineyards.
2012 Panek. My eyebrows probably shot up a bit as I tasted this. This is really good. Just a seamless drink from front to back, deep core of cabernet fruit, finishing with a real interesting flavor that I couldn’t identify. I’m getting why there is some hype around this.
2012 Calistoga. Lighter in style , and color, than the Panek. An elegant wine, redder in fruit profile than the Panek. Totally different wines. I added a bottle of this to my order but pretty sure I’ll visit the Panek as well next year.
Are we done yet? Nope. Will asks what else we have going and when I say nothing, this is it, he asks if we want to go over and taste a barrel or two. Arm twisted, off we go.
2013 Theriot chard. Deeper in flavor profile and spice than the 2012 SC, a tad more tropical than citrus?
2013 Kanzler pinot. The components are still in barrel so it was a dollop of this and a dollop of that in the glass. Was nice to contrast the individual components and then together. Anxious to try the 2012 now but I’ll sit on it for awhile.
2013 Sonoma Coast pinot. It had just gone from barrel to tank for bottling. Glad there are a few haters out there, I’ll be buying my 2013, wishlisting theirs.
And that was it, off to lunch we were. Great visit.