This will be the last installment of wine reviews from my California tasting trip. It was a long journey at the time and has been an even longer journey writing all of this down. As I finish this the next installment will be restaurant reviews for you and trust me there are some spectacular restaurants in San Francisco you need to visit. Think movie theaters!
Scotti Stark with Stark Advantage Brokers. scotti@starkadvantage.com 707-628-7600
Scotti is an individual broker who works marketing and conducting tastings for up-and-coming new vineyards. He also makes his own wines in a very small production. We spent an afternoon with him in a secret wine storage facility surrounded by Screaming Eagle and Scarecrow tasting the following wines.
2019 Carte Blanche Chardonnay purchased one bottle for $65
Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast has rated 96 points by Galloni. Started with a light pear nose and on the taste had a good mouthfeel. Lots of pear in the taste. There was a mildly bitter taste on the finish that would go away with food. Good acid integration and balance
2018 Harumph Cabernet Purchased one bottle for $85
Made by Scotti had a soft sweet smelling nose. Plenty of fruit on the nose and taste. Velvet mouthfeel. Lots of tannins but balanced with good fruit. Not particularly complex but a basic Cabernet to drink now. Scotti also makes a Chardonnay under this label for $35. My tasting buddies ordered some sight and taste unseen and did not care for it so I cannot recommend it.
2014 Castellucci Rutherford Cabernet $95
Light color for a Cabernet. But did have good fruit on the nose. On the taste nice smooth tannins and a chocolate taste. A fair finish
2019 Patria Allen Price Cabernet $125 favorites
The vineyard is right next to Spottswoode. It had a good deep purple color. Lots of coffee on the nose with a velvet mouthfeel along with some licorice. Lots of good fruit, an OK finish.
2017 Greer Estate Cabernet $185
Allegedly called the “Napa Mouton”. The vineyard is in the same neighborhood as Scarecrow, Insignia, and Staglin. On the nose, I detected grass and pencil shavings or graphite. Had a good fruit taste and some mild oak detected? Plenty of acids would be food-friendly. Only a fair finish
Sequoia Grove with Oscar Escareno
Oscar has worked a lot of the vineyards over the years and now is a director at Sequoia Grove. We first met him years ago when he was with Beau Vignes. He is a great guy and can open a lot of doors for you in Napa. He put us onto Eric Tracy of Vine View Tours & Transportation vineviewtours.com, eric@vineviewtours.com 707-337-3056 who got us into some spectacular properties. Oscar won’t be able to help you for the next few months in that as we speak he is undergoing pituitary surgery in his brain. He is expecting a full recovery but will need some time.
2019 Los Carneros Chardonnay $45
Lots of apple/pear on the nose and taste. Some oak on the nose so a little over-oaked which did come through on the taste. Not a favorite
2018 Napa Merlot Winemaker Series $50
A nice chocolate and licorice nose and taste. One the taste dark chocolate was more predominate. Lots of tannins and young but balanced and good balance with the alcohol and acid.
2016 Reserve Cabernet $75
From the Rutherford ranch area. Also part of their winemaker series. Again lots of chocolate and in this case alcohol on the nose and taste. It had a fairly nice taste but nothing unique
2016 Stagecoach Cabernet $110
Allegedly 95 points by someone. Has a high alcohol concentration of 14.6%. I found it totally disjointed and cannot recommend it.
2016 Rutherford Tonella Vineyard Cabernet $115 favorite purchased 3 bottles
On the other hand, this one was a smooth classic Rutherford Cabernet with classic Rutherford “dust” on the taste. A nice chocolate taste and good acid and food-friendly. I was favorably impressed with the wine enough to buy some.
2017 Morisole Vineyard Rutherford $110 not released yet favorite purchased 3 bottles
This wine is to be released in the near future but we were able to highjack a few bottles. The vineyard is adjacent to the Scarecrow vineyard at a much lower price point. Has a complex nose and taste. Opens with a grassy smell that blows off. It was loaded with chocolate, cigar, smoke all pleasantly balanced. I really like it.
Dakota Shy
A small production operation and the last vineyard visit we did. Overall good wines but fairly high priced. They have a limited but loyal mailing list of customers who love the style.
2019 Napa Cabernet $95
Their least expensive wine from a few select hillside vineyards. Had an average Cab nose and along with the taste was a little tight and young. A fair amount of smoke was present. Had a somewhat complex profile in that I tasted sweet cherry which is unusual to me in a Cab.
2019 Oakville Ranch $195
This is pure Cab Franc which many like from the Oakville Ranch vineyard in the east hills of Oakville. To me, it was very alcoholic and the nose and taste had a heavy, complex tannin concentration butt to a degree you expect that with Cab Franc. It is clearly not my style but the wine was well made and would be a hit with Cab Franc fans.
2019 Social Currency Cabernet $250
Their marquee wine. Has a nice spicy floral nose and taste and clearly a velvet mount feel. Lots of sweet tannin and chocolate. Some if not all of the grapes come off Mount Veeder at an elevation of around 1800 feet and I do love Mount Veeder grapes. So overall a very good wine but a little expensive.
Others Misc
2017 Rivers Marie Bearwallow Vineyard Chardonnay winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown
Thomas River Brown is an up-and-coming winemaker, particularly in St. Helena. We met his Aunt and had a brief conversation with her. Some of the wine shops in St. Helena were raving about him and pushing his wines. This Chardonnay from the Anderson Valley had a lot of fruit and oak on the nose as well as taste. It was not overoaked however and was fairly well balanced. It was a little bitter on the finish.
2019 Sonoma Coast Hirsch Vineyard Chardonnay favorite purchased 6 bts $70
I have always thought Konnsgaurd was hard to find. Then I heard about this wine. I spent over 3 weeks looking for it and on the very last afternoon of my trip when visiting K&L Wine Merchants on Harrison Avenue in San Francisco I found 6 hidden bottles and bought all of them. I found out later they still had some so Robert Fallis bought some and I recommend you call them and see what they can give you. Frankly one of the best wines we drank on the trip. The nose and taste start with a complex flavor profile of pear, apple, and vanilla. The wine is fruit-forward but not in excess. On the taste, there is a hint of tart apple. The wine has a nice velvet mouthfeel. Food friendly with lots of acid but well balanced. Oak is light and not predominant. The finish is a nice long fruit finish. I have now drunk the wine 3 times and it continues to delight me and my description has not changed. It is as good as Konnsgaurd, Neiman, and White Burgundy Chardonnays in our opinion but our tasting buddies bought some on my recommendation and didn’t like it as much and want to sell me what they purchased. Their opinion was that it was a little “wimpy” but sometimes wimpy is good.
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