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Napa Valley Wine Tasting Notes
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2008 Main Street 97% Napa, 3% Monterey, Pinot Noir $10 Score: 84.0 Dry, with forward scents of sandalwood and cherry. Lean and dry on the palate, with slight astringency and strawberry-cherry flavors. |
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2006 Main Street 80% Monterey, 8% Santa Barbara, 7% Napa, 5% Lake, Merlot $10 Score: 87.0 A lovely Merlot with aromatic black cherry fruit, faint notes of black pepper and vanilla, soft tannins, and classic structure. Dry, with some delicacy, this is a fine antidote to the port-like fruit bombs currently passed off as Merlot. |
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2006 August Briggs Dijon Clones, Napa Valley, Pinot Noir $40 Score: 86.0 The August Briggs story is worth writing about, and I'll make note here in future blogs. For now, though, let's take a look at August Briggs' Russian River Pinot. This style of Pinot is not to my personal taste, as I prefer a more delicate rendition. For my palate this is too ripe, too alcoholic, and lacks some finesse. Yet I have to admit that it's well-made for the style, and for those of you who like that (Parker) style, it's a lush, fruit-forward wine with black cherry overtones, full-body, velvety texture and a lot of power. |
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2006 Rutherford Ranch, Napa Valley Merlot $17 Score: 89.0 This is a wine that grows on you. While it's not powerful, it does have some complexity and elegance. In the nose you'll find cherry, milk chocolate, nutmeg and a hint of truffles. On the palate you'll find a well-structured wine with Merlot's typically soft chalky tannins, modest intensity and wonderful length, in which the nutmeg-truffle flavors comes to the fore. This is a wine to drink now. Best enjoyed with steak, tomato based pasta dishes, salads with vinaigrette, and Mexican fare. |
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2006 Rutherford Ranch, Napa Valley Zinfandel $17 Score: 97.0 It doesn't say "Old Vines" on the label, but this Zin has that character in spades. The quintessential bramble berry nose (a raspberry-blueberry-plum core, with lovely allspice and clove accents) follows through to the palate with soft tannin and excellent balance. You can't ask for much more, and it's a fabulous bargain to boot. |
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2007 Rutherford Ranch, Napa Valley Chardonnay $15 Score: 87.0 In our blind tasting of Chardonnay, some were heavy and unbalanced, some were over-oaked, some had obvious alcohol. So I was immediately impressed by the balance of this offering, which has decent acid, ripe pear-like fruit with a bit of butterscotch, and a crisp finish. It's not the most complex Chardonnay, but it does show excellent varietal definition with its fruit profile, and the fruit and oak are in balance. Best served chilled. Very good value. |
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2007 Rutherford Ranch, Napa Valley, Sauvignon Blanc $14.00 Score: 89.0 Here's a lovely kiwi-style Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley with an aromatic gooseberry-lemon character that shines through from the nose through the pleasing finish. Beneath the tart fruit you'll find minerality and a faint tropical-flower note. It's best served slightly chilled. Oysters, scallops, muscles and white fish would all be good matches for this wine. |
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2006 Rutherford Ranch, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: $18 Score: 88.0 I don't know why this wine reminds me of a lollypop, but it does. It has a candied blackberry flavor, with some light toasty notes and nutmeg that runs through the mid-palate and into the finish. The tannin is soft and it's made for current drinking (ageing won't gain you anything, so enjoy now). |
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2005 Ghost Pines Winemaker's Blend 60% Napa County, 40% Sonoma County Merlot $23 Score: 93.0 I've had a lot of wines of cult status and four times the price that are not as good as this outstanding debut. Ghost Pines is a second label of Louis M. Martini, reserved for wines of multiple AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), in this case Napa and Sonoma, which is actually nothing new for Louis Martini, a Napa winery that has owned vineyards in Sonoma and Lake County for decades. The fruit is explosive -- cherries, blackberries and plum with an integrated layer of spice (cinnamon, clove, vanilla, fennel), superb balance, contained tannin, and great vibrancy that resonates from the nose through to the long, satisfying finish. This is an absolute steal at $23. Lay in a case. |
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2005 Rutherford Ranch Napa Valley Merlot $38 Score: 93.0 You'll love this super elegant, perfectly balanced Merlot showing flavors of blueberry, cherry, black truffles and bittersweet chocolate, with a silky mouthfeel. A reasonable 13.5% alcohol. |
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2003 Martin Ray Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: $ Score: 91.0 This will remind you of a Rutherford cab -- cherry and cassis, a light mineral background, supple tannin, subtle oak tones. It's a beautiful expression of variety and place. |
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2006 Rutherford Ranch Napa Valley Chardonnay $15 Score: 92.0 For a couple of decades Chardonnay (particularly from California, Chile and Australia) has been maligned for an excess of oak and alcohol. Nevertheless, Chardonnay is one of the world's great white wines, and I'm always thrilled to come across one as well balanced as this rendition. Rutherford Ranch's 2006 Chardonnay has layers of tart fruit -- lemon, peach and nectarine -- as well as mineral notes and muted oak flavors of vanilla, butter and green olive. Everything is in excellent balance, the texture is silky and the pleasant finish lingers for minutes. This was a big favorite of our consumer tasting panel and I'm astonished by the value. |
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2001 Chateau Potelle VGS Mount Veeder Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $60 Score: 91.0 There is a sense of great finesse, of a certain intensity from the nose through the finish. The flavors are a balance of oak and fruit, with a core of blackberry, raspberry fruit, and back notes of vanilla and licorice. The tannin is evident but not obtrusive. Special now and likely to evolve and improve over the next decade. Just 793 cases produced. |
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2002 Trinchero Lewelling Vineyard St. Helena Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $50 Score: 93.0 The finish gives this wine its complexity and quality. Deep and rich flavors of ripe blackberry, cassis, toast and hints of dark chocolate, with soft tannin and silky texture. On first impression this is not a terribly complex wine, but it's superbly balanced and extraordinarily long, giving back all of the wonderful flavors over the next five minutes. |
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2005 Trinchero Mary's Vineyard Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc Reserve $16 Score: 85.0 Tart and bone dry, exhibiting austere citrus flavors with a slight grssyness, as well as an elusive flintyness (now it's here, now it's gone). A great wine for crab, shrimp or oysters. |
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