Vinography Unboxed: Week of 12/31/23

Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have crossed my doorstep recently.

This week included a couple of the latest sparkling releases from the veteran Oregon bubbly producer Argyle Winery. Both their Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs from Spirit Hill Vineyard are precise and bright, but I prefer the Blanc de Noirs.

To most wine drinkers, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc needs no introduction. It’s one of the more recognizable and popular brands from New Zealand, and quite reliable in its expression of what has become the quintessential (or stereotypical) expression of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. The 2023 vintage isn’t quite as snappy as I’d like, but fans of the wine will find it delivers all its expected tangy green brightness.

I stopped by Broc Cellars recently to pick up a wine that will be part of my next tasting column for Jancis Robinson, and Chris Brockway sent me home with a few more bottles of recent releases to try out. He recently took the big plunge and bought a vineyard, joining a small cadre of boutique Bay Area producers that have evolved from tiny custom crush operations to full-fledged, so-called “estate” wineries. Of course, Broc is still operating out of his urban winery in Berkeley, California with no plans to build a winery out in the middle of his vineyard, especially because the vineyard is in Mendocino County. But it now provides some excellent fruit for him to make his quirky, bright, and refreshing natural wines. I tasted three this week: his re-imagined White Zinfandel, a red table wine made for pizza, and his Nero d’Avola which is certainly one of the best California renditions of that variety I’ve enjoyed.

Next, I’ve got a couple of nice Oregon Pinot Noirs. The first is from Lavinea, a small producer that’s been making wines in the Willamette Valley since 2014, founded by Greg Ralston and with winemaking by the rather aptly named Isabelle Meunier. They do a series of wines focused on the individual AVAs within the Willamette Valley, and their Eola-Amity Hills bottling is pretty, if a bit heavy on the oak signature at this point in its evolution.

Sokol Blosser is a well-known pioneering producer in the Willamette Valley, now run by a second generation of founder Susan Sokol Blosser’s children. They make a wide range of very good wines, but I enjoy their single vineyard bottlings the most. This week’s bottle is an excellent example of why. It hails from the Kalita Estate vineyard in the middle of the Yamhill-Carlton district. It’s LIVE-certified sustainable, and in transition to organic viticulture.

As regular readers know, I tend to enjoy the wines from Troon Vineyard in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley. They’re embarking on a new line of wines made in amphorae and concrete, and this week I’m reviewing their amphora-aged Mourvèdre, which has an appropriately earthy character that fans of savory wines will enjoy.

Argentinean producer Trapiche Winery, one of the largest producers in Argentina, has made a massive marketing push here in the United States, with their own dedicated website for US customers trumpeting their virtues. They make a lot of wine, most of it decent, such as their Tesoro Cabernet Sauvignon, which will satisfy a lot of wine lovers for less than 20 bucks, though it has a little too much oak influence for my taste.

Last but certainly not least, I’m happy to recommend to you the latest Syrah release from the tiny boutique producer Minus Tide, who has managed to get ahold of fruit from one of the best Syrah vineyards in California. The Valenti Vineyard is high on Greenwood Ridge, roughly 6 miles from the Pacific at the western edge of Anderson Valley in Mendocino. Planted in 1998 it has made some of my favorite California Syrahs for many…


Source : https://www.vinography.com/2024/01/vinography-unboxed-week-of-12-31-23

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