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 past week included some really excellent wines from a few top producers.
Let’s start with some whites from Ernest Vineyards, a winery I wrote a bit about last week, and have been following for years. Here are a few more of their white wines all of which are excellent, but in particular their Joyce Vineyard Chardonnays have a wonderful pithiness and that hint of salinity that marks truly gulpable white wine.
MacRostie Winery has been devoted to cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for decades, and this week they sent along a very interesting pair of wines—Pinot Noirs from the same vineyard (in the Petaluma Gap AVA) but separate clonal bottlings, one with the Calera clone and the other with the Swan clone. They are both excellent, though I think I ever-so-slightly preferred the flavor profile of the Calera clone.
Next I’ve got four blockbuster Pinot Noirs from Racines Wines, the collaboration between Étienne de Montille and Brian Sieve of Burgundy and Rodolphe Péters of Champagne. These nervy, ethereal, graceful Pinots from the Santa Rita Hills appellation of Santa Barbara are all outstanding, but the Rinconada Vineyard bottling in particular won my heart. These wines aren’t cheap, but if you’re in the market for top-tier California Pinot, you can’t go wrong with these.
Lastly I’ve got two more wines to share with you from the venerable Australian producer Yalumba, in the Barossa Valley. Their Tricentenary – Ancestor Vine Grenache is made from vines planted in 1889 and offers the wonderful combination of fruity and savory notes that old vine Grenache can sometimes have. The Caley on the other hand is a flagship (read: pricey) blend of Cabernet Sauvignon from the winery’s Coonawarra vineyards, and Shiraz from the winery’s Barossa vineyards. Kind of like blending fruit from Napa and Sonoma, this wine has a nice mix of ripeness and freshness.
That’s all for this week. Notes on all the wines follow below.
Tasting Notes
2021 Ernest Vineyards “Joyce Vineyard” Chardonnay, West Sonoma Coast, California
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon pith, wet chalkboard, and a hint of resin. Wonderfully chalky and bright flavors of lemon peel and lemon pith mix with green apple skin and a hint of salinity. Clean and bright. Spends 18 months in around 38% new oak. 11.5% alcohol. 200 cases made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $85. click to buy.
2022 Ernest Vineyards “Joyce Vineyard” Chardonnay, West Sonoma Coast, California
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of flinty lemon pith and lemon oil. Bright saline flavors of lemon pith and lemon peel mix with wet chalkboard and a hint of green apple skin. Chalky, lean, and bright with excellent acidity. Spends 18 months in around 38% new oak. 12.6% alcohol. 110 cases made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $85. click to buy.
2021 Ernest Vineyards “Alder Springs Vineyard” Chardonnay, Mendocino County, California
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon curd and lemon oil. Lemon curd and a hint of orange oil mix with struck match, pastry cream, and a nice herbal kick in the finish. Lightly chalky texture, very good acidity. 13% alcohol. 200 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $65.
2022 Ernest Vineyards “Alder Springs Vineyard” Petite Arvine, Mendocino County, California
Palest greenish gold in color, this wine smells of chopped green herbs, finger lime, and lemon cucumber. Salty finger lime and greengage plum mix with cilantro and other green herbs. Bright acidity and nice chalky underbelly. A fun and intriguing wine. 13.2% alcohol. 130 cases made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $42. click to buy.
2022…
Source : https://www.vinography.com/2025/01/vinography-unboxed-week-of-12-29-24
