I have always had a soft spot for Zinfandel. To my mind it’s the great American wine, greatly limited as it might be to California. The myriad old vine vineyards, interspersed with complimentary varieties, continues to produce profound, unique, terroir driven wines that really have no equal in this country.

I generally opt for Zins that are more effusively fruity than this example, a compliment to the more structured, acid driven wines that tend to be my daily tipple, but as I alluded to, I love the expression of terroir that Zinfandel is capable of. Here one senses the rugged character of the vineyards, located at altitude on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas mountain range as much as the varietal imprint of Zinfadel.  Storybook Mountain Vineyards is located at the northern most reaches of Napa Valley, up past Calistoga in the far northwestern corner of the valley just before one enters Sonoma County’s Knight’s Valley district.

it’s a rugged area, not particularly well known for Zinfandel, but the combination of red, volcanic soils, eastern exposures, relatively high rainfall, and the unique motives of proprietor Jerry Seps has produced a string of success that defy Zinfandel stereotypes. Lowish alcohol, 13.5% in this case, elegance, structure, and longevity mark this wine as a benchmark among Zinfandel. An outlier in many respects, but still a benchmark, and this specific bottle is one of the greatest bottles of Zinfandel I’ve ever had. There is no reason not to call it perfect, except perhaps for the fact that this wine was better a few years ago, and the fruit profile here is more Storybook Mountain than Zinfandel, but still it is no doubt destined to be one of my wines of the year and a wine I will always remember.

So well balanced, stunning stuff, long, deep, rich but not fleshy in any way. Subtle on the nose, gaining pink spiciness, red berries, tobacco, a hint of bramble, a suggestion of blackberry. Slight chew from the tannins, perfectly balanced and integrate acidity, a long, sinewy, layered wine., This has amazing freshness for a 32 year old Zinfandel. It's elegant in a strict, old world kind of way. Like some sort of authoritarian dressed in lace. The finish just goes on and on, gaining nuance with each passing moment.  The nose gains some old cedar chest, caramelized cigar box, the palate turns redder while the finish gains plummy and candied black cherry notes. One of the greatest Zins ever? Two hours later the nose is deeper and more complex, taking on some of the character of great old Bordeaux, with more prominent cedar and earthy notes layered over fruit that has taken on a more complex, wild berry - currant character with a simply stunning cigar wrapper tobacco note that is both complex and fresh. It remains fresh and energetic in the mouth, not tiring at all, in fact slowly becoming brighter with air succulent, retaining phenomenal length with great detail on the finish.
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The dregs of the bottle, simply left out on the counter of night, without even a cork to protect it, shows terrific mineral notes, iron rich steely, flinty, and yet still fresh without any significant oxidation. Wow, it’s still terrific, bright, juicy, full of red berry fruit, soil tones, slightly jammy red currant fruit, fine grained, firm tannins, a little shorter than yesterday but still so delicious. Rich, youthful, detailed, and retaining a blend go elegance and strictness.


98pts

I don't reach for Cabernet Sauvignon that often, and to be honest I find most examples from California are a combination of over-wrought and over-priced, which tends to serve as a distinct restriction on my purchases of said wines, but ever so often I just get a hankering for one.

Beringer has a reputation that has perhaps been sullied by their ample portfolio of affordable and accessible wines. You can't fault a winery for trying to produce mass market products. We live in a mass market world afterall. You could fault Beringer for producing only mass market wines, if that is what they did, but they still produce a portfolio of excellent and compelling wines, primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon both from single vineyards and under their Private Reserve label. 

Both the Private Reserve, and today"s Rancho del Oso are products of Howell Mountain, arguable one of Napa's premier appellations, and probably my favorite. The altitude and volcanic soil of the region tend to produce wines that are firmer than we might expect from Napa, with more tannic backbone and relatively less overt fruitiness. There's also a deep soil tone that I find lends complexity to the wines. 

Modest intensity on the nose, though there is an attractive blend of dark soil, black currant, blackberry, and red currant fruit along with some subtle and well integrated cigar box oak, a touch of green herbs and and underlying chocolate creaminess.

Sufficient acidity, not quite juicy but lively enough. Tannins remain a blend of fruit and wood tannins, significant and pleasant and offering some volume on the mid palate. Very pleasant with a touch of herbaceous on entry and lingering retronasally on the finish which shows a fine blend of cigar wrapper, toasted oak spice, currant, blackberry and blueberry fruit and  enough of a lingering soil signature to lend some depth and complexity to the finish.  Air livens things up a bit, this definitely needs about 30 minutes of air to stretch its legs and while it should prove to be equally delicious for several years there is nothing to be gained from keeping this any longer.  88pts
 

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1995 Cascina Ballarin Barolo

Looking my COVID finest!


Located at the base of the hill of La Morra, with vineyards in La Morra, Monforte, and Novello, Casino Ballerina continues to fly under the radar. I have my theories as to why that it is but I think the most likely reason is that the wines tend to embrace a very La Morra ethos. Not too powerful, full but fun, very ripe tannins, built on fruit and approachability. So much of what comes out of la Morra today continues to be marked by modernism, making the real thing harder to understand and appreciate. 

This Barolo Classico, coming from the under-appreciated but quite fine 1995 vintage, is showing very well today. It’s a classic example of Barolo and one that punches above its weight class. The availability of Cascina Ballarin’s wines has been pretty spotty over the years, but if you want to try their current wines you can now find them on VDLTWine.com, available through their Italy Direct program. Order from the producer and get delivery direct to your door! https://vdltwine.com/collections/cascina-ballarin

A bit spicy on the nose but decidedly leathery and tarry with a floral edge and the dried herbal quality I often get from cappello sommerso. Spicy from older oak but also with note of pollen flowers. Still moderately tannic and certainly bright with plenty of acidity keeping thing fresh. There’s a fine aged quality here based on tobacco, tar, and licorice, but there is also a vein of cherry fruit pooping up and receding as the wine breathes. Quite a classic Barolo presentation, totally in tune with the vintage and coming across as something between Marcarini's la Serra and Francesco Rinaldi Barolo. There's a certain delicacy to the finish, which shows good length. Totally at peak, with tannins that might outlive the fruit, which shows some dried cherry notes on the backend before revealing a grapefruit pith note on the finale. ​

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If you have Musar in the cellar and your inventory on cellartracker you know that Musar is one of the most popular wines on cellartracker. At least that seems to be the case with my inventory. Not a day goes by without someone adding a note on one vintage or another. I've often wondered about this phenomenon, and have come to dual conclusions. 

The first one is that Musar is a great value. It really is a fine, delicious, and unique wine that remains quite affordable. Secondly, it is an oddity and everyone like to try something new!

Back in the day Musar was one of my go to wines. You could find mature vintages sitting on shelves and in close out bins because pre-internet Musar did not have the broad name recognition it does today. I loved the funky, often defective wines. Real character and fun, and cheap! Today the wines are much more technically correct, but still a ton of fun and very age worthy so they are a fine contribution to a well rounded cellar.

Coming from Lebanon, there is little built in market for the wines of Chateau Musar, and yet they have expanded their portfolio over the years. The estate is quite large, located in the Lebanon's Bekaa valley at altitude, it is a testament to the Hochar family's commitment as well as the great terroir that can be found there. 

I'm glad I chose this bottle to open tonight as the cork was on the verge of failing, but as of yet there is no damage to the wine, which displays a lovely color, shimmering ruby with just the slightest copper colored rim. 

Leathery on the nose, with just a suggestion of brett, but so many nuanced notes, of gravel, grafite, roasted red fruits, and a lovely wood spice framing note, with some dried bay leaf and almost onion powder notes lending slightly exotic complexity all subtly lifted by a gentle dose of VA.The VA is actually more noticeable in the mouth. Simply at peak, juicy, tannins almost fully integrated, a hint of sweetness on the palate, tons of fruit, crystal clear cherries, an underlying gaminess, then something riper, a bit of melon even, with a touch of dried lime peel/ orange rind leading to a currant toned finish with good length. Actually quite mandarin orange toned on the finish. Just a lovely wine with some gravel and earth notes emerging on the backend. You can fault this wine but not for a lack of complexity, that it sure. Quite Burgundian in feel, thought he flavor profile is all Musar. 93pts 

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After a fabulous virtual tasting with Guillaume Guiton, son of Jean Guiton, I sat with these two wines for a few days to get a better sense of each.

Savigny les Beaune is an appellation in Burgundy's Cote de Beaune, so we're talking Pinot Noir here. Les Hauts Jarrons is a Premier Cru vineyard within Savigny. The whole of the appellation lies north of the town of Beaune, and flows south into the appellation of Beaune, followed by the more renowned Pommard and Volnay vineyards. The distance between the four is modest, several kilometers between them.

As is to be expected, the wine produced from Premier Cru vineyards delivers a more complex, richer wine than those coming from village vineyards. In the case of Guiton's wines this is due to a change in elevation, the Premier Cru vineyard lies higher on a slope, soil changes, and perhaps most importantly: availability of water for the vines. the village vineyards enjoy greater access to water, which allows for juicier grapes, producing less concentrated wines.

This might seem to be a disadvantage, but we should remember that every wine has its time, and sometimes a wine that is easy, fresh, and accessible is the preferred wine!  

This pair of 2016s, a very fine classic vintage marred only by heavy crop losses due to early spring frosts, performed superbly over the course of three days, never losing freshness and remaining incredibly youthful and bright. The village Savigny was all about fruit, red berries and currants, a hint of fresh green herbs,  with a fine mineral thread knit through it as I would expect from this wine. The acidity was bright and juicy, well balanced by the tannins, which were a bit more prominent than I had expected, but not at all intrusive. Already approachable, this is a Savigny to enjoy on the younger side while the fruit is so fresh and crisp. Of course the younger side is relative and for a wine of this quality I would consider the next 5-7 years to be the peak drinking window here. Not a complex wine but definitely intense, with such bright and vivid red fruits supported by that acidity, I couldn't help but think of a fine plank roasted piece of salmon as a wonderful accompaniment to this!

The Les Hauts Jarrons on the other hand was a more subtle wine, a bit softer, or at least with acidity that was better concealed by covering fruit density. The tannins here were more present, though riper lending additional weight to the palate. There is more detail here as well, deeper soil tones with fruit that hints at darker berry notes, blackberry and perhaps something akin to loganberry. There is some oak influence here as well. Both the village wine and the Premier Cru wines are aged in 228 liters barrels, small by Burgundy's standards, but only 15% new in the case of the village wine while this Premier Cru sees 20% new, enough to lend the wine a subtle spice note but not enough to become intrusive. Decidedly more elegant than the village wine this too exhibits the classic characteristics of Savigny, but it speaks of the finer terroir of the Premier Cru vineyards.   This is entirely drinkable today but for my palate I would continue to cellar this for another 3 years before popping my next cork and enjoy the wine over the subsequent decade.  

Both wines are available from my partners at VDLTwine.com along with additional selections from Guiton's portfolio. 

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The forgotten Burlotto Barolo.

Neirane is a vineyard in the village of verduno, in fact it's the first vineyard you pass when driving from la Morra to verduno and it is arguably the least verduno of all of Verduno's vineyards. 

Burlotto still produces grapes in Neirane, though it now makes up part of the Acclivi Barolo blend. Considering how good that wine is and how important it has become to Burlotto I would not be surprised if we don't see another Burlotto Neirane being bottled. 

it is a joy to be able to taste a pair of such special wines, as you might know Burlotto has held a special place in my love of Barolo for quite some time, revisiting these wines brought me back to my earlier days with Burlotto. Nostalgia is wonderful, and these wines were quite fine, but there is no doubt that the wines produced since are qualitatively better in ways large and small.

Still, these were fine wines and a great illustration of the differences between vintages, as the wines were made in fundamentally the same, long fermentations, foot tread whole clusters. large barrel wood ageing, etc. So what set these apart from one another was simply the vintage.

1995 and 1996 are fine back to back vintages, though with the benefit of hindsight 1996 is perhaps not as well thought of as it once was, while 1995 has gained a bit of ground on the better vintages. They were always a relatively tough pair of vintages with 1995 resembling 1988, while 1996 was more of a throwback vintage, austere and lean in the style more common in the 1970s. 

The 1995 was typical, tannins were a bit coarser, but the wine had good weight and richness, if remaining a bit on the simple side. Fruit was still in evidence, strawberry toned with hints of cinnamon and some baked clay soil tones lending a shade of complexity. It evolved a bit over the course of three days,with the fruit taking on darker tones and gaining a leathery note on the palate, but didn't really improve appreciably. The tannins remained chunky and while this was a solid wine it lacked finesse. 

The 1996 opened as a truffle bomb. If you like truffles this is a wine for you, smelling and tasting of the gem of the fungi family. Over the course of three days the truffle notes integrated well, allowing the ripe cherry fruit to emerge. Again, not a super complex wine, though more complex than the 1995, this did however exhibit a certain degree of finesse, was longer on the palate than that wine, and exhibited superb fine grained tannins which softened over time lending the wine a certain almost silkiness. 

With bottles still in the cellar I look forward to matching these wines up again. These are both ready in the sense that they are on their plateau of maturity, but the fact that they remained fresh and intact over the course of three days leads me to believe that they have a full decade of additional positive development ahead of them. 

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Produced in what we now call the Terra di pisa, close to Pisa, along the road from Volterra, which is a lovely town well worth a visit if you find yourself int he area.

100% Sangiovese with some barrique influence still obvious, though today this is aged in 25 hl botte and some second passage barrique. Vineyards are around 200meters, which while not that high is fairly high for the region, which is close to sea, benefiting from maritime influence. The soil also has some maritime influence, with a large percentage of clay and some calcareous soil offering a bit of freshness.

This is very 1999 and typical of the region with lots of fruit, but not huge complexity. The acidity here though is superb, probably too high for many but for me it’s downright mouthwatering and perfect with tomato sauce based dishes. We had with eggplant parmigiana and it was a super pairing.  

Started off a bit simple with some caramel and wood inflected aromas over rather earthy fruit.  With air the nose freshens somewhat, never fully losing the earthy core though gaining dried mushroom, new leather, red currant and pleasantly spicy red cherry fruit. 

After about 90 minutes this comes alive, gaining a certain degree of plushness on the rather well endowed fruity palate. The acidity here is terrific, this remains so fresh juicy and bright, and while it’s shows real succulent length, that is largely a function of the acidity. But there is terrific red cherry fruit lingering on the palate. The tannins have mostly gone, though there is a touch of wood tannin still here. The flavors follow the nose, earthy, spicy, lots of dried herbal under currents, and the plump fruit from clay soils and plenty of heat. Neither complex, nor simple, just a well aged, richly fruited, and pleasantly proportioned bottle of aged Sangiovese. There is a thread of salinity that is woven throughout the palate here, which really adds to the appeal this offers.

Top shoulder fill, which is acceptable for a wine of this age but for me is a signal that it’s time to open this bottle.

A look back at a classic Napa Valley Cabernet. 1982 was a cooler vintage, but still quite successful. Rains and cool temperatures delayed flowering, which allowed for a late harvest, benefitting from a moderately warm early autumn also subjecting vineyards to light rains before and during harvest.  It was considered a good but not great vintage in its day and while it has aged fairly well, it remains good but not great today.

Tudal’s vineyards were planted in 1973, on a gravelly and loamy flood plain that backs up to the Napa river, north of St. Helena where the Napa valley bends to the west and towards Calistoga. The slight bend int he valley and the rise up towards the Silverado trail to the east of Tudal helps to retain heat here.

Classic cabernet nose, full of roasted green peppers, currant fruit, tobacco, shoe polish, mint gravelly loamy soil, underbrush and a touch of black olive.

Tannin is almost fully resolved so this is a bit not he tart end of the spectrum but still has lots of currant and almost blueberry fruit up front, then cigar ash, cedar, and a slight roasted poblano flavor not he backend and though the fairly long finish. Obviously past its peak and a little lean and austere on the finish, but a lovely wine with fruity inner mouth perfumes on the lingering finish. Lacks a bit of flesh and a certain amplitude tot he flavors, but otherwise this is very well preserved, diminished, but fresh and enjoyable and very 1982 Napa valley Cabernet. With air this gains a whisper of sweetness, still on the lean side and supported by acidity, but with a kern of black currant fruit that has a lovely succulence to it with the acidity brightening it up on the finish lending it a more raspberry tone.

Wines like these are today’s greatest values. Yes, this is an old wine, but it still exhibited sufficient fruit for my palate with the textures and complexity that only comes with bottle age, and it’s probably available for much less than the current release. There are a whole slew of wines like these from the 1980s that are currently overlooked, and while at the end of their plateau of providing pleasure they are still delicious and a piece of history.