Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 84

US NEW RELEASES

Our blind panels tasted 373 new-release US wines for this issue. Our critics rated 45 as
exceptional (90+) and 24 as Best Buys. Joshua Greene covers Napa Valley, Luke
Sykora covers the rest of California. Patrick Comiskey covers New York, Oregon and
Washington State.
Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

CA LI FO RN I A W HIT E

sun-warmed peach and apple aromas, yet
it's smoky, almost meaty, at the core. In the
end it pulls away from the more caramelized aspects of its fruit and oak, toward a
salty sweetness, with the lifted perfume of a
chanterelle mushroom; in fact, it would work
well with a mushroom risotto. (1,727 cases)
449340

CHARDONNAY

88 | Lafond

449311

93 | Frog's Leap

$32

2015 Napa Valley Chardonnay ^ On several
recent visits to Frog's Leap, John Williams
has detoured me from queries about cabernet and zinfandel to taste his chardonnay.
He and his team have been developing a
new strategy: pick at the underside of ripeness; whole-cluster press; settle for two days,
then rack into new oak barrels; allow the fermentation to begin on its own and reach its
peak (four or five days); then, with half the
sugar remaining in the grapes, rack the wine
to lined cement tanks to finish whatever it's
going to do, undisturbed for another nine
months. Up until now, I've been more curious about his quixotic focus on chardonnay
from Napa Valley, of all places, than about
the wine itself. This vintage comes from
Truchard and a nearby vineyard on Stanly
Road, picking up on the best aspects of
Carneros fruit-desert citrus cooled by the
fog. It's tart with baked lemon and grapefruit
flavors, zesty in the middle and then richer in
the end. The finish tastes like salted caramels,
but it's completely savory...and brisk. Williams's goal is to make a great chardonnay
that's expressive of its origins in Napa Valley
and his 2015 may give you a new perspective
on that possibility.
449338

91 | Santa Barbara Winery

$25

2014 Sta. Rita Hills Reserve Chardonnay
(Best Buy) ^ Barrel fermented and aged on
its lees for nine months, this is lush, golden
chardonnay with plenty of generosity to its
84

WINE & SPIRITS

$23

2015 Sta. Rita Hills SRH Chardonnay
(Best Buy) ^ This leads with ripe, peachy
fruit and leesy richness before revealing its
mouthwatering cool-climate acidity, the
finish suggesting salt and lime as much as
orchard fruit. (2,390 cases)

JUNE 2017

CHENIN BLANC
448053

88 | Ironstone

$12

2015 California Chenin Blanc (Best Buy) ^
Grown on the Sacramento River Delta in
Lodi's Sloughhouse subregion, this is light
and floral, off-dry yet snappy, with bright
green pea and melon flavors that would be
great with sushi.
448950

86 | Dry Creek Vineyard

$15

2016 Clarksburg Dry Chenin Blanc (Best
Buy) ^ This smells breezy and floral. It's more
weighty in its texture, with a broad, sweetspicy apple chutney flavor that will match
pork schnitzel.

WHITE BLENDS

448271

92 | Noble Tree

$18

2015 Chalk Hill Noble Blend Blanc (Best
Buy) ^ The Thomas George Estates team purchased their Chalk Hill vineyard in 2012, and
now use it as a source for their value-oriented

Noble Tree label. This brings together the
first viognier and grenache blanc crops off
that flat, visually unremarkable vineyard east
of the Russian River. While not expensive,
the wine's pretty serious: The river-bench
soils and Chalk Hill's gentle coastal influence grew a remarkably clean, glassy and
crisp white with aromas of beeswax, fennel
and orange blossom. "Sapidity," said our San
Francisco Tasting Coordinator, Jenn Pries. "It
hits everywhere." Immediately appealing, it
seems to fill the mouth with fragrance, but
doesn't feel heavy, just seamless, bringing
you back for another sip. (361 cases)
449114

90 | Donkey & Goat

$42

2015 El Dorado Eliza Barsotti Vineyard ^
Jared and Tracey Brandt harvested the fruit
from this site on September 10-clairette,
picpoul, vermentino, roussanne, marsanne
and grenache blanc; they left some lots on
the skins for five days, fermenting the wine
without added yeasts in used oak barrels. The
result is a savory, salty Foothills white with
scents of turmeric and fennel seed, the richness of the fruit and brightness of the acidity creating a frame for that exotic grape-skin
spice. Decant this to round out its pithy tannins and you'll have a powerful yet perky
wine for carnitas tacos. (123 cases)

C ALIFORNIA RED
BORDEAUX-VARIETY BLENDS
446848

94 | Ridge

$185

2013 Santa Cruz Mountains Monte Bello ^
Monte Bello's aging regimen-16 months in
new American oak-is apparent in the 2013's
pungent aroma of dill. At first, the fruit feels
muted by the oak, but there's a fineness to
the tannins that gives the impression of a
very serious cabernet terroir (in this case,
a cool mountain ridge rising to 2,600 feet,
where a wealth of mature vines dating to the
1970s and 1980s are rooted in limestonerich substrata). With air, the fruit picks up
vigor, that dill character merging with flavors
of maitake mushroom and pine. Like most
vintages of Monte Bello, its mountain-grown
fruit is more about umami than red or purple
berry flavors. And if some vintages of Monte
Bello can feel almost racy, this one is supple
and gentle, yet not at all heavy-an aristocratic cabernet that is standoffish right now,
girded by new wood. This will reward the
patient; keep it for ten years or more before
uncorking it at a holiday celebration with
roast beef. (5,000 cases)
448247

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2017