Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 86

US NEW RELEASES
appealing, with the juicy spice of wild blueberries and a subtle sweetness from oak. It's
not a mineral-inflected cabernet to age, but
rather a charming one to enjoy over the next
few years with rare lamb chops. (3,700 cases)

side of the Sta. Rita Hills. This feels herbal
and a bit hard at first, as if its red plum and
beetroot flavors were coated in mineral salts.
It keeps its savory bent with air, but becomes
much more supple and appetizing, emerging
as a powerful, vinous pinot noir that evokes
an immediate umami response that might
bring to mind the kelp forests of the Pacific
Coast just a few miles to the west. Make the
most of its umami-laden depths by decanting
it for yakitori salmon. (100 cases)
449065

92 | Benziger

449254

90 | Mount Veeder

$44

90 | Turnbull

$50

2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^ A
clean, foursquare cabernet, this shows its
future development in the length and juiciness of its fruit tannins. For now, the wine is
sitting in its oak, sappy, smoky and dominating with its extract. Built to cellar.
449069
2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ^
Combining silken richness and restraint, this
wine is based on Turnbull's estate vineyards
on the east side of Oakville. It's layered in
darkness, with oak char, plump black fruit
and tannins that have the fatness of black
mushrooms. Cellar it to let the detail emerge.

CARIGNANE
447380

91 | Holly's Hill

$28

2015 El Dorado Estate Carignane ^ The Cooper family's estate in the volcanic hills of El
Dorado's Pleasant Valley grew a racy carignane in 2015, the fruit deep purple yet floral and lifted, the structure brash, crunchy
and granitic rather than sweet, lasting on
spicy aromas of green peppercorn and grape
leaves. It might show more savory complexity with age, but right now it's a zesty young
red that will be hard to resist with roast
chicken. (197 cases)

PINOT NOIR
$32

2014 Sta. Rita Hills The Drawing Board
Pinot Noir (Best Buy) ^ Justin Willett of Tyler
Winery makes the wines for the Wenzlau
family's estate label, the fruit coming from
an organically farmed site on the cool, windy
86

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2017

RED BLENDS
449115

92 | Donkey & Goat

$42

2015 El Dorado The Bear ^ Visceral and wild,
this counoise, cinsault and mourvedre-led
blend feels like a wine from some remote forest. It comes from two vineyards, Fenaughty
and Lightner, both planted above 2,500 feet
of elevation amid the apple orchards and
pine groves of El Dorado County. Its dried
herb and pine needle aromas are savory and
lasting, and while there's a volatile, balsamic
aspect to the wine's acidity, that seems to
serve the brightness of the fruit, which has
the frisky intensity of a blood orange. If you
like non-interventionist wines from the Loire
and Beaujolais, seek this out. (264 cases)

448120
448270

90 | Noble Tree

$18

88 | Mossback

$25

2015 Russian River Valley Estate Pinot
Noir (Best Buy) ^ While many Russian River
pinot noirs are dark purple, this is light
garnet, and its lightness of touch shows in
pleasant scents of rose and sandalwood. It's
supple, almost rosé-like in its lack of overt
tannins-bright, lush and ready to drink.
(229 cases)
448347
2014 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir (Best
Buy) ^ Warmed by alcohol and richly oaked,
this carries a lot of fruit-a bold cherry flavor
that hints at cola and sassafras. It's a chewy,
rustic, slightly bloody, almost Côtes-duRhône-like pinot noir that would be satisfying with lamb shanks. (2,500 cases)

RH ONE-STYLE BLENDS

448185

93 | Wenzlau

$75

2014 Sonoma Coast de Coelo Quintus
Pinot Noir ^ De Coelo, a windy, biodynamically farmed hillside vineyard just five miles
from the Pacific, tends to make edgy wines,
but the blocks chosen for Quintus achieved
a vibrant, comfortable ripeness in 2014. The
wine's lush, juicy red fruit is threaded with
scents of orange rind and violets. There's a
brisk drive to the acidity that should align
with the warm spice notes of the wine's oak
after two or three years in bottle. (625 cases)

of syrah with the floral strawberry notes of
grenache, feeling clean and fresh. It has the
coniferous scent of Howell Mountain woodlands, a rustic pleasure to pour with roast
duck. (400 cases)

448335

92 | Paraduxx

$55

2013 Napa Valley Candlestick Red Wine ^
Blended from two estate vineyards on Howell Mountain-Candlestick and Stout -this
juicy red combines the peppercorn spice

91 | Parducci

$30

91 | Storybook Mountain

$40

2013 Mendocino County True Grit Res-
erve Red (Best Buy) ^ To make this blend
of carignane, zin, grenache, syrah, petite
sirah and three Port varieties, winemaker
Bob Swain pulls together fruit from old and
mature vineyards spread throughout Mendocino County, the vines often over 50 years
old and either dry-farmed or minimally irrigated. That complex patchwork of vineyard
sources comes together in a delightfully
straightforward wine, plummy and sweet in
a sunny way and irresistibly juicy, with bright
floral glints and meaty undercurrents that
last. Great with a simple, unadorned burger.
449264
2013 Napa Valley Antaeus Estate ^ Jerry Seps
and his daughter, Colleen, blend this from
the zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot and merlot they grow at their hillside
vineyard facing Mount St. Helena. It's more
zinny than anything else-with scents of zinnias and wild blackberries. Its earthiness and
floral freshness turns toward simple flavors
of plump blueberries, lasting with straightforward richness.

https://www.mtveeder.com/2014-Mount-Veeder-Cabernet-Sauvignon-Napa-Valley?pageID=2CA695D8-9718-9533-0946-287AA50CB8C3&sortBy=DisplayOrder&maxRows=6& https://www.parducci.com/product/2013-True-Grit-RESERVE-Red?pageID=E2C9D4E0-C651-F1EC-3798-2446F136CAA9&sortBy=DisplayOrder&maxRows=10& http://www.nobletreewine.com/

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