Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 89

grapes to produce a delicate pinot noir, fragrant with scents of cherry blossoms, its
darker tones of spring mushrooms, moss
and conifer forests washing over the tart redberry flavors. That red-fruit complexity keeps
evolving for days, the wine cool, sleek and
healthy, the kind of clean and elegant pinot
noir that would be lovely to drink right now,
and will continue to deliver for many years to
come. (W&S 4/19; 435 cases) -J.G.

BEST RH ONE-ST YLE BLEND

ping out at 1,600 feet in altitude on a ridge
that continues to rise above them, protection
from the brunt of the winds that come off
the Pacific, six miles away. An extreme site,
it consistently produces one of the most
energized takes on syrah in California. This
vintage carries that charge, like a bee-sting
buzz, in its sweet black-cherry flavors and
cracked-black-pepper scents. Jason Drew
makes this wine without added yeasts and
with 50 percent whole clusters, cofermenting the fruit with a little viognier. It's densely
concentrated, but the freshness cuts through
the wine's power and tarry intensity, lasting
with red-fruit brightness. (W&S 10/19) -J.G.

B E S T Z I N FA N D E L S
516416

515124

94 | Tablas Creek

$60

2016 Adelaida District Esprit de Tablas ^
Robert Haas, founder of the wine-importing
firm Vineyard Brands, established Tablas
Creek in partnership with the Perrin family of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1989. They
planted a vineyard in western Paso Robles
with cuttings from Château de Beaucastel,
the Perrin's Châteauneuf property. Those
vines, farmed organically by Robert's son,
Jason, and winegrower Neil Collins, have
produced some of California's most elegant
and evocative Rhône-variety wines, like this
blend of mourvedre (46 percent), syrah,
grenache and counoise. It has a rooty spice,
like turmeric and ginger, and a gentle clarity to its pomegranate-bright fruit. Patrick J.
Comiskey, an editor at W&S and the author
of American Rhône, described the flavors as
substantial but lifted: "It's airy, in a positive
sense." (W&S 2/19; 3,225 cases) -J.G.

BEST SYRAH

517322

95 | Drew

$55

2017 Mendocino Ridge Valenti Ranch
Syrah ^ The vines at Valenti face east, top-

96 | Storybook Mountain

$70

95 | Ravenswood

$40

2015 Napa Valley Estate Reserve Zinfandel ^
Jerry Seps is the zin master of Napa Valley.
And he's pretty Zen about it, accepting his
fate as the grower of one of the world-famous
region's most terroir-expressive wines, selling
it for one-tenth the price of some big, juicy
cabernets his neighbors grow down valley. I
have to stop myself when I grumble that Château Latour is no longer $150 on a wine list,
or Roumier Chambolle-Musigny $60; I can
still buy Storybook Reserve. And if you've
recently tasted one of Seps's Reserves from
the 1980s, you'll understand the solace that
brings. Great wines like Storybook Reserve
are not only supple and delicious, they surround themselves in the scents of the place
where they grow, and they preserve those
scents with freshness. In this wine, it's the
manzanita forest on this hill above the vineyard, the roses at the ends of the vine rows
and the cool red glow of the ripening grapes.
Elegant, frank and clear as a bell, this is a
great vintage of Storybook Reserve. (W&S
6/19) -J.G.
516328
2016 Dry Creek Valley Teldeschi Vineyard
Zinfandel ^ Back in 1982, Frank Teldeschi was
growing grapes for Gallo when Joel Peterson convinced him to sell him a few tons of
grapes on the side. Peterson has been making a Teldeschi Zinfandel ever since, but the
family didn't allow him to label it as a single vineyard until 1997. Today, Frank's son
John farms the vines, the oldest dating back
to 1913, the plants mostly zin, along with
some petite sirah and carignan. And Gary
Sitton makes the wine, his Teldeschi being
the loveliest of Ravenswood's 2016 zins. It
has generosity and savor, two opposing characteristics that create energy in the wine so
that, when you taste it, you can breathe in

https://www.grahams-port.com https://www.tablascreek.com/wines/2016_esprit_de_tablas_ http://www.drewwines.com

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

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