Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020 - 95

34TH A NNUA L B U YING G U ID E

R H O N E - ST Y L E R E D B L E N D

carrying plenty of sugary depth, yet guided
by mild tannins and judicious oak. It's an elegant zin for fennel-rubbed pork loin. -P.J.C.
(W&S 6/20) §

N E W YORK
RIESLING

Z I N FA N D E L S
521310

$32

2018 Dry Creek Valley East Bench Zinfandel ^ Not far from Ridge's Lytton Springs, East
Bench was planted to vines in the 19th century, though those vines were abandoned in
the early 20th. Nearly 100 years on, the team
at Ridge started replanting the site, using
cuttings selected at four vineyards planted
before Prohibition. David Gates farms it as
he does Ridge's historic mixed plantings, the
vines head trained and spur pruned. John
Olney made this wine from vines planted in
2000 and 2001, creating a plump and delicious zinfandel emphasizing cozy fruit richness and ﬁrm tannins. It is exuberant, a pleasure to drink, while holding enough tension
to make it a cellar candidate. -J.G. (W&S
10/20) §

91 | Compton

$17

2018 Willamette Valley Pinot Gris ^ Just a
tiny amount of this well-priced gris is in the
market. Snatch it up. It's toasty and bright,
with a faint resemblance to a leesy Champagne. Its toasted lees and candied-apple
ﬂavors are driven by a soaring high note of
acidity that gives the wine a bracing, mouthwatering ﬁnish for seafood, like scampi.
-P.J.C. (W&S 8/20; 139 cases) §

91 | Sokol Blosser

520270

93 | Hosmer

$17

2018 Cayuga Lake Semi-Dry Riesling ^ This
is only slightly richer than its dry counterparts in this issue, with a sweetness that gets
revealed only brieﬂy, like a drop of honey in a
glass of lemonade. The additional sweetness,
however, unleashes a kind of plush, tropical
richness to play off its brisk green-herb notes,
creating a sweet-and-sour tension for lemon
pasta. -P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 650 cases) §

90 | Boundary Breaks

$20

2018 Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc ^ Scents
of olive and slate ground ﬂoral top notes of
lavender and thyme ﬂowers. The fruit is on
the light side, pretty and brambly, with notes
of dried plum and pine frond, and an earthy
intensity that would pair well with lamb.
-P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 450 cases) §

OREGO N

94 | Drouhin Oregon
Roserock

$20

2018 Lodi Cigar Old Vine Zinfandel ^ This
manages to convey structure and restraint
despite the lush character of Lodi fruit. It's
posh and succulent, its dark-berry ﬂavors

WHITE BLEND

520147

521170

520422

$13

2018 Columbia Valley Evolution Riesling ^
Remarkably complex and generous for the
price, this delicious white leads with exotic
scents of passion fruit and white peach. Its
ﬂavors are focused on bright, mouthwatering
apple, smooth and sunny, with a light weight
and lingering sweetness. -P.J.C. (W&S 6/20;
3,000 cases) §

CABERNET FRANC

CHARDONNAY

92 | Cosentino

520724

520400

$21

2018 Santa Barbara County Grenache +
Syrah ^ This complex red is slightly herbal,
with mushroom and licorice notes grounding
dark cherry ﬂavors. It's forward, mouthwatering and relatively light, with a black-pepper feel to the texture, and nimble tannins.
-P.J.C. (W&S 2/20; 692 cases) §

93 | Ridge

PINOT GRIS

RIESLING

518928

91 | Land of Saints

Wine & Spirits

$35

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay ^ Roserock lies on the southern reaches of the Eola-
Amity Hills near the outskirts of Salem,
Oregon's state capital. It's planted mostly to
pinot noir save for about 11 acres of chardonnay planted a little over a decade ago.
Those vines grew an opulent wine in 2018,
made ﬁrm and shapely by the coolness of the
site and of the Oregon summer. It leads with
scents of honey and peach, and has a hazelnut breadth. It's built like a Beaune wine
(no surprise there); for a chicken fricassee.
-P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 2,500 cases) §

521424

91 | Ovum

$18

2019 Oregon Big Salt ^ A cofermented blend
of riesling, gewurztraminer and early muscat,
Big Salt is juicy and exuberant. The aromatics are in the key of gewurztraminer-rose
petal, peach, gardenia, litchi and apple-giving way to a wine that's juicy, salty, blowsy
and irresistible. Buy it by the case, to pour
with Korean dishes, like the bubbling hotpot
of gochujang goodness at LA's Beverly Soon
Tofu. -P.J.C. (W&S 10/20) §

OREGON ROSE
520760

92 | Apolloni

$19

2019 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Rosé ^
This well-priced pink walks the line between
red fruits and a more leesy, leathery wave of
umami. Initial scents of pastilles and strawberry leather give way to rounder, deeper

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2021

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Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020