Florida Jim
Florida Jim
Impressions 7/17
White:
2002 Knoll, Gruner Veltliner Loibenberg Smaragd - seamless, viscous yet still light on its feet. Better with food.
2007 Gravner, Ribolla - wild, turbid, alien-infused, vinous stuff with enough Ribolla character to let one know the variety but everything else is completely outside the box. I love it!
2016 Cowan Cellars, Ribolla Gialla - I don't write much about my wines but it was a delight to have this next to the Gravner. This is not skin-fermented and was inoculated pied du cuvé. It too delivered the signature of the variety but in a more approachable and polished manner. Quite expressive.
2013 Site, Rousanne - Stolpman fruit that is rich, oily and powerful but with ample acidity. Needs air and, once open, delivers a complete experience.
2015 Louis Michel, Chablis Montee de Tonnerre - a crystalline mountain stream of joyous white fruit and slate. Juicy, nuanced, balanced and precise. Takes one's breath.
2015 Idlewild, Cortese - I know, and have been repeatedly told, that this will develop so much if given the time. I just can't keep my hands off of it. All sorts of citrus peel and citrus oil at play in the glass and beautifully balanced. Best with food.
2015 Sandlands, Chenin Blanc Amador County - stones and more stones until it opens; then good Chenin fruit and great focus. Will benefit with aging.
2006 Vatan, Sancerre Clos la N'eore - oxidized; the first such experience for me with this producer
2012 Leo Steen, Chenin Blanc "The Steen" - beginning to close down. I won't open another for a year (he said hopefully)
Pink:
2016 Bastille de la Ciselette, Rose - clear, clean and dry; not a lot going on but enough
Red:
2015 Dashe, Carignane "Les Enfants Terribles" - the wine that brought me back to carignane. 13.2 abv, and character driven. It is hard to imagine this grape producing a better wine than this.
1995 Littorai, Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard - some bottle bouquet and secondary development both on the nose and palate, silken, weightless and feminine. Yum!
2001 Ogier, Cote Rotie - textbook CR and a joy to drink. Double yum!
2009 Quintarelli, Valpolicella - worsted wool texture, strong but not outsized fruit and accented with all sorts of earth and herb nuance. Damn good.
2013 Gallet, Cote Rotie - another really nice CR and perhaps a bit more floral than the Ogier.
2012 Calluna, Malbec - a producer in Chalk Hill with an old world hand on Bordeaux varieties. Nicely done.
2007 Edmunds St. John, Gamay Noir Prophyry - the old Barsotti Ranch in El Dorado County had some porphyry soil and this bottling was exclusively from that soil. It is completely unlike the Bone Jolly wines of ESJ these days. This is serious, a mile deep and reminds me of good Bonnes Mares. There is a slightly rustic but evident structure; two bottles worth of suave, dark fruit; rich volume in the mouth; and, a long, detailed finish. Think Clos de Roilette on the very best day of its life, times three.
These Thumbnail Moonlight folks are good.
Oh my!
Best, jim
White:
2002 Knoll, Gruner Veltliner Loibenberg Smaragd - seamless, viscous yet still light on its feet. Better with food.
2007 Gravner, Ribolla - wild, turbid, alien-infused, vinous stuff with enough Ribolla character to let one know the variety but everything else is completely outside the box. I love it!
2016 Cowan Cellars, Ribolla Gialla - I don't write much about my wines but it was a delight to have this next to the Gravner. This is not skin-fermented and was inoculated pied du cuvé. It too delivered the signature of the variety but in a more approachable and polished manner. Quite expressive.
2013 Site, Rousanne - Stolpman fruit that is rich, oily and powerful but with ample acidity. Needs air and, once open, delivers a complete experience.
2015 Louis Michel, Chablis Montee de Tonnerre - a crystalline mountain stream of joyous white fruit and slate. Juicy, nuanced, balanced and precise. Takes one's breath.
2015 Idlewild, Cortese - I know, and have been repeatedly told, that this will develop so much if given the time. I just can't keep my hands off of it. All sorts of citrus peel and citrus oil at play in the glass and beautifully balanced. Best with food.
2015 Sandlands, Chenin Blanc Amador County - stones and more stones until it opens; then good Chenin fruit and great focus. Will benefit with aging.
2006 Vatan, Sancerre Clos la N'eore - oxidized; the first such experience for me with this producer
2012 Leo Steen, Chenin Blanc "The Steen" - beginning to close down. I won't open another for a year (he said hopefully)
Pink:
2016 Bastille de la Ciselette, Rose - clear, clean and dry; not a lot going on but enough
Red:
2015 Dashe, Carignane "Les Enfants Terribles" - the wine that brought me back to carignane. 13.2 abv, and character driven. It is hard to imagine this grape producing a better wine than this.
1995 Littorai, Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard - some bottle bouquet and secondary development both on the nose and palate, silken, weightless and feminine. Yum!
2001 Ogier, Cote Rotie - textbook CR and a joy to drink. Double yum!
2009 Quintarelli, Valpolicella - worsted wool texture, strong but not outsized fruit and accented with all sorts of earth and herb nuance. Damn good.
2013 Gallet, Cote Rotie - another really nice CR and perhaps a bit more floral than the Ogier.
2012 Calluna, Malbec - a producer in Chalk Hill with an old world hand on Bordeaux varieties. Nicely done.
2007 Edmunds St. John, Gamay Noir Prophyry - the old Barsotti Ranch in El Dorado County had some porphyry soil and this bottling was exclusively from that soil. It is completely unlike the Bone Jolly wines of ESJ these days. This is serious, a mile deep and reminds me of good Bonnes Mares. There is a slightly rustic but evident structure; two bottles worth of suave, dark fruit; rich volume in the mouth; and, a long, detailed finish. Think Clos de Roilette on the very best day of its life, times three.
These Thumbnail Moonlight folks are good.
Oh my!
Best, jim