Christmas Day 2025

 

2020 I Custodi Vigne delle'Etna Etna Bianco Superiore Imbris 
100% Carricante. Upon opening is seems to be a pleasant low acidity Carricante (why is that when grown on volcanic soils... it must be the varietal character) but then after an hour or two of air, the beautifully graceful lemon curd fruit just slays with purity and complexity... long delicious finish... 

2015 Domaine des Pierres Seches Saint-Joseph Saint-Épine
...way too young .... a bit too much oak showing out of the bottle... but after several hours of air, it settled into a tasty groove ...

2017 Istine Chianti Classico Riserva Levigne
... young, yes, but very very well balanced... lovely fruit and balanced acidity.... after hours of air, just delightful... a long future airhead...

.... paired with rib roast,  root veggies, squash casserole,  mashed taters & gravy....and an array of classic vinyl...

2004 Martinelli Pinot Noir Blue Slide Ridge Vineyard and 2015 Cristom Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard

.....part of the tasting context is listening to original vinyl with it...

Paired with sausage stuffed shrooms and other delicious fare too numerous to chronicle.. 😊🎶🍷

Both wines showed very well... this bottle of 2004 Martinelli BSR is one of those that just goes into a beautiful glide path for hours with additional air... and rivets attention... 

....the bottle of 2015 Cristom Marjorie has beautiful brightly framed fruit that will age effortlessly over the next decade... 

2002 Martinelli Pinot Noir Blue Slide Ridge Vineyard

 

certainly no reason to hold any longer... this bottle is a bit brutish.. lacks savory-ness on the finish... 

2014 Cristom Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard

This bottle is drinking silly good....

... the autumnal cherry tertiary flavors are shaping up to be delightful...

...paired with mushroom risotto followed by homemade ricotta cheesecake and cappuccino...

2003 Martinelli Pinot Noir "Martinelli Vineyard" Reserve

These are sort of historic wines made by Helen Turley back in the day... their longevity (while staying relatively balanced) is impressive. 
A huge wine probably 80% to 85% of the way through it's solid drinking life... 👍🍷
If you know, then you know, what these "Martiinelli Vineyard" Reserve wines are about...

2014 Cristom Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard

Showing perfectly... still has a lot of gas in the tank... beautiful fruit, acidity and sous bois...lovely finish... no heat marring the finish like the 2013 Cristom Louise..
Paired perfectly with turkey and dressing 🍷👍

2013 Cristom Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard

 

https://cristomvineyards.com/vineyards/louise-vineyard/

Tasty wine from a less than heralded vintage. Give it LOTS of air. Fruit is really nice upfront with a lengthy finish that slides into a bit of inexplicable heat for only 13.5% abv. I'm pretty sure I've encountered that heat on the finish of other Cristom pinot noirs... 
Paired nicely with grilled rack of lamb and duck confit sweet potato hash with shallots. 

Barossa, Sonoma, Cote de Beaune, Rioja

 

2004 Branson Coach House Shiraz Single Vineyard Greenock Block
...This an insanely good bottle... WOTN for me... paired very tastily after dinner with Saint Angel cheese and 3 year aged gouda...

2001 Martinelli Pinot Noir Martinelli Vineyard Reserve
... beautifully elegant... mellowed so deliciously through the night ... more finessed than the 2001 Martinelli BSR that we had recently... probably the best bottle of this cuvee with a lot of age on it I've had... silly good paired with chargrilled whole Branzino

1998 Domaine Follin-Arbelet Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Clos du Chapitre
...Aloxe-Corton is a sentimental favorite for me ... showed really well...

2004 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904
... lovely stuff... 

2013 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières
.... delicious with grilled oysters.. 

Cool variety of dinner wines

 Excellent notes from Tanzer back in the day...

2001 Eilo Altare Barolo Vigneto Arborino....
"...Critics of new-wave Barolos that are fermented quickly in rotofermenters [usually, stainless steel cylindrical vats in which pigeage is done by means of a propeller that rotates inside the vat; in some cases, the entire tank itself slowly revolves] owe it to themselves to taste and follow Altare's rb wines, which provide significant early appeal and have proven to offer at least medium-term aging potential. Altare clearly would prefer to do as little extraction as possible to avoid getting wines whose tannins stand in the way of their early accessibility. As he describes it:"Why carry out longer fermentations, get tougher tannins, and then have to fine the wines to get them back into balance?Is it better to make a wine that will be better after 20 years than one that will be better for its first 20 years?"Altare noted that it's the wine media, through its consistent praise for his wines, that has enabled him to do short fermentations, and he maintains that his wines have aged just fine. He typically does just three days or so of maceration for his Arborina and five or six for Brunate, which he says requires more extraction. The wines are racked for the second time after they finish their malolactic fermentations in stainless steel in March, and then go into barriques, 20% of which are new, for 18 to 20 months of what he describes as "a Burgundian elevage. "During this period, the wines normally are not racked. Instead, Altare uses micro-oxidation if the wines become reduced; on the whole, he prefers "a natural reduction" so that he doesn't have to use SO2. His wines then spend their final several months back in cuve before being bottled. Altare describes the 2000s as elegant wines that are more ready to drink than the '99s. The 2001s, he adds, are sturdier wines that are midway between the fleshier 2000s and more serious, tannic 1999s. (Marc de Grazia; numerous importers, including Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; and Estate Wines Ltd. , San Rafael, CA) -- Stephen Tanzer, November 2004..."

2001 Martinelli Pinot Noir Blue Slide Ridge Vineyard

The genius of Helen Turley...

This is a monster wine! 🍷👍 

2015 Philippe Brand Retenez Son Nom Sous Voile Blanc

 

 

Second time I've enjoyed this wine in the past several months...

Yes, just yes. All Sylvaner aged under flor... almost an orange-ish tasting wine... once it opens up, it's just delightful. Paired with pan roasted scallops on a bed of rock shrimp risotto that is perfectly executed by Chef Johnny Cox and team.




Importer notes...

"...100% Sylvaner that spent 30 months fermenting, with subtle development of voile (flor), and an additional 30 months in bottle before release. The level of oxidation is certainly subtle, with more presence on the nose than on the palate, but it contributes a complexity to the wine, already interesting enough for being a long-aged Sylvaner. It doesn't seem like this wine was 100% intentional, but Philippe became enamored with the wine as it aged and is very happy to release it. This recent drop shows fantastic depth while still seeming as fresh as ever, with a mineral and acid backbone that should carry it long into the future..."

2019 Château Lapuyade Jurançon

 

Sweet Petit Manseng.... delightful wrap up to an evening ...👍

2017 Domaine Huet Le Mont Demi-Sec

 

Spot on! In a better place developmentally than the 2017 Clos du Bourg Sec we recently had...

Paired with spicy grilled shrimp and crab cakes...

2017 Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg Sec

 

(Definitely dry) To me this was really tight, then pretty good before it began to seem seemed oaky or a bit hot... even though it's supposed to be neutral oak and stainless steel for aging. I'm a fan of stainless steel for whites... just let the varietal(s) show through! Hopefully,  the 2017 Le Mont demi-sec will show better? 

Paired with chargrilled whole Branzino from young Chef Johnny Cox at Seaboy with flavors that put it into the realm of the best seafood cuisine competitively with Spain. They'll never take this off the menu... (they opened only in March 2025)... of course it all starts with sourcing the best raw materials...





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ChatGPT5 summary
The available information supports that the 2017 Clos du Bourg Sec saw partial use of barrels (used/neutral oak) and stainless steel, but there’s no verified public disclosure of any portion of new oak. If pressed, one could infer that new oak is unlikely (given the “used barrels” description and the estate’s style), but it’s not confirmed.

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2015 Boxler Gewurz and cappuccino post dinner. The Gewurz is not crisp and better suited as a dessert wine.

1998 Château Quinault L’Enclos

https://www.chateau-cheval-blanc.com/en/chateau-quinault-lenclos/

65% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Cabernet Franc,

Helluva vintage. 

Bierzo!

2020 Raúl Pérez Ultreia Saint Jacques (Bierzo)
Originates mainly from clay soils and contains 80% whole-bunch fruit that is predominantly Mencia, augmented with a field blend of Alicante Bouschet, Palomino and Trousseau, inter alia.
It’s difficult to overstate Raúl Pérez's influence on Galicia’s wines and their growing reputation. I’d go so far as to say that no single winemaker, anywhere in the world, has made as significant an impact in such a relatively short period of time. As the years have gone by, I’ve noticed a slightly more edgy character to Pérez’s wines, and I get a sense that they have become, if anything, less polished and less safe – and that’s meant in the very best way. There’s an increasing confidence to them that’s palpable. Pérez has always been a big proponent of open-top wood fermenters and the use of whole clusters, with slow macerations, but he doesn’t stick to a strict recipe, letting the vintage dictate his approaches.
- Josh Raynolds, June 2021

Raul Pérez is an icon and this is the best red I've had from either Bierzo or Ribeira Sacra.. it's the field blend component that makes it.

Like the Marcel Deiss of Spain (?)

1996 Henry Estate Pinot Noir Umpqua Valley Barrel Select

Honestly, I didn’t even know that there is a Umpqua Valley in Oregon. It's in the southwestern part of the state, just north of Rogue Valley AVA.

Sometimes, great things can come from unheralded wineries. This bottle showed incredibly well and ended up being WOTN, paired with steamed mussels and whole chargrilled branzino.

Lean when first opened.... there was solid fruit hiding in the background so decanted it to aerate. After a couple of hours, this thing really developed into a surprisingly classic Oregon pinot noir showing tasty fruit and balanced acidity. Reminded me of opening a really old Nebbiolo and tasting it come to life over several hours.

Fun experience! 🍷👍