2011 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Silver Eagle Vineyard (Sonoma Coast)

 I've found Rivers-Marie pinot noir to be a bit over-the-top for my tastes and this bottle has done nothing to change that. This is a massive wine that is still early in the drinking window. I'd recommend holding for at least another five years. It's a very well made wine, exceptional fruit with quite an assault (in a good way) on the palate. Complex finish with sous bois notes. It's really not a food wine... more of just a wow statement on its own. 

Silver Eagle Vineyard is owned by the family of the late great Thomas Rivers Brown collaborator and farmer, Ulises Valdez..  

2005 Vincent Girardin Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Les Breterins

What a treat to try this wine. I've such limited experience with wines from Auxey-Duresses.  
The palate exhibits a finely chiseled framework of elegantly restrained red fruit with beautifully balanced acidity and a lacy savory long finish. Actually quite irresistible. 
Paired deliciously with blackened catfish with shrimp and andouiille sausage étouffée over piping hot locally made grits. 

1999 Turnbull Wine Cellars Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Absolutely delicious Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon.  Tannins have melted and the fruit has aged perfectly. Plush cassis inflected palate with lengthy hedonistic finish. Sourced from the following vineyards:

• Fortuna Vineyard (Oakville valley floor)

• Leopoldina Vineyard (hillside above Oakville)
• Home Vineyard (near the winery)

These sites span:

- Valley floor alluvial soils (richer, plush fruit)

- Volcanic hillside soils (structure, minerality, tannin)

2020 Zidarich Vitovska Carso

 

A very serviceable Vitovska that is quite young. This actually unfurled on second day and beyond under vacuum seal. 
A moderately skin contact style wine. Really worth trying. An "orange" wine for people who don't like orange wines.
Delicious minerality derived from limestone influenced terroir. 

"...No lover of Italian wine should ever pass up the opportunity to explore Benjamin Zidarich’s wild portfolio. These wines are Carso incarnate, as if Zidarich is culling them from the sheer limestone and red clay soils and placing them directly into bottle. His use of stone aging casks, carved from the limestone surrounding the winery, is expertly done and somehow completely transparent while adding buoyancy and textural heft. The family farms eight hectares of Vitovska, Malvasia Istriana, Merlot and Terrano vines, which are certified biodynamic. The fruit goes through spontaneous fermentations in the winery, often in stone limestone vats, with long macerations spanning two to three weeks. Most of the aging is completed in neutral, large Slavonian oak barrels. There’s no fining or filtering, and sulfur is kept to a minimum. The “Orange” or “Skin Contact” category, as producers these days prefer to call it, is littered with natty, unbalanced and cloying wines. However, in Carso, and especially from Benjamin Zidarich, consumers should have no worries. These are pure interpretations of place, with wild aromatics and seductive textures that only extended skin contact can bring. The whites are excellent but also make sure to check out the Ruje Rosso, a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Terrano that really turned my head...." -- Eric Guido, April 2024

1994 Marcel Deiss Pinot Noir Burlenberg

Pinot noir with small amounts of Beurot, Meunier, Pinot blanc and pinot gris. Deiss states the site's soils resembles that of Close de Beze. Beurot brings elegance to the mix.

In really good shape taste-wise.... superb color..... high toned cherry with nice acidity .... quite elegant fruit supported with gossamer framework of tannins... not much of a nose.... far end of the longevity curve but delicious... what a nice surprise... 

Paired nicely with smoked pork shoulder and grilled Brussels sprouts...
Thanks to Nelson Lemmond for introducing me to the wines of Deiss many years ago...yummy stuff ... I've got to pay more attention to Alsatian Pinot Noir. 

2007 Brovia Barolo Garblèt Sue’

This may be my first taste of Brovia's Garblèt Sue’. This particular bottle is a high toned fillie of a thoroughbred.  Lots of pucker power and acidity for a more voluptuous (?) vintage... Definitely early on the pouring curve IMO. Certainly a food wine. This should be very interesting in five and even ten years. 
Trying to find this vineyard for the uninitiated is fun ... it's a tiny parcel in the Altenasso subzone of the Fiasco cru in Castiglione Falletto. The vines, planted in 1970 and 1979, are located on south/southeast-facing slopes with sand and clay-limestone marl soils. 

Quinta de Baixo VV Vinhas Velhas Branco Bairrada 2020

 First time trying this white wine from Barraida appellation in Portugal on the coast north of Lisbon. I'd buy more. Blind, I'd guess a beautifully balanced Albariño. It's quite early in the drinking curve.  Although this does go through malo.... so it's pretty crisp at first but the ln mellows with air.....it seems quite early in the drinking curve.

A 50/50 blend of Bical and María Gomes grapes from an old plot Vinha da Alagoa, and it matured for 22 months in a 1,000-liter Mosel foudre. 

Paired scrumptiously with Bienville oysters, pan roasted scallops and grilled lobster tails.

2017 Clos Cibonne Rosé Château Cibonne Cuvée Hommage à Marius

May 1st follow-up notes.

An aha moment!

"The Cuvee Marius is aged under a veil of yeast in the manner of a Fino Sherry, and as such is supposed to be oxidative with a savory, nutty character that is not at all like a regular rosé (almost like an extreme version of the rosado from Lopez de Heredia)"

So I believe the wine was sound. It just presents very differently than a standard rose.

--------
April 30th notes

Wow! This was not anything like I expected. It seemed very oxidized to me .... like a sherry at first but then maybe more similar to a Jura wine... 
90% Tibouren, 10% Grenache

Does anyone have any recent experience with this wine? (The Marius Cuvee)

2018 Castellare Chianti Classico

 90% Sangioveto, 10% Canaiolo

Absolutely classic blend.
This is very structured dark red cherry. 
Too young based on pop and pour.
But a beautiful wine. 
Plenty left for day two assessment. 
Enjoyed solo. 
Seems robust enough to complement braised beef short ribs...

2018 Marcel Deiss Grasberg

Companion planting of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer in Alsace.

Always enjoyable. This bottle showed more broadly and less succinctly than other vintages I've had. 

Paired scrumptiously with crab and chorizo croquettes with pepperjam garnish.

2008 Léon Beyer Riesling Comtes d'Eguisheim

 

This was fun and showed quite well. More about nicely aged tropical oriented fruit.... light in acidity...paired nicely with a really tasty marinated tuna poke. 
First time trying this Alsatian producer. I sort of prefer the complexity of palate that Deiss provides with his field blend methodology. 

Even though the wine doesn't indicate Grand Cru on the label, the fruit was sourced from Pfersigberg and Eichberg Grand Cru sites..