5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: There’s a lot going on here. Late harvest, which would imply a suite wine but that’s not the case. It’s dry, beautiful fruit, perfectly balanced with the acid, and the classic petrol note. One of my favorites.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Oily nose, clean, and crisp. This is kind of a classic Riesling. Very enjoyable.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Hints of Brett make me wonder how well this would do sitting in the cellar. Lush and fruity, but not my thing.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Reminded me of the fruit cocktails that my mom would serve as a kid. It’s not particularly sweet or fruit for just lots of aromas from the orchard. Very entertaining

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Very dark color and modern in presentation. Dried leaves and moss on the nose. Ripe and more fruit.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Excellent old world style Pinot Noir. Earth tones, right from the get-go. Very well balanced. Dark berry raspberry but not sweet. This is my favorite Pino.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Very unique on multiple fronts. The color is a different kind of orange, like an orange wine. Has oaknote, very light, aroma. there’s a mocha hint at the end. Interesting geeky wine.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Brassy color, surprisingly for age. Aromas of honeysuckle and or jasmine flour. Medium waiting in good texture, nice complexity. Decent Pinot Blanc.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: The color is light and has a slight green hue to it. No shows a little dried gum. Flavors of pink, grapefruit and citrus. Medium plus acid crisp.

5/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Right down the middle for a CDR. Crunchy red fruit is a perfect analogy.

5/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Extraordinary aromas, oily spearmint, herbs garden, and thyme. Light and fruity. As others have noted, there is lychee fruit.

5/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Elbling? What's that? LOL a rare grape varietal primarily grown in mosel.

Very lightly colored and low alcohol. Nose and palate of yellow apple. Medium acidity and a very prevalent mineral foundation.

5/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Medium yellow hue. Touch of brioche in the glass. Delicate mouthfeel. Fruity yellow pear and yellow apple. Medium plus acid and frothy finish.

5/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Wow, this screams small grower champagne. It's lean, angular, and electric. Prevalent lime profile. Citrus pith and bright acidity. Still wound up. Impressive.

5/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Does Pinot Blanc get a bad rap? Maybe as a still wines but when done right, as a sparkler it can be quite good. This one is quite good. Shows white flower, I could not decide between Jasmine and honeysuckle flowers but you get the idea. A whiff of soil for added good measure.

This had a light mouth feel and was angular bucking the uninspiring PB reputation.

A number of the others felt this was the best Pinot Blanc, if not the only Pinot Blanc that they've ever liked

5/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

German Wines with Lisa Tupetz; 5/4/2024-5/7/2024: Medium plus golden color showing that it has some age. This bottle immediately reminded me of a big house sparkler.

The aromas on this one are very interesting. Yellow fruit, clay, cut grass and a meaty thing going on that we all wrestled with. It wasn't off-putting by any chance but just intriguing. Cris called it mushroom which is probably the best descriptor. Mostly lemon and pear flavors and has the feel of aged wine.

5/5/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Light rose color. This falls into the no-brainer category, can't settle on a sparkler to open then just grab this. Primarily red fruit but strawberry leads the parade.

4/29/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Time to drink up. Color is turning very dark golden yellow. Some like this style, think Marcassin, with butterscotch, vanilla, baked apples and pear. Very rich and heavy mouthfeel.

4/23/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Cool burnt orange color. Tartanic crystals floating around the bottle. Hint of petrol on the nose. Medium acidity, herbs, and tart cherry and unripened stone fruit. Dry. Very good. Reminds me more of a grenache blanc.

4/21/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

2015 base. Bronze colored, definitely aging quickly. Distinctive oxidation on the nose and palate. Nut and biscuit. Yellow fruit, apple and lemon. Very light frize. I have two left, time to drink up.

4/18/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

PnP

Steve pulled this out in his office after work while chatting with Carly about the legal profession and employment opportunities.

Purple hue in a black background. Black fruit aromas. Black currant and ripe blackberries. Mocha and very intriguing olive note. Very approachable, tannins are well represented but not obtrusive. Probably great with a steak but worthy of just sipping and enjoying on its own.

4/17/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Very light yellow color. Noses pink grapefruit and mango, very tropical.

Lots of grapefruit flavors, very strong, and the acidity is off the scale.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: definitely straw, then sticking with the Carlisle theme. wrong on the producer.

Classic syrah markers but not hint at the age. Black olive, iodine, herb, and violet. Please, I’d like to revisit.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: I was down Zinfandel path, but this one but the problem was the oak.

I think it had more to do with the 2011 vintage because I’m sure there was a lot of engineering that went on in the background to make this work. it’s very nice but it comes across as a light style and a little red fruit. There’s a spicy note and what is showing as oak but probably stem? That was a conundrum in trying to pin this one down

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: definitely believe Syrah was in here but guessed a GSM. Maybe Carlisle Two acres or Three Birds?

This really came across as a classic GSM. There’s a beautiful olive note. Black fruit and it’s very dark and hard to believe that it’s 14 years old. Prickly tannins tell me that this will last much longer.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: thought this was Petit Meunière.

The aromas from this glass scream classic champagne sparkler. Beautiful, tart, lime, green and red apple. It’s a bit foamy in the mouth, especially at the finish. I like this wine, and I have a great appreciation for what it represents, the all inclusive sparkler.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: Heck, I don’t know. Could be 100% Chardonnay, or a blend of some unusual stuff. I thought maybe Chardonnay and Petit Meunière

Remember that terrible chewing gum when you were a kid, fruit stripe? How the zebras a mascot. The nose definitely reminded me of that, and as soon as I mentioned it, the conversation at the table quickly devolved into bad gum when you were a kid. Blackjack, baseball card, etc.

The nose also showed some anise. Bubbles are very fine and a light lemon zest flavor. The finish was very long. I put a star next to the note.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: I was waffling around on this one, between a Riesling and a white Bordeaux. Ultimately landed on Roussanne after a few hints but that doesn’t count.

Well, there’s a lot going on here. The gold color hints that there might be some age. The nose had a little bit of cat piss so I was charging down the Sauvignon Blanc road. But there was a very present oily petroleum note which flipped everything upside down. This saw no new oak but there’s clearly something like that happening at the finish, plus dried moss. Excellent wine.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: guessed Chardonnay. Thought it was a Chablis.

Wine of the night for me. So intriguing, so engaging, so much so that I missed by a mile.

The color is extremely light, but looks like a New World Sauvignon Blanc but it’s slightly cloudy. The nose is where this wine stands up and says “pay attention.” Immediately the salty sea spray is omnipresent, I immediately thought, crushed clam shells until Todd fired out “tray of fresh oysters”. They all work, it’s amazing. Mid palate it’s fairly light which had me questioning Chablis but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. The fruit is lemon and very clean.

The fact that this is Pinot Noir from Champagne made it all the more awesome. One of the best wines to include in a blind tasting.

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): Blind: definitely thought this was a Chennin.

This wine has the color of an aged Chennin, brassy gold. The palate is yellow pear and dried herbs. Touch of residual sugar mid palate. The body is medium weight and it’s slick on the tongue. I wrote down “Demi-sec”

4/15/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Book Club (Foretti's): This was the same bottle as Frank Murray‘s. It was over the hill. Dark brassy color. The nose was funky pear. It did have a nice stone fruit and honey. Medium oxidation. But that was it dropped off after that without any structure.

4/14/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Toast, completely oxidized. Down the drain.

4/12/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Fantastic. Blind. Is it a Pinot Noir? Is it a syrah? It's got a little bit of everything from those two. This made for great conversation besides being a fantastic tasting wine.

4/8/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Sort of blind, I didn't recognize the bottle and therefore no idea of the producer. I really enjoyed this, thought it was predominantly PM, I guess 100% qualifies. Has a hit of oxidation and apple flavors with baking spices.

4/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Frank called this Rousanne blind. Impressive. It's waxy, oily, lemon, acid, crisp. Very nice.

4/7/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Last bottle. Starting to show it's age by fading color. Slightly brown hue around the edges. Nose is bright fruit. The fruit is fading on the palate, not sure this will last another 5 years without losing more. Nice sandalwood and rawhide flavors.

4/6/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Awesome. Green apple, crabapple, bready. Fine bubbles.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Cool climate Syrah, Pinot like in body. Blackberry, cherry and raspberry.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Fortunate enough to have a number of Machado Pinot Noir’s from Brewer over the years. This is classic Machado and Santa Rita Hills. Complex and entertaining dark cherry and raspberry. Juicy.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Smooth and fruit forward. Ripe dark cherry and sage brush.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Spicy raspberry and very clean finish. Quality. Baking spice at the finish with a splash of citrus.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Agree with the lemon custard profile. I like lemon custard. LOL Heavy weight, dense wine. Very enjoyable.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Rich and medium plus weight. There’s a clear salinity present. Stone fruit hint of sweetness.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): This one wasn’t available for tasting in the tasting room so Paul bought two bottles and open one at the table. This is very nice wine with a long finish. My notes are running into a headwind…

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): This is right up my alley. Red fruited, cranberry and rhubarb. Super wine.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Strawberry and cherries. Some Asian spice, maybe some clove. Definitely can identify the stem from the 30% whole cluster. Gives it a bite on the finish.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Mocha, powdered chocolate and blackberry. Tannins are fine and approachable with some air.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Light cherry flavors, bing and dark. The cinnamon and oak spice layers are a great foundation. I bought a bottle.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): Excellent. Very good balance with light stem inclusion influence. Soft mouthfeel and pure red fruit.

4/1/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

Solvang Bros and Hos (Solvang, CA): The last bottle was in a fluke. This is a spectacular Chardonnay. Clean and crisp with bracing acidity. One of my favorites.