Community Tasting Notes 3

• whitmanlholt wrote: 88 points

  November 13, 2021 - Popped and poured. This is a medium gold wine. On the nose, I primarily get honey and pineapple, although there is a very slight bit of cabbage stink lurking in the background (it’s not remotely as bad as the last bottle of 2016 that I had). In the mouth, this displays sweet, yellow fruits topped off by a frankly creamy finish. Overall, I’m not in love with this wine. I’ve had a lot of these Shibumi Chards dating back to 2008 with every vintage since, but I’ve enjoyed the wine increasingly less over time. The earlier vintages were not as big, oaky, and blowsy as from 2013 onward. The descent into a more generic and boring “Cali Chard” has tracked an upward increase in the price, which now makes this wine a doubly undesirable buy. Perhaps it’s due to a general shift in my taste in wine, perhaps it’s due to a change in the style of these wines coupled with an increase in price, but I really can’t justify buying any more of these in lieu of what’s available for similar prices (with better quality) in Chablis, the Mâconnais, and even white 1er Burgs. It’s been a fun journey, but I think this is the end of the road for Shibumi Knoll and me. I’m a little bummed this final bottle wasn’t better, but such is life. 88 points.

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• whitmanlholt wrote:

  September 11, 2021 - Popped and poured. This is a medium gold wine. On the initial pours, the nose is horribly reductive, with very off-putting cabbage scents. This eases up a bit with time and air, which allows some beeswax, popcorn, and gingerbread scents to sneak through. In the mouth, the wine is fine from the start, showing a classic smooth, buttery character. The finish tracks the mouth, with a lingering sweet pear note. Overall, I’m classifying this as a misfire due to the extreme reduction displayed by this bottle (I guess that suggests it should be decanted for a while? I’ve actually never seen anything like this from this producer or any other CA Chard). Even without the reductive overhang, this wine feels materially overpriced at $90 per bottle (there’s much nicer Chard available for less in Chablis, the Mâconnais, and even the Côte-d'Or). No score due to the reduction issues, which I hope don’t also mar my remaining bottle.

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• EpochMD Likes this wine: 91 points

  June 18, 2020 - Excellent combination of oak, MLF, and acid, lemon and crisp apple, but soft at the same time. More on the traditional end of chard - just looked at the price and it's definitely not competitive at the $95 mark - we are getting into some pretty stunning wines here (MAXEM comes to mind), but TRB does a great job, points deducted for QPR.

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 2016
• Type White
• Producer Shibumi Knoll
• Varietal Chardonnay
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Buena Tierra Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Sonoma County
• Appellation Russian River Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 55 (42%)
• Consumed 77 (58%)

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