Figured another look a little more than a year after our last bottle was a good idea. This one was a beast! Massive, and to a degree unrelenting, it stayed brash and brawny for a full 24 hours, as we had it over the course of two meals. Lemon fruit on steroids, with feisty acidity, it took control until we hit it with a bag of potato chips, and it settled down to partner with the salty snack. Wish I had more to see what happens, but it does give me confidence in the subsequent vintages in the cellar.
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Time to check in on the 2011 Ultramarine wines, and an afternoon with gougeres and playoff football seemed like a fine opportunity. The first impression was of an intense lemony flavor. The wine was very fresh and vibrant, showing more complexity and depth as it warmed from refrigerator temperature, and got some much needed air. Laura’s comment was “this is wonderful”, and who am I to disagree with her. It certainly seems like this bottling has plenty of runway.
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Classic Martinelli’s apple juice at first whifff on the nose - isn’t as dominating as time goes on but wow what a visceral throwback to being a kid drinking apple juice out of a glass apple bottle. While the nose a strong apple dominance (with just a soft caramel touch) the palate is full of cheek smacking juicy acidity and citrus. This was over dinner so detailed notes are lacking but it was very enjoyable showing the appropriate balance between apple-citrus-cream-white flower freshness.
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As good as the other vintages are, for me, the 2011 will always be the benchmark. Mouth watering acidity, tons of citrus, and now starting to develop just a little carmel nuttiness to it. Truly outstanding.
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Rich and deep this time around, without the sharpness of the last bottle. Golden, baked secondary notes. Ostensibly, this is maturing, and doing so nicely.
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Lovely nose of slightly oxidized farmhouse butter, e.g. that has sat on the counter for a few days. The palate is very dry with fairly stiff, greenish acidity. Initially this is quite youthful, a counterpoint to Michael's recent advice to drink these up. However with air this shows a more strongly developed personality, at least in a Heintz sense. Additionally, rather than a deeply-imbued fine perlage (like one would find in a Champagne of this age) this has a sort of gentle foaming around the edge of the glass. There's no question that this has plenty of time in the tank, but I'm left with the question of whether this will continue to develop into a great Blanc de Blancs, or a lovely mature Heintz chardonnay with a few residual bubbles.
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Relative to most sparkling wines, this has a deeply rich and concentrated flavor and doesn't necessarily read as a Blanc de Blanc, but it is completely delicious nonetheless. The fruit has a riper, baked, quality to it along with a pervasive ginger and light baking spice taste. Drinks closer in style to zero dosage "grower styled" wines from Aube than more traditional Champagne, which I enjoy, but it is generally a point of personal preference.
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Sadly my last bottle but this was great tonight lots of lemons, baked apples, pears, slight brioche and boat loads of saline notes on the nose the palate is fresh, with lots of depth, persistence and elegance
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Penfolds Grange Vertical (Sixteen, Chicago IL): Nose: The nose is fresh, pure, and balanced with lemon peels, almonds, peaches, white fruits, apples, biscuits, and white florals. There is excellent depth to this, but it seems a bit coiled up at the moment.
Taste: Medium bodied with high acidity. The acidity is on the piercing side and shows off a lot of youth. The feel is rounded and fresh with lemon peels, peaches, almonds, white florals, and apples.
Overall: This is a beautiful, young Blanc de Blancs. I just love what Michael Cruse does and this may be the way forward for domestic sparkling wine. It is pristine and aromatic that speaks to California and Chardonnay without trying to be anything else. I would love to try this in another 3-5 years to see how it rounds into form as it comes off quite young right now.
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Really good. I think you could slip this in amongst a lineup of very good grower Champagne from Aube and it would not be out of place in the slightest. A little bit more golden in color, which is probably due to barrel fermentation. On the palate, this is similarly rich and has the feel of a being a riper wine, with low to no dosage. Very nice autolytic notes. This is so well made that I can't help but compare it to Champagne and, in that sense, it doesn't have a classic Blanc de Blancs profile; showing riper fruit and without the chalky soil of the Cote de Blancs. This really nails the best of both worlds of a classic style with California fruit. The mousse was a little uneven and while more on the fine side, was the closest thing to a flaw in this wine. Very good wine and a relative value. This is head and shoulders the best of the new wave of California sparkling wine I've tried. The size of the allocations is frustrating, but understandable.
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It took a while to open fully and was corked and re-opened the following day with improvement.
Blood orange, granny smith apple, saline, and a yeasty richness and a slight touch of smoke. Excellent length, fine bead and lively acid. I'd still recommend to hold.
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Didn't enjoy this bottle as much as the previous ones. Some biscuit / yeast on the nose, but was very acidic. Good, not great, at least with this bottle.
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Really enjoyed this with some sushi, nose is loaded with lemons, lemon zest, green apples, elegant mouse but lots of energy and persistence with a nice lemon drop hint on the lingering finish
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Lemon/grapefruit flavor with some yeasty notes lurking in the background. Fine bead, medium, clean finish. Acid is high- but balanced. Very enjoyable, should age nicely.
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For the first hour it was ultra sour. I'm talking mouth puckering lemon drop sour with excessive enamel ripping acidity. My friend who was with me barely drank any as it was "overbearing sour lemon juice" in his words. Over the next hour it started to shed a bit of the sourness and it rounded out a touch, but that mouth puckering sourness was exchanged with sourness + a chalky crushed vitamin texture and saline that wasn't anymore appealing.
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I'll just echo the comments already flowing in. A great wine. Would love to set aside a bottle for a while to see what develops but imagine it will be tough to do. And the packaging??? Bottle, cage, label... might be even better than the wine! Love it.
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Brilliant really, tart green apple citrus lemon medium plus acid toasty bread in the background and some real depth. IMO this should get even better with some time in the bottle.
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Served with crab cakes and gougeres, and the wine was a fabulous match. After the initial shot of lemon that was like eating zest the wine deepened with every sip. The lemon never went away, but was joined by a richer, nearly tropical set of fruit flavors, and a warm hay/straw element that headed for toastiness but stayed fresher than that. Excellent depth and fine balance here. This one seems like the potential anger of the 2 2011 Ultramarine wines, but I sorely doubt I will be able to keep my hands off it. Laura loved it as well, so much that she kept taking sips from my glass after she finished hers.
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Just awesome really expressive nose of lemon, tart apple, some saline hints and toast, palate has fine but lively mousse, with medium plus acidity and length. Drank at cellar temp from a Bordeaux glass
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2016 La Festa Del Barolo. A pleasant surprise here for me as I drink very little California wine. The wine had a wonderful texture, but lacked the complexity of the Bouchard and Egly in my opinion.
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The complexity and fullness of this wine is really amazing for a CA sparkler that is so young. Full compliment of fruit with a touch of toast. Balanced palate that comes across as slightly less vibrant than the rose, but it retains a wonderful balance and long, satisfying finish.
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Tremendous intensity and persistence. Bright granny smith apple, saline, and a yeasty richness. Brisk but balanced with almost chablis like intensity. Good bead that will only improve if a bit of age. If this unfurls a bit more it'll be a knockout. Less gregarious right now compared to the Rose, but the juice underlaying has great structure and can stand on it's own. I'd hold.
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Disgorged earlier in the day and quite raw. The acidity on this wine was crazy. Reminded us of the Atomic War Heads (sour) candies from the '90s...wasn't all that different than sucking on a lemon. Behind the intense acidity was this beautiful umami note with some oxidation. To me, this is one of the Ultramarine trademarks - exoticism off the charts! Delicious.
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10/6/2023 - dpc123 Likes this wine: 93 Points
I expected age from 2011 but this was still pretty lemon/acid driven, which I really liked. Super fresh still and this wine will age for a long time
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5/29/2022 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Figured another look a little more than a year after our last bottle was a good idea. This one was a beast! Massive, and to a degree unrelenting, it stayed brash and brawny for a full 24 hours, as we had it over the course of two meals. Lemon fruit on steroids, with feisty acidity, it took control until we hit it with a bag of potato chips, and it settled down to partner with the salty snack. Wish I had more to see what happens, but it does give me confidence in the subsequent vintages in the cellar.
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1/9/2021 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Time to check in on the 2011 Ultramarine wines, and an afternoon with gougeres and playoff football seemed like a fine opportunity. The first impression was of an intense lemony flavor. The wine was very fresh and vibrant, showing more complexity and depth as it warmed from refrigerator temperature, and got some much needed air. Laura’s comment was “this is wonderful”, and who am I to disagree with her. It certainly seems like this bottling has plenty of runway.
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10/17/2019 - jvphoto Likes this wine: 92 Points
Classic Martinelli’s apple juice at first whifff on the nose - isn’t as dominating as time goes on but wow what a visceral throwback to being a kid drinking apple juice out of a glass apple bottle. While the nose a strong apple dominance (with just a soft caramel touch) the palate is full of cheek smacking juicy acidity and citrus. This was over dinner so detailed notes are lacking but it was very enjoyable showing the appropriate balance between apple-citrus-cream-white flower freshness.
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6/23/2019 - domco wrote:
As good as the other vintages are, for me, the 2011 will always be the benchmark. Mouth watering acidity, tons of citrus, and now starting to develop just a little carmel nuttiness to it. Truly outstanding.
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2/3/2019 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Good Wine with a Boring Super Bowl (Chez Kailin - Northbrook IL): Social walk-around tasting, brief note. Lean citrus aromas with similar flavors that are restrained but powerful. Long, energetic finish that I really enjoyed.
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12/31/2018 - rhit Likes this wine:
Rich and deep this time around, without the sharpness of the last bottle. Golden, baked secondary notes. Ostensibly, this is maturing, and doing so nicely.
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12/21/2018 - 5laton wrote:
Lovely nose of slightly oxidized farmhouse butter, e.g. that has sat on the counter for a few days. The palate is very dry with fairly stiff, greenish acidity. Initially this is quite youthful, a counterpoint to Michael's recent advice to drink these up. However with air this shows a more strongly developed personality, at least in a Heintz sense. Additionally, rather than a deeply-imbued fine perlage (like one would find in a Champagne of this age) this has a sort of gentle foaming around the edge of the glass.
There's no question that this has plenty of time in the tank, but I'm left with the question of whether this will continue to develop into a great Blanc de Blancs, or a lovely mature Heintz chardonnay with a few residual bubbles.
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3/24/2018 - Seafoam Manor wrote: 93 Points
Relative to most sparkling wines, this has a deeply rich and concentrated flavor and doesn't necessarily read as a Blanc de Blanc, but it is completely delicious nonetheless. The fruit has a riper, baked, quality to it along with a pervasive ginger and light baking spice taste. Drinks closer in style to zero dosage "grower styled" wines from Aube than more traditional Champagne, which I enjoy, but it is generally a point of personal preference.
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12/2/2017 - TomTom wrote:
It appears I'm the outlier here, but I found this wine to be overly acidic to the point of almost being undrinkable. Honestly, I don't get it.
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9/17/2017 - eoinhharkins wrote: 92 Points
Sadly my last bottle but this was great tonight lots of lemons, baked apples, pears, slight brioche and boat loads of saline notes on the nose the palate is fresh, with lots of depth, persistence and elegance
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3/8/2017 - KeithAkers wrote: 91 Points
Penfolds Grange Vertical (Sixteen, Chicago IL): Nose: The nose is fresh, pure, and balanced with lemon peels, almonds, peaches, white fruits, apples, biscuits, and white florals. There is excellent depth to this, but it seems a bit coiled up at the moment.
Taste: Medium bodied with high acidity. The acidity is on the piercing side and shows off a lot of youth. The feel is rounded and fresh with lemon peels, peaches, almonds, white florals, and apples.
Overall: This is a beautiful, young Blanc de Blancs. I just love what Michael Cruse does and this may be the way forward for domestic sparkling wine. It is pristine and aromatic that speaks to California and Chardonnay without trying to be anything else. I would love to try this in another 3-5 years to see how it rounds into form as it comes off quite young right now.
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12/31/2016 - Seafoam Manor wrote: 93 Points
Really good. I think you could slip this in amongst a lineup of very good grower Champagne from Aube and it would not be out of place in the slightest. A little bit more golden in color, which is probably due to barrel fermentation. On the palate, this is similarly rich and has the feel of a being a riper wine, with low to no dosage. Very nice autolytic notes. This is so well made that I can't help but compare it to Champagne and, in that sense, it doesn't have a classic Blanc de Blancs profile; showing riper fruit and without the chalky soil of the Cote de Blancs. This really nails the best of both worlds of a classic style with California fruit. The mousse was a little uneven and while more on the fine side, was the closest thing to a flaw in this wine. Very good wine and a relative value. This is head and shoulders the best of the new wave of California sparkling wine I've tried. The size of the allocations is frustrating, but understandable.
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12/30/2016 - tcarter Likes this wine: 93 Points
Wonderful stuff.
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12/23/2016 - yossarian.livez wrote: 92 Points
It took a while to open fully and was corked and re-opened the following day with improvement.
Blood orange, granny smith apple, saline, and a yeasty richness and a slight touch of smoke. Excellent length, fine bead and lively acid. I'd still recommend to hold.
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10/10/2016 - JOsgood wrote:
Tasty bubbles from the warm California coast. Doesn't seem to have the knife edge cut that the 2010 vintage did. Still good and a fun drink.
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9/13/2016 - kherrick Likes this wine: 93 Points
Intense citrus, mineral and toasty lees. needs some time to unwind, but very well made wine! hopefully I can find another bottle.
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9/9/2016 - BigTex22 wrote: 91 Points
Didn't enjoy this bottle as much as the previous ones. Some biscuit / yeast on the nose, but was very acidic. Good, not great, at least with this bottle.
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7/15/2016 - eoinhharkins Likes this wine:
Really enjoyed this with some sushi, nose is loaded with lemons, lemon zest, green apples, elegant mouse but lots of energy and persistence with a nice lemon drop hint on the lingering finish
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6/4/2016 - Nanda wrote:
Good enough, but lacking depth of flavor and integration. A simpler showing.
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5/24/2016 - Burgundy Al wrote: 91 Points
Very impressive. Lemon, lemon peel with a bit of tart green apple. Lots of underlying energy and great length. A very good $50 sparkler.
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5/24/2016 - CMN wrote: 91 Points
Pale yellow with citrus and brioche notes.
Lemon/grapefruit flavor with some yeasty notes lurking in the background. Fine bead, medium, clean finish. Acid is high- but balanced. Very enjoyable, should age nicely.
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5/15/2016 - rhit Likes this wine:
Just like the 2010, way more open and complex after two plus hours open. And generally great.
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5/12/2016 - clayfu wrote:
For the first hour it was ultra sour. I'm talking mouth puckering lemon drop sour with excessive enamel ripping acidity. My friend who was with me barely drank any as it was "overbearing sour lemon juice" in his words. Over the next hour it started to shed a bit of the sourness and it rounded out a touch, but that mouth puckering sourness was exchanged with sourness + a chalky crushed vitamin texture and saline that wasn't anymore appealing.
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4/5/2016 - domco wrote:
I'll just echo the comments already flowing in. A great wine. Would love to set aside a bottle for a while to see what develops but imagine it will be tough to do. And the packaging??? Bottle, cage, label... might be even better than the wine! Love it.
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3/20/2016 - scott w Likes this wine: 92 Points
Brilliant really, tart green apple citrus lemon medium plus acid toasty bread in the background and some real depth. IMO this should get even better with some time in the bottle.
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3/19/2016 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Served with crab cakes and gougeres, and the wine was a fabulous match. After the initial shot of lemon that was like eating zest the wine deepened with every sip. The lemon never went away, but was joined by a richer, nearly tropical set of fruit flavors, and a warm hay/straw element that headed for toastiness but stayed fresher than that. Excellent depth and fine balance here. This one seems like the potential anger of the 2 2011 Ultramarine wines, but I sorely doubt I will be able to keep my hands off it. Laura loved it as well, so much that she kept taking sips from my glass after she finished hers.
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3/18/2016 - gblacave wrote: 93 Points
See previous note. Will put the rest to sleep for awhile.
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2/21/2016 - BigTex22 Likes this wine: 94 Points
A stunner just like last time. Everything I'm looking for in a bubbly.
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2/15/2016 - eoinhharkins Likes this wine:
Just awesome really expressive nose of lemon, tart apple, some saline hints and toast, palate has fine but lively mousse, with medium plus acidity and length. Drank at cellar temp from a Bordeaux glass
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2/5/2016 - cardsandwine wrote:
2016 La Festa Del Barolo. A pleasant surprise here for me as I drink very little California wine. The wine had a wonderful texture, but lacked the complexity of the Bouchard and Egly in my opinion.
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2/5/2016 - kenv Does not like this wine:
Gala Dinner at Antonio Galloni's La Festa del Barolo (Four Seasons Restaurant, NYC): Sweet and sour. Maybe it was an off bottle. Nothing like the reviews I've read or most of the notes here. NR
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1/30/2016 - gblacave wrote: 94 Points
The complexity and fullness of this wine is really amazing for a CA sparkler that is so young. Full compliment of fruit with a touch of toast. Balanced palate that comes across as slightly less vibrant than the rose, but it retains a wonderful balance and long, satisfying finish.
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1/25/2016 - dkstar1 wrote: 94 Points
awesome! Simply awesome.
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1/9/2016 - jma2106 Likes this wine: 92 Points
A bit tart up front but then dry and crisp. Drinks beautifully.
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1/1/2016 - yossarian.livez wrote:
Tremendous intensity and persistence. Bright granny smith apple, saline, and a yeasty richness. Brisk but balanced with almost chablis like intensity. Good bead that will only improve if a bit of age. If this unfurls a bit more it'll be a knockout. Less gregarious right now compared to the Rose, but the juice underlaying has great structure and can stand on it's own. I'd hold.
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1/1/2016 - BigTex22 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wow. First time with this wine - nose and taste was amazing. Biscuit, yeast, fruit, minerals, it's all there. Fantastic. EXCELLENT.
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12/27/2015 - JOsgood wrote:
Another killer vintage of this amazing California sparkling wine. Very intensive, mineral infused and delicious.
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3/12/2015 - tooch wrote: 93 Points
Disgorged earlier in the day and quite raw. The acidity on this wine was crazy. Reminded us of the Atomic War Heads (sour) candies from the '90s...wasn't all that different than sucking on a lemon. Behind the intense acidity was this beautiful umami note with some oxidation. To me, this is one of the Ultramarine trademarks - exoticism off the charts! Delicious.
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