Tasting of '98, '01 and '02 WS Rochioli. These wines all big and ripe compared to a flight of Maume Mazi Chambertin and Oregon pinot. Stylistically quite different than the Oregon flight. Ripe, maybe some blueberry. Earthy. Probably my favorite of the three.
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Wonderful aromas of earth and blueberry with a mild burgundian funk. Palate was clear but not voluble Cali fruit getting a slight acs at the back end that to me was refreshing. Outstanding
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Drinking great. Moderately deep red / purple color. Nose of cola, wet forest floor, sweet red berries. Palate of plums, black cherry. Very nicely integrated. Smooth mouthfeel. Drinking nicely now, but could certainly last and develop for many more years.
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A beautiful deep dark fruit bouquet immediately jumped out of the glass which stayed consistent for over two hours. This wine has matured beautifully. Copious amounts of fruit were well balanced with fully integrated tannins & acidity. The long lingering finish was memorable.We detected no fizz or effervescence in our bottle.Looking forward future bottles of this wine.
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A. Initially showed a soft cherry cola, vague illusion of effervescence. After a short time, a magnificent balance of fruit, acid and age emerged. Consumed w/i 3 hrs.
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Thought about calling this a flawed bottle. Filled with fizz and unfinished fermentation; a flat cherry coke with nothing reminiscent of a typical Russian river block.
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Bright red color with slight bricking. Very subdued nose and palate. Effervescent feeling on palate. Seemed rather simple and short. Disappointing first night. Next day it definitely opened up. Nose of cherry, bright berry and some cola. Palate still had a bit of the effervescent mouthfeel, but also opened up to show berry, some creme brule, vanilla. A longer palate. Let remaining bottles sit a bit longer before trying again.
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Anther fabulous bottle. Again, wine of the night, vs some pretty good competition. Very spicy, nose just jumped out of the glass. Very long finish. soft, smooth mouthfeel.
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Drank at Marche in Menlo Park. Great balanced nose of semi-sweet red fruits, a little earth, a little black tea, and just a bit of brown sugar. In the mouth, fully integrated; smooth; sufficient backbone to hang with the lamb, pork, and fish dishes around the table; and all the flavor notes above mixed with just a bit of vanilla. A very nice bottle of wine.
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On the table with 4 other pinot's, two red birgs. This one was the wine of the night. beautifully integrated, great birght red fruits after all these years. Wonderful length, great mouth feel. These guys are still on top of their game.
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Something was very wrong with this bottle - bricky and cloudy. A modest nose of pomegranate, rose petal, a little sillage. Minimum tart fruit and spice on the palate. The finish is almost devoid of fruit. Blind I would have pegged this as 20 years old. No TCA. The color suggests oxidation but the cork was very sound. A bottling problem?
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Absolutely wonderful! Perfect balance, long, long finish. Amazing dark fruits and clove and cinamon are the primary flavors. A slight earthy flavor is present. The wine is full bodied and dark magenta red. Drinks perfectly now. I think it is peaked and would drink it in this great stage throughout the next year, but that's it.
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This was wonderfully complex. Less fruit forward than the average CA Pinot; more of the case the fruit was just well integrated. Dark fruits and licorice with a good amount of oak at the end. I feel like this would have held up well to a steak, yet it didn't overpower our roast chicken. For me, this is what Pinot is all about.
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Wonderful. Beautiful clear ruby color with viloets, blackberries, tea, licorice, and coffee on the nose. The flavors, which are similar are very complex and complete. Very addictive in its interesting complexities.
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Good light ruby color. Beautiful nose of sweet cherries, minerals and asian spices. Lighter-bodied and well-aged and showing a beautiful elegance and fine complexity on the spicy cherry finish. Not quite the '02 but a lovely glass of pinot noir nonetheless. Drink now!
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Tremendous, elegant and well structured. Tanins are well integrated and the fruit is still very much alive. No risk of fading, but I'm guessing this is nearing a peak...
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what a wonderful treat. i was not sure what to expect with this wine, but it was great. a wonderful example of Cali Pinot. The fruit was still very alaive but at the same time tame. no heat at all and wonderful structure. 93
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Another fabulous 2001 W&S. Concentrated cherry, raspberry and pomegranate fruit, with some pleasing forest floor funk. Superb structure and depth, with excellent length on the finish. Will go many years but starting to peak.
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On the nose this showed cherry, some funk, was somewhat Burgundian (confirmed by Don's Francophile wife, Tracy!), and had bits of mincemeat and some spice (cinnamon?). On the palate this wine was superb - flavors matched the nose. Super structure - great acidity to balance the fruit and spice. Drunk from magnum.
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8/12/2021 - rnellans wrote: 92 Points
Tasting of '98, '01 and '02 WS Rochioli. These wines all big and ripe compared to a flight of Maume Mazi Chambertin and Oregon pinot. Stylistically quite different than the Oregon flight. Ripe, maybe some blueberry. Earthy. Probably my favorite of the three.
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9/22/2014 - cns Likes this wine: 90 Points
Drink up ... the wine started bricking a little ... but overall still a very good wine.
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10/23/2012 - VoteferPedro wrote:
Wonderful aromas of earth and blueberry with a mild burgundian funk. Palate was clear but not voluble Cali fruit getting a slight acs at the back end that to me was refreshing. Outstanding
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8/11/2012 - lebo9968@gmail.com wrote: 93 Points
Drinking great. Moderately deep red / purple color. Nose of cola, wet forest floor, sweet red berries. Palate of plums, black cherry. Very nicely integrated. Smooth mouthfeel. Drinking nicely now, but could certainly last and develop for many more years.
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11/9/2011 - Schwarzer Hund wrote:
A beautiful deep dark fruit bouquet immediately jumped out of the glass which stayed consistent for over two hours. This wine has matured beautifully. Copious amounts of fruit were well balanced with fully integrated tannins & acidity. The long lingering finish was memorable.We detected no fizz or effervescence in our bottle.Looking forward future bottles of this wine.
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1/9/2011 - monzell wrote: 93 Points
A. Initially showed a soft cherry cola, vague illusion of effervescence. After a short time, a magnificent balance of fruit, acid and age emerged. Consumed w/i 3 hrs.
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12/25/2010 - WineDoctors wrote: 84 Points
Thought about calling this a flawed bottle. Filled with fizz and unfinished fermentation; a flat cherry coke with nothing reminiscent of a typical Russian river block.
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6/10/2010 - dream wrote: 91 Points
This has aged nicely. Complex finish with delicious medicinal cherry fruit.
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6/5/2010 - lebo9968@gmail.com wrote: 91 Points
Bright red color with slight bricking. Very subdued nose and palate. Effervescent feeling on palate. Seemed rather simple and short. Disappointing first night. Next day it definitely opened up. Nose of cherry, bright berry and some cola. Palate still had a bit of the effervescent mouthfeel, but also opened up to show berry, some creme brule, vanilla. A longer palate. Let remaining bottles sit a bit longer before trying again.
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5/15/2010 - Edclr wrote: 95 Points
Last bottle - notes consistent with the past 2 bottles
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2/20/2010 - Edclr wrote: 95 Points
Anther fabulous bottle. Again, wine of the night, vs some pretty good competition. Very spicy, nose just jumped out of the glass. Very long finish. soft, smooth mouthfeel.
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2/7/2010 - ASG24 wrote:
Drank at Marche in Menlo Park. Great balanced nose of semi-sweet red fruits, a little earth, a little black tea, and just a bit of brown sugar. In the mouth, fully integrated; smooth; sufficient backbone to hang with the lamb, pork, and fish dishes around the table; and all the flavor notes above mixed with just a bit of vanilla. A very nice bottle of wine.
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12/13/2009 - rralls wrote: 93 Points
WOTN; classically restrained wonderful finish
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11/28/2009 - Edclr wrote: 95 Points
On the table with 4 other pinot's, two red birgs. This one was the wine of the night. beautifully integrated, great birght red fruits after all these years. Wonderful length, great mouth feel. These guys are still on top of their game.
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5/28/2009 - Peech wrote: 87 Points
This was a little disappointing. Nose was metallic with iron rust, mint, a bit of caramel and some red fruits. Finish was pretty short.
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3/28/2009 - tonyvelebil wrote:
All Things Pinot - Meunier, Blanc, Gris, Noir (Christianne's Place in SF): okay compare this with the Ecard....the brett doesn't work and to me ruined the wine. Some nice tea and black licorice flavors but bam..brett.
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2/14/2009 - pgordon62 wrote: flawed
Something was very wrong with this bottle - bricky and cloudy. A modest nose of pomegranate, rose petal, a little sillage. Minimum tart fruit and spice on the palate. The finish is almost devoid of fruit. Blind I would have pegged this as 20 years old. No TCA. The color suggests oxidation but the cork was very sound. A bottling problem?
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12/1/2008 - dino_mike wrote: 93 Points
Absolutely wonderful! Perfect balance, long, long finish. Amazing dark fruits and clove and cinamon are the primary flavors. A slight earthy flavor is present. The wine is full bodied and dark magenta red. Drinks perfectly now. I think it is peaked and would drink it in this great stage throughout the next year, but that's it.
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4/12/2008 - lestergibo wrote: 93 Points
Wonderful complexity and balance
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3/15/2008 - mdefreitas wrote: 90 Points
Blind Pairs @ Howard's (Old Greenwich, CT): Pretty cherry and spice. Classic RRV Pinot. Supple, light and fruit-driven, perhaps lacking in depth.
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3/1/2008 - underwds wrote:
This was wonderfully complex. Less fruit forward than the average CA Pinot; more of the case the fruit was just well integrated. Dark fruits and licorice with a good amount of oak at the end. I feel like this would have held up well to a steak, yet it didn't overpower our roast chicken. For me, this is what Pinot is all about.
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12/22/2007 - davidspieker wrote: 93 Points
Wonderful. Beautiful clear ruby color with viloets, blackberries, tea, licorice, and coffee on the nose. The flavors, which are similar are very complex and complete. Very addictive in its interesting complexities.
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7/1/2007 - dream wrote: 91 Points
Good light ruby color. Beautiful nose of sweet cherries, minerals and asian spices. Lighter-bodied and well-aged and showing a beautiful elegance and fine complexity on the spicy cherry finish. Not quite the '02 but a lovely glass of pinot noir nonetheless. Drink now!
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2/23/2007 - Quinn_cab wrote: 93 Points
Tremendous, elegant and well structured. Tanins are well integrated and the fruit is still very much alive. No risk of fading, but I'm guessing this is nearing a peak...
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7/24/2006 - spts1000 wrote: 93 Points
what a wonderful treat. i was not sure what to expect with this wine, but it was great. a wonderful example of Cali Pinot. The fruit was still very alaive but at the same time tame. no heat at all and wonderful structure. 93
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7/7/2006 - pgordon62 wrote: 94 Points
Another fabulous 2001 W&S. Concentrated cherry, raspberry and pomegranate fruit, with some pleasing forest floor funk. Superb structure and depth, with excellent length on the finish. Will go many years but starting to peak.
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12/10/2005 - MarkC wrote: 93 Points
On the nose this showed cherry, some funk, was somewhat Burgundian (confirmed by Don's Francophile wife, Tracy!), and had bits of mincemeat and some spice (cinnamon?). On the palate this wine was superb - flavors matched the nose. Super structure - great acidity to balance the fruit and spice. Drunk from magnum.
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