I might be influenced by the meal here. I made spaghetti carbonara for the first time and hit a home run. I didn't have any real Italian/Sicilian whites to pair with and this was ready to drink. Delicious combo, rich dark black cherry, earth notes. The acidity was moderate, there was a full mouthfeel to this, maybe because of the egg and cheese sauce. Don't know if I would recommend this combo but it worked for me.
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Medium in body but quite intense in flavor. Oak is well-integrated, lending plushness without overt woodiness. Ripe red fruits - almost plummy. Distinctly spicy on day 1, perhaps a touch more harmonious on day 2. Good acid and fine tannin.
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30% 115, 25% Pommard, 23% 777, 16% Wadenswil, and 6% 667. Aged 12 months in 1/3 each new French oak, 1st and 2nd passage. Decanted with minimal sediment. Aromas show smoke, gun powder and mineral details in front of the bright red cherry, cranberry and wild raspberry notes along with scents of black tea, rosemary, pine forest and earth with hints of pepper, florals and spice. On the palate, bordering on high toned acidity with moderate yet masculine tannin structure. Flavors lean towards the darker side with black cherry, pomegranate molasses and bramble berry with earth, smoke, black tea, mineral, and singed rosemary notes that bring in touches of pepper, spice and cola. The finish lingers highlighting the smoky mineral play.
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(Colene Clemens Pinot Noir Margo) Hello friends. Colene Clemens is on a roll. You may recall that our penultimate offer of 2018 was the 2015 Clemens Dopp Creek, a wine that landed the #7 spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list. We asked you to limit order requests to 6 bottles, and in the end, I believe our max allocations were 1-2 bottles, with dozens of latecomer orders shut out entirely. To add further context to the power of a high place on Spectator’s Top 100 list: I just got notice that Colene Clemens is about to ship the *2017* vintage of Dopp Creek up to the Seattle market. We never even got a whiff of the ’16. I assume that the winery blew through the entire remaining stock of 2015 Dopp, *and* the entire production run of 2016 Dopp in less than a month, all thanks to Tim Fish’s positive write-up. The hunger for all things Clemens isn’t limited to Dopp either. The whole lineup went from sleepy under-the-radar gem (we’ve been offering their Pinots for years) to sales-frenzied in a matter of months. Even Margo, a wine that we had no trouble offering in the 2012 and 2013 vintages, has suddenly become scarce. We went ahead and purchased the entire remaining stock of 2014 Margo available in Seattle (it’s not much), and that allows us to access the 2015 right at release. I’m certain we’ll sell through our entire stock of ’14, and I’d bet we won’t be able to reoffer the ’15. I think we all know which way the wind is blowing here. Wine Spectator: Copyrighted material withheld. A quick refresher on the Colene Clemens story: Joe and Vicki Stark met over forty years ago in the Willamette Valley. After years of searching for the right property, the couple found an old, abandoned, south-facing farmstead and orchard with great elevation, proven Pinot Noir soils, and sweeping views. The site spans 122 acres, right where the Chehalem Mountains and Ribbon Ridge AVAs converge. So far, they’ve planted 55 of those acres, almost entirely to various Pinot Noir clones (although there’s a little Chardonnay too, as you can see on the vineyard map). After selecting a site, the most meaningful decision the Starks made was in hiring their winemaker. They brought on board Stephen Goff, who had just spent six years as Beaux Frere’s assistant winemaker. That’s a pretty strong pedigree, and it helps explain why the wine were excellent right out of the gate. Each year, Margo (which is a step up in seriousness from Dopp Creek), is comprised of selected vineyard blocks from the estate. In 2015 the clonal blend is 30% 115, 25% Pommard, 23% 777, 16% Wadenswil, and 6% 667. All that good fruit spends about a year in barrel, a blend of about one-third each new French oak, once-used, and twice-used. The 2015 clocks in at 14.5% listed alc and begins with a nose of ripe cherry and raspberry fruit, complicated by subtleties galore: mineral and forest floor, flower and tea leaf. The palate is supple, rich, openly delicious and reflective of the warm vintage. This is a wine that brings so much immediate pleasure; it’s a charmer through and through. There are some sneaky tannins on the back end, but they’re polished and classy as can be. When the robustly-flavored sockeyes start running, we’ll want to have bottles of this at the ready.
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4/29/2023 - spineguy wrote: flawed
Maderized/cooked. I think it was given as a gift from a non wine friend. May have sat upright above stove for years...
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3/8/2022 - sjp1323 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Awarded the wait!
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9/16/2021 - bburke40 Likes this wine: 92 Points
I might be influenced by the meal here. I made spaghetti carbonara for the first time and hit a home run. I didn't have any real Italian/Sicilian whites to pair with and this was ready to drink. Delicious combo, rich dark black cherry, earth notes. The acidity was moderate, there was a full mouthfeel to this, maybe because of the egg and cheese sauce. Don't know if I would recommend this combo but it worked for me.
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12/25/2020 - Connecticut Wino Likes this wine: 89 Points
Medium in body but quite intense in flavor. Oak is well-integrated, lending plushness without overt woodiness. Ripe red fruits - almost plummy. Distinctly spicy on day 1, perhaps a touch more harmonious on day 2. Good acid and fine tannin.
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11/28/2020 - bjamesclark wrote: 91 Points
30% 115, 25% Pommard, 23% 777, 16% Wadenswil, and 6% 667. Aged 12 months in 1/3 each new French oak, 1st and 2nd passage.
Decanted with minimal sediment.
Aromas show smoke, gun powder and mineral details in front of the bright red cherry, cranberry and wild raspberry notes along with scents of black tea, rosemary, pine forest and earth with hints of pepper, florals and spice.
On the palate, bordering on high toned acidity with moderate yet masculine tannin structure. Flavors lean towards the darker side with black cherry, pomegranate molasses and bramble berry with earth, smoke, black tea, mineral, and singed rosemary notes that bring in touches of pepper, spice and cola. The finish lingers highlighting the smoky mineral play.
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