TNT
Tasted Friday, December 5, 2014 - Saturday, December 6, 2014 by Loren Sonkin with 417 views
A couple of nights ago, my wife and I joined 5 others for dinner at our favorite high end Northern Italian restaurant. This is a long, slow 11+ course meal that takes a few hours. We had plenty of wines to help us through. The wines were served non blind and we went back to the wines on and off thru the evening.
And yes, Friday morning was slow.
2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill 92 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills
(12/5/2014)
From Magnum. This is very nice and easily accessible. Light golden in color. The nose is nice with peaches, and a bit of ginger. No signs of oak on it. On the palate, there is a slightly creamy texture which leads me to suspect neutral oak barrels instead of steel. Very soft mouth feel which I liked. There is just the slightest bit of sweetness which was off-putting to one of us, but I enjoyed it. Nice pear and slight citrus notes. For me, it was quite nice next to an over oaked Cal chard, and I could keep going back for more. Someone told me it would be more like Chablis, but I didn't get that. Very much ripe fruit and Californian in nature. But, in a very pleasant package.
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2009 Shafer Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
(12/5/2014)
I struggle with this wine and I have had it in other vintages. No question it is well made and some would love the style. for me, it just gets wiped out by the oak. It dominates the nose and the palate and especially the finish. Certainly, I have had far oakier wines than this. If it was the only bottle, i would have drank it. But the fruit seemed so distant to me. I did not assign a score as that's not fair (for me, maybe in the 85 -87 range?), but as I had plenty of other wines to go to, I did not finish my glass. Other's at the table may have liked it more.
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2010 Sean Thackrey Viognier Lyra Noble Vineyard 87 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley
(12/5/2014)
I was a bit disappointed by this. I had it a few years ago IIRC right after release and I quite enjoyed it. I love Viognier from the Rhone, but seldom from California. On release, it was fresh, floral and the oak seemed quite in check. That was also from Magnum. This bottle seems well past prime to me. The fruit is present but the floral qualities are faded. The oak while not dominating, is much more present and persistent. There is also some heat/oak on the finish. It is better on the palate, than the nose. I am probably being a bit harsh as I had higher expectations. This is still better than most Viognier from CA, IMO. In any event, I would drink these in their first year or two, which is probably my advice on most Viogniers, even the ones that do age well.
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