Lioco and Sonoma Coast Tasting

Rich invited over a few people to taste the wines from Lioco, a producer of leaner, elegantly styled Pinot Noir and Chardonnay mostly from Sonoma Coast. Of course there were a few extra bottles to follow. Excellent and educational evening.

• 2012 Lioco Chardonnay Demuth Vineyard 88 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Very pleasant apple and pear with some lemon peel character. Very good component pieces, perhaps not quite yet perfectly balance. Enough concentration to get better with more cellar time.

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• 2013 Lioco Chardonnay Hanzell Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley

  Just released, this is a very impressive wine that showcases ripe apple complemented with lemon peel. Lots of spice everywhere. Long and very persistent. Tough to assess its age-worthiness, but this is a true head turner today.

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• 2013 Lioco Pinot Noir Saveria Vineyard 86 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  Perhaps this is too soon after release, or perhaps this wine is slightly too aspirational. Good red fruit with a nicely floral start. A slightly herbaceous character that I think might be from slightly too much (50%?) whole cluster given the level of fruit ripeness.

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• 2012 Lioco Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Very impressive start with red cherry, raspberry, summer flowers and sweet spice. Good cross-section of cherry flavors, well supported with spice. Very good acidity. Very good energy and potential. My favorite of the three Lioco Pinot Noir cuvees served.

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• 2012 Lioco Pinot Noir Klindt Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Fat red berry aromas and flavors with nice floral touches, ok spice. Moderate depth and nuance. Good now, but with the bones to last.

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• 2009 Soliste Cellars Pinot Noir Narcisse 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Ripe black cherry, some red cherry hints with sweet baking spice. Came across as very modern styled Sonoma Pinot Noir, but with some elegant background structure. Best now through the next few years.

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• 2010 Ceritas Chardonnay Porter-Bass Vineyard Flawed

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Corked.

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• 2009 Kutch Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard Flawed

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Slightly corked.

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• 2005 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Tasted double blind. Lots of red berry on nose and palate with sweet baking spice, good overall textures. This showed many of the same traits as the younger Hirsch earlier in the evening and had the spice I often associate with Williams Selyem.

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• 2012 Reuling Vineyard Pinot Noir

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Tasted double blind. Pinot Noir on steroids. while some enjoyed this wine's power, I found it too flamboyant and sweet.

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• 2008 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Ever-so-slightly more advanced than another recent bottle, but otherwise very similar. Lots of maturing berry aromas and flavors with subtle baking spice hints. Good concentration, moderate length. Tasted alongside the Summa Old Vine, which was rock star.

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• 2008 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Old Vines 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  This might have been my first time tasting this wine for this vintage and it certainly didn't disappoint. While the "regular" Summa tasted immediately prior was charming, this OV was more fresh, nuanced and powerful. Red berries, anise, fresh thyme. Lots of acidity and a mineral/ saline quality. Long and precise.

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• 2009 Kutch Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard

  USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

  Tasted double blind. Fun and open cherry flavors and aromas, Far more of everything vs the prior bottle, confirmed that the earlier bottle was in fact corked.

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• 2009 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Old Vines 87 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Tasted double blind in flight of 2009s. Very mature red berry aromas and flavors with good spice. Good fruit, slightly short finish. This tasted far older than others in the flight, certainly older than i would expect from this wine. Cork was in perfect condition.

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• 2009 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Echezeaux 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Tasted double blind in flight of 2009s, all others Sonoma Coast. Way too young to fully appreciate, but still drinking great tonight. Slightly floral, still showing some pronounced new oak, intense red berry throughout. Ripe and very dense. Very good.

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• 2009 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  Tasted double blind in a flight of 2009s. Cross-section of red berry and cherry aromas with baking spice. Very impressive balance and textures. We were told 1 of the 4 wines in the flight was Grand Cru Burgundy partway through tasting the flight, and I thought it was this wine. Better than I recall from when tasted shortly after release.

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• 1996 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Selection 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  Served double blind, i thought this to be Bordeaux. Nicely mature with floral, earth, spice, cigarbox and black fruit in harmony, this has moderate length and power, but very good balance.

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• 2012 Carlisle Syrah Papa's Block

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Huge wine wine lots of extremely ripe, candied black fruit, lots of smoke, slice, liqueur. Fun in its own way, just not what I want to drink.

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• 2001 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Very pleasant, but slightly disappointing given its critics' scores. Good apricot and baked apple aromas and flavors, but modest botrytis character coming through for the quality of the vintage and ever-so-slightly hollow/short. I have a few stashed in the back of the cellar, so will try to retrieve one shortly to see if this bottle was representative.

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