Bachelor Party trip to Napa/Sonoma

• NV Gruet Winery Brut Blanc de Noirs 80 Points

  USA, New Mexico

  Hint of brioche autolysis on the nose.
  Coarse bubbles. Decent fruit, a bit sweeter than I'd like on the palate - shows it's dosage a bit. Finishes with the acid a bit lacking, and with a little bitterness.

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• 2004 Château Poujeaux 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Moulis en Médoc

  Excellent! Medium plus ruby color. Blackcurrant, pyrazines turning to tobacco bridged with earth from Brett. Truffle, very low oak impression. Savory development. Med plus acid. Med plus tannins. This is in a great place right now.

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• 2015 Decoy Pinot Noir 87 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County

  Classic Sonoma Pinot. Red fruit, slight oak, not overripe. Very nice for $20!

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• 2005 Turley Zinfandel Cedarman 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  Medium plus ruby. Herbal nose with pine, black pepper, developed raspberry, and savory tart blackberry.
  Dry, medium plus body, feels 14%, med plus acid, med tannins. Zippy and crisp on the palate with some earth.

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• 2014 Ceja Sauvignon Blanc 86 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Extremely ripe nose. Pineapple and syrup with ripe orange creamsicle (oak) and vanilla with some spice. Has some nail polish and wax as well.
  Medium body with high alcohol and elevated acid. Could be higher. Lack of malo helps with the slight squeakiness o the acid on the finish.

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• 2011 Ceja Pinot Noir 80 Points

  USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

  Sweet oak, slight stink- sulfur or Brett? Sweetnoverripe fruit. More balanced thanninexpected on the palate. But faded and oxidiazed and over oaked. 80
  Ripe cherry.
  A bit bitter. Slight balsamic.

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• 2012 Ceja Vino de Casa 82 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Reductive Black chocolate covered blackcurrant merlot fruit. Med body med plus alc med acid med tannins. Holding oak decently. Chocolate covered plums.

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• 2011 Ceja Merlot 86 Points

  USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

  Intense chocolate covered plum fruit with ripe pyrazines and some oak spice.
  Medium body elevated alcohol elevated acid! Medium tannins.

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• 2011 Ceja Merlot 83 Points

  USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

  New bottle. Intense merlot plum fruit- too much and too ripe for me. Slight pyrazines and fresh earth. Modest oak. Med plus tannins and med plus acid. Med plus alcohol.

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• 2009 Ceja Cabernet Sauvignon 82 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  A bit disjointed. Smells and tastes overripe and plummy but without the blackcurrant notes I look for in cab. Slight pyrazines but a bit one note. Aggressive structure with high acid and high tannins.

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• 2009 Ceja Dulce Beso 87 Points

  USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

  Medium amber gold. Chard and Sauv Blanc.
  Has some saffron but has a golden raisin thing going on.
  Sweet- feels 120 g/L. Elevated acid.
  Has some hints of sweetness and toast. Pretty good.

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• 2009 Ceja Cabernet Sauvignon Dulce Amor 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Dusty raisin and blackcurrant with slight bell pepper nose. Some dates. Some ethyl acetate.
  Powerful palate with high acid and high tannins. Very chewy and satisfying.

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• 2014 Smith-Madrone Chardonnay 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Medium yellow in the glass. Ripe yellow apple and Meyer lemon, with some noble reduction (hint of struck match), and some lemon curd / buttercream oak influence. Just a hint of spice from the oak, but very well integrated.
  Dry, medium bodied, classically elevated alcohol - feels around 13.5%-14%, and very nice elevated acidity. Long evolving finish of ripe lemon, hints of vanilla, and sunny apple notes.
  Kissed by sun, but still 'nervoux'.

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• 2013 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  82% Cab, 12% Cab Franc, 6% Merlot.
  
  Beautiful nose. A well-knit flourish of black cassis fruit, pyrazines (coffee, cigarette ash, ripe bell peppers) blending with possible slight Brett(fresh earth, slight dog fur / spice), which also blends with a hint of oak (vanilla spice, used-wood notes). It's doing the thing that great Bordeaux does - where the coffee and tobacco of the pyrazines bridge with the Maillard notes and the spice of the oak, which in turn bridges with with spice and the earth from the Brett. But compared with Bordeaux, this has that Napa intensity of blackcurrant fruit.
  
  On the palate, it's seamless, structured, and vibrant. Dry, medium plus body, medium plus alcohol (feels only 14%), high acid, high tannins (chewy and ripe). There's a beautiful mid-palate integration with brown olive and cassis, as well as a long, evolving finish.
  
  Stylistically it reminds me a lot of Corison, though to my taste it achieves a greater flavor integration and complexity because the pyrazines are a bit more present, and they bridge the fruit with savory notes.
  
  In terms of fruit intensity, structure, and energy, it reminds me of the Spottswoode Lyndenhurst, but of course with more savory notes, less overt new oak.
  
  And it's at a much lower price point than both of these!

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• 2009 Smith-Madrone Cook's Flat Reserve 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Reminds me of a more savory '12 Spottswoode. Nose is again a well-knit picture of blackcurrant (many shades of ripeness), blueberry, coffee, tobacco, brooding cassis liqueur, brown olive (they have olive trees... and also the pyrazines are olive-like), slight sweet capsicum notes, well-integrated oak spice.
  
  Full-bodied, medium plus alcohol (feels 14% - actually 14.3%), elevated acid, high tannins (a bit more rounded than the '12 Spottswoode, since it's got a bit more age.
  
  This is a special wine.

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• 2014 Smith-Madrone Riesling 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Pale straw in the glass. Beautiful nose of varietally correct TDN/petrol and stony lemon notes. Alsatian without the botrytis.
  
  Dense flavors on the palate, with complexity if you pay attention at the right moment. Slight RS - feels like 10g (actually only 7.5g! I mistook fruit ripeness for sugar), medium body, medium alcohol - 12.5%, high acid (a balance of malic and tartaric), and a long stony finish.
  
  I would blind this as Alsace every time, but there's a wonderful cleanness and sunlight to the fruit.
  
  The best Riesling I've had from California by far, but one of the better Alsace-style Rieslings I've had, period!

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• 2016 Smith-Madrone Riesling 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Not released yet - this was from an unlabeled magnum that had been open for a week(!). I requested to taste it, and I'm so glad Charlie agreed.
  
  Pale straw with hints of green.
  Incredibly vibrant, ripe, floral nose, with fresh peach and nectarine terpenes (Albariño-like), with a hint of petrol. A totally different beast, aromatically, than the lean, stony, Alsatian 2014. This is more Albariño or maybe a Smaragd Austrian-style? There's even a hint of Muscat-like white pepper florals.
  Just a touch of RS (feels around 7g like the 2014), with medium alcohol (feels around 12.5%), and properly high acid. Long, mineral finish.
  
  There was zero trace of oxidation, which is insane considering it had been open for a week. It was cool in the wine cave, and the wine must have been super reductive and low pH!
  
  This will be a wine to keep an eye on when it's released.
  
  90-93

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Asian fusion food - Riesling was the obvious (and perfect) choice.

• 2015 Nik Weis Selection Urban Riesling 84 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Slight frizzante. Moderate neutral aromatics of petrol and green apple. Light. Low alcohol. 9.5% (was going to guess 10). Feels 10-15g/L RS. Medium plus acid- a bit weak. Finish is a bit short.

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