8/6/2018 - lovanc@outlook.com wrote:

Delicious pet nat. Light on the palate with flavors of yeasty grapefruit and unripe berries with good acidity and minerality for balance.

6/6/2021 - jonboy74 wrote:

Bottle must have been flawed. Started out nice on the attack but there was some green astringent taste at the back end that was not pleasant at all. Let it sit for 24 hrs to see if it improved, and it only got worse. Unfortunately had to dump it. Pity.

6/6/2021 - blaine wrote:

This was a bit of an odd bird. Picked it up while local to the winery at Eureka Natural Foods (great store!). PnP while camping. Label says no oak, 13.x (can’t remember exactly, it’s the next day). Straw colored. Nose had a melon quality like a southern Rhône. Palate was also Rhône-ish, like a light viognier, more melon. There was a Rhône-like viscousness, maybe a tad oily. Wife and I both agreed that it just didn’t taste like chardonnay. Could have called it viognier and I would believe you. Rather round despite no oak. We liked the wine!

10/7/2020 - CMN wrote:

Second go-round with the wine and 9 months later, this is still fairly primary, with mostly red and a touch of purple fruited flavors. The tannins are still a bit youthful. On day two, the tannins were significantly more intergrated. There's good material and a lot of promise. Recommend extended aeration if drinking today and, ideally, a 1-2 year hold.

3/12/2020 - skifree wrote:

Very tasty with loads of sweet white fruit and some almond skin on the finish. Would guess this has some Viognier in it.

3/6/2020 - CMN wrote:

I opened another bottle of this wine for the sake of science, having ADORED this wine a few years from vintage. At middle age, the wine has grown darker and more complex. I think it's a testament to this vineyard's abiity to age. However, I prefer the precociousness of this wine at an earlier stage in its evolution. It's not better, so much as it is a matter of taste. Still quite enjoyable and my favorite vineyard for Briceland wines.

1/2/2020 - Deux Chevaux wrote:

For our taste, we found this rather sweet and creamy, and lacking acid — not our preference, but also, fortunately, not usually our experience with this fine house’s wines.

12/25/2019 - CMN wrote:

Simply fantastic. Dark red fruits with a pronounced hebal influence of oregano and sage. Incredibly savory and calls to mind the Northern Rhone moreso than California. Blind, this is a ringer for Côte Rôtie. Moderately scaled and well balanced with aging potential. Among the best Briceland wines/Californian Syrah that I've ever had. Stupendous.

6/29/2019 - z_willus_d Likes this wine:

My first Briceland wine from this vineyard site (and also my first taste of wine in over a week), I'm drinking and drafting this TN from a fresh pop to glass pour (I am eager). Opaque, medium purple color. The nose leads directly to dust and blueberries off the initial sniffs; also a sweet musk. But the blueberry dominates, and having consumed daily several cups of blueberries fresh from the bush this past month, the scent is top of mind. On the palate, this heaves a medium-weight entry that is spicy and sour, then dipping on the mid, crescendos to a lengthy finish of pepper and fresh blueberry flavor. Mineral and structural components peek through on the three-quarter mark. The terroir here seems distinct from the other Briceland Syrah from Ishi Pishi Ranch (at least the '15 vintage that I've tasted), though both are cool climate, well-balanced, great vehicles for their varietal. I'll add a score after finishing more of the bottle.

As is often the case with Briceland's wines, my last sips of this wine were the most exhilarating (in this case on day-3 open).

5/18/2019 - CMN wrote:

This was an unusual vintage of Ronda’s which, coincidentally, is my favorite Briceland SVD. I got dark red fruits but it was a bit tight. The wine is a bit backward now and in need of time to unfurl. My hunch is 18 months of rest will do it some good, but it’s mostly a hunch as most Ronda’s are giving more pleasure at this stage. Still, I get the sense that this is going to be a very special wine when it finally come around.

9/3/2018 - isaacjamesbaker wrote:

Corked. Damnit. This was the third out of five unrelated bottles I opened that were corked that day. Worst corked ratio ever!

10/11/2017 - CMN wrote:

Consistent notes with previous bottle. Somehow I didn't realize that I had consumed a bottle of this wine just 3 weeks prior...oops. Still, very good now and should improve.

1/15/2017 - wineshlub wrote:

Popped and poured. Pale lemon color. Restrained pear aroma. Steely lemon and apple flavors up front, finish turns creamy with a bit of butter. Fresh, subtle, firm backbone, some complexity, great staying power. Heft and weight are like Chablis, but the flavor profile is different. If there's any oak, it's not obvious.

This is going strong, which is especially noteworthy since this bottle doesn't appear to have been treated kindly over the years (ragged label, cork pushed in ~ 1/8"). First one of Andrew's chardonnays that I've tried, and I'm impressed.

12/8/2016 - Outplaying wrote:

This bottle was slightly corked.

6/7/2016 - TC16 wrote:

Wondering if I got a bad bottle. The oak overwhelmed everything else, even on day 2. Tons of vanilla. Some fruit and spice poked through, but not enough to conquer the vanilla. Medium tannin. Not rated.

2/26/2016 - StraightnoChaser Likes this wine:

If I tasted this wine blind I would have guessed Russian River/Green Valley. Mushroom, Tea, and Plum with a strong cherry top note. Dry finish with moderate length. We enjoyed this wine over two hours with cheese and crackers.
Well done Andrew

2/29/2016 - StraightnoChaser Likes this wine:

Very clean with snappy acidity. Flavors of apple and white pear with apparent minerality. No detectable oak. Some floral notes but nothing too sweet like the very popular "Cougar Juice" from Napa. Paired with artisan cheese plate.

2/23/2016 - klezman wrote:

Initially I was worried it might be corked, but some initial funk went away speedily. What remained was a bit darker and less floral than I recalled, but a bright spicy, light/mid weight zin. Lots of bramble, some pepper, herbs, and a nice finish.
With some air it regained hints of the floral nature I remember from the previous bottle. It also developed something almost peach-like.
Very happy to have a couple more of these thanks to Berserker Day.

2/12/2016 - klezman wrote:

Started off a little closed, slightly acidic. Didn't go amazingly well with chicken, surprisingly.
With air, though, it really started to sing. About 2 hours after opening (resting in bottle) it started to show aromas of herbs, earth, pomegranate, cherry, and something very savoury like mushroom. The palate rings with the acidity first, but then evolves into an umami-filled finish of deliciousness.
Another excellent wine from Andrew at Briceland, even if it took an hour to come out of its shell.

12/21/2015 - diananm Does not like this wine:

Flawed. Something went wrong with this bottle. Thin and sour, nothing like the other notes here.

11/1/2015 - klezman wrote:

Wow, yummy. Fruit, game, herbs, and earth. Lots of savoury notes here to balance the intensity of the dark cherry and black raspberry fruit. Tannins are actually fairly smooth, but do pick up after a bit of air, as does the peppercorn note. Wish I had a case of this to drink 4 in the next year then 1 per year after that to see how it evolved.

10/14/2015 - CMN wrote:

Pours a deep purple with a magenta colored rim. Intermingled scents of purple fruits, blue flowers and forest floor.

The palate generally follows the nose. Savory and well-concentrated, this medium+ bodied wine has a nice acidic lift that keeps everything in good balance. The tannins already seem fairly smooth, but I think that this wine should age for several years, gaining complexity and weight. Enjoyable now and will get even better. 13.8% abv.

6/14/2015 - klezman wrote:

Bright, fresh, brambly fruit immediately on opening. Both on the palate and nose. Some blueberry on the nose as well. A light/medium bodied Zin with amazing acidity. This is my style - excellent. There are even hints of stone fruit. This wine didn't evolve much over a couple hours open, but it's delicious and a nice food wine. Right up my alley.

6/6/2015 - MikeATL Likes this wine:

Another successful effort from Andrew Morris and Briceland. It leans toward the mineral and saline side of sparkling wine, but with enough clean fruit and body that it isn't too austere. It would be interesting to see how this develops with age, as it seems to have the balance of weight and acidity for at least several years in the cellar.

3/14/2015 - CMN Likes this wine:

A second go round with this wine and a completely different experience. The nose was very floral: lilacs, lilacs and more lilacs. Palate followed the nose, white and purple flowers with a pinch of purple fruit. Medium bodied and much more open than my last bottle. I chalk the variance down to the fact my previous bottle had just been bottled, whereas this had been under cork for a few months. Approachable now, will improve. Yum.

2/10/2013 - CMN wrote:

Cherry red color. Nose of tart red cherries with a hint of cinnamon.

Loads of minerality, tart red cherry fruit, rhubarb, cranberry and a kiss of cinnamon. Not fruity. Med- tannins and Med+ acidity. Incredible poise and balance. Med+ finish that shows just a bit of fruit on the finish. Very similar profile to a Burgundy (and a good one at that), without the Pinot "funk". Really nice and a great QPR.