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Red
2016 Sandlands Trousseau Sonoma County
4/29/2019 - Dagalaifus Likes this wine:
94 points
Tegan Passalacqua deftly crafts the fruit-forward and even extracted wines for Turley Wine Cellars. But this consummate winemaker also creates more graceful and even ethereal red and white offerings for his own label Sandlands. My Sandlands favorite is his Trousseau. For those of you unfamiliar (like me, until a few months ago) with that varietal, it originated in France, where it is made into single-varietal wines, but is perhaps better known as Bastardo (i.e., "Bastard") in Portugal, where it is blended with a hodgepodge of other grapes to become Port. In both France and Sonoma County, where Tegan, sources his New World Trousseau fruit, the wines are a lighter almost a transparent shade of red, but not (I emphasize) pink. His 2016 effort shares a nose and palate of cherry, strawberry, muted baking spices and forest floor. Indeed, in a blind tasting, I fooled a wine snob into incorrectly identifying the wine as a Monterey County Pinot. But the similarity or confusion with Pinot Noir does not do this varietal, and Mr. Passalacqua's remarkable creation from the same, justice. Indeed, if given the choice between the Sandlands Trousseau and any Pinot from California to taste, I would invariably, always and happily choose the Trousseau. Addendum, while I suspect this lighter-bodied wine is meant to be consumed immediately after release, it's noticeably better after an extended decant, which suggests that it will age gracefully for a few more years. Second addendum, I tried the 2017 vintage of this wine, which is an even lighter-bodied version of the stellar 2016. As much as I liked the 2017, it pales (literally and figuratively) in comparison with the 2016.
  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    4/30/19, 7:20 PM - Definitely agree. I just started drinking the 2014 Trousseau and it can definitely age and I think benefits from it a good deal. I believe I've seen Tegan write about suggesting aging for most of Sandlands actually, not to mention that's my general preference as well.

Red
1999 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Grenache
7/18/2017 - J @ y H @ c k wrote:
97 points
I don't know who PRBY is, but probably the same bottle. Wow!! I hesitate to use the word perfect when describing a wine because it can always be better, but this wine made the word perfect enter the conversation. The winemaker performed his or her craft with great precision, and the force was with them. Beautiful Grenache fruit vinified so there were no flaws or even close to it. The fruit was full, soft and rounded as a pure example of what Grenache can exhibit. There were gobs and gobs of flavor with nothing that could be considered jammy or syrupy. After the bottle was almost done I took the last tiny pour and it went down like silk. It was not until I looked at my glass and saw this lump of sediment that I realized that even the dregs were better than most wines. WOTY so far.
  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    7/19/17, 11:51 AM - Hey Jay, was a pleasure to meet you last night, and especially to share this really incredible bottle. Great note too. Hope to do it again some time. Mike

Red
2008 Château Rayas Côtes du Rhône Château de Fonsalette Reserve Red Rhone Blend
My first time with this wine but definitely not my last. Has that wonderful elegance that I expect from Rayas. The almost top-level burgundian characteristic where the fruit just dances on the palette. A bit less candied than the regular CdP I've had. But beautiful. Was a touch worried the steak would overpower it, but not in the least - held up well to both the Wagyu and regular meat.
  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    3/7/17, 10:08 AM - Awesome! I've got 4 bottles pending of this one.

  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    3/7/17, 10:33 AM - Got about 4 of the '08 and 2 of '06 from SommPicks. Really dig their selection. Especially in Cru Bojo (though a little thin right now).

White - Sparkling
1984 Chateau St. Jean Brut Sonoma County Champagne Blend
DIY BYO Dinner - Notes from another taster (Amali, NYC): Served blind, very challenging to guess what this one was. Only slight effervescence, some sweetness and quite a bit of acid. For me this definitely more in the interesting camp, than the delicious camp - but what fun to taste a US sparkler that is 33 years old.
  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    1/30/17, 1:16 PM - Don't forget an incredible aroma of butterscotch which I totally loved.

Red
2002 Krupp Brothers Estates Syrah Black Bart Stagecoach Vineyard Napa Valley
1/18/2017 - FullPolicyLimits Likes this wine:
89 points
Wine still had some life left. If you have ever been to Krupp at top of Atlas Peak in south Napa you would see why. Highest point overlooking the valley and REAL mountain fruit. Nose was still ripe dark fruits and leather, color still incredible. Palate was smooth with tannins resolved with dark fruits, a touch of tobacco and earthy. It tailed off after about an hour or so in the decanter but still very drinkable. Drink if you have them obviously but don't expect this wine to fall apart either, the fruit is just to high quality. Put this wine against a bottle thats 5-7 years newer and you will see what I mean.
  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    1/18/17, 1:44 PM - Interesting note. I'm actually doing this in a Syrah tasting this weekend. Would you suggest barely decanting it then?

  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    1/23/17, 7:51 PM - Was doing a new vs old world Syrah tasting. This was actually showing great and stayed alive and developed for multiple hours and still got some left to finish up. Also been grabbing all the Krupp's I can find because Dr. Krupp (one of the sons) is actually my hometown doctor in NJ.

Red
2013 Dirty and Rowdy Mourvèdre Antle Vineyard Chalone
Showed nice freshness again, though it was buried in the mix more than the last bottle, like the acidity went from playing guitar parts to bass. The fruit was much more open, and showy, with currant and mocha/vanilla notes. Also flashed some nice and solid tannic structure toward the back, which transitioned well into its medium finish. It's an effortless wine with excellent balance, confirming this is up there with the best CA Rhone's I've tasted.

Served blind to some friends, someone called Zin, and others agreed but there were all kinds of wild guesses before...Barbaresco, Pinot Noir, then Cabernet, then Syrah. Opened an hour or two before serving, immediately pouring off a glass to get a gentle decant going. Seemed to be a good call as the wine was pretty well open by the time we got around to it.
  • IzeAgeComing commented:

    4/1/16, 7:36 PM - Lovely description and anecdote. Got a bunch of bottles I'm going to sit on. Saw Hardy at a tasting who thought they'd be good up to 10yrs. Will definitely give my "drink now" bottles some more time the next one I open. thx!

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