Wine biz in NYC in 80s. Sucked at sales. Since 1990, a lawyer. But still love wine!
Vibrant, if not elegant. Intense nose of ripe but sour cherry, lots of intense minerality. In the mouth it’s angular, intense, and acidic, but . . . in a kind of a good way. Great with pasta. — 9 days ago
What’s more American than Sunday Night Baseball and a nice Crozes? Ok, maybe a lot, but this is a really nice Crozes. Prior notes still applicable. — 13 days ago
Fruity and fairly big (not Tavel big, but big). Nice! — 14 days ago
Haven’t had this wine in a minute and it’s just as good as I remember. Perfect weeknight dinner or backyard cookout wine. Kirsch and raspberry fruit lead the way, with some sly stony, slate-like minerality in the back half of the palate. Soft and fresh. — 5 days ago
This latest iteration of this wine features lots of different earthy notes on the nose: gravel, fresh yard mulch, decomposing tree branches. But it’s pleasant and there’s deep fruit too. On the palate, it’s dry and even a little on the austere side for a Zin, which typically features fruit. But you can sense some depth there waiting to make an appearance. A fair amount of tannin. Give this at least another year or two to come together and the score should be higher. — 7 days ago
Superb and so quintessentially Santa Rita Hills. Open and welcoming nose of sexy, sultry, oozy cherry sap, dark baking spice, moist loam, and dark florals. Deep and rich flavors hit the palate, but without jamminess or excess sweetness. Turns a bit savory in the clingy finish. Almost no tannins apparent. Just enough acids to propel it forward. Very Californian in a very good way. — 12 days ago
Truncated note: Delicious!! Fruit, a little nutty, acids, stony minerals. — 6 days ago
Got this at the local Safeway for cooking and it’s actually quite drinkable and identifiably Zin. Earthy, plummy blackberry fruit. Not jammy. Quite dry. Good balance, with the alcohol poking out a little on the finish. — 6 days ago
Seems a little tight right now (yes I’m drinking it too young). But clearly all the right parts are there. Nose shows both Semillon and Sauvignon character, with lanolin s ents competing with grassy Sauvignon notes. Nice crushed stone mineral notes too. A bit of toastiness from barrel aging is apparent on the palate, with herbal and mineral flavors more prominent than the tight fruit at this point. Bone dry with nice acids. This should age well but is nice now too. — 11 days ago
Tom Casagrande
This pours a darker, more saturated color than any Sancerre Rouge I’ve ever seen. The nose is big and boisterous, with dark, intense and sappy cherry fruit, a meaty element, and a big whack of limestone minerality. Full and tannic in the mouth. Not exactly a summer sipper. Deeply mineral in flavor profile. Ends on a slightly bitterish, extracted note, with a bit of the 14.5% alcohol showing through. Very good but atypical. Seems like it needs at least a few more years in the cellar to take the edge off, but I’m not sure the fruit will survive more than a couple more before the alcohol burns through it. — 3 days ago