Tag Archives: Wine Review

Alysian 2010 Pinot Noir — Floodgate Vineyard, Rock Hill

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Alysian 2010 Pinot Noir - Floodgate Vineyard, Rock Hill

Alysian 2010 Pinot Noir — Flood­gate Vine­yard, Rock Hill

The Alysian 2010 Pinot Noir from Flood­gate Vine­yard (Rock Hill) has com­plex aro­mas of cranberry, clove, cedar wood and dark choco­late.  Intense, tart berry fla­vors hit the front of the mouth as the weight of the wine set­tles toward the back and sides.  There, the sub­tle sweet­ness in the wine emerges along with cherry, oak and bak­ing spices.  Rasp­berry and min­er­als linger on the long finish.

Over­all an intrigu­ing wine with intense fruit fla­vors and excel­lent bal­ance and struc­ture.  93 points.

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Alysian 2010 Chardonnay — Westside Farms, Clone 4

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Alysian 2010 Chardonnay - Westside Farms, Clone 4

Alysian 2010 Chardon­nay — West­side Farms, Clone 4

The Alysian 2010 Chardon­nay from West­side Farms (Clone 4) shim­mers with a bril­liant gold hue, greet­ing the nose with lemon, green apple and grape­fruit aro­mas.  This pre­view of tart fruit fla­vor doesn’t dis­ap­point as cit­rus acid­ity rip­ples over the tongue.  Weighty and silky smooth, the wine slowly yields tan­ta­liz­ing apple, nec­tarine and hon­ey­dew fla­vors and fades into a dry fin­ish with a lin­ger­ing apri­cot flavor.

Over­all a fresh, tart and vibrant Chardon­nay. 92 points.

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Alysian 2010 Chardonnay — Russian River Selection

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Alysian 2010 Chardonnay - Russian River Selection

Alysian 2010 Chardon­nay — Russ­ian River Selection

This pale gold-colored Alysian 2010 Chardon­nay sways slowly and heav­ily in the glass, giv­ing off won­der­ful aro­mas of lemon, melon, honey and a hint of toasted pine nuts.  At first the rich body and gen­tle honey sweet­ness of the wine weighs on the tongue.  Then tart lemon and plum fla­vors break through, which are in turn punc­tu­ated by a spicy bite of alco­hol and some dry­ness toward the end.  Peach and cit­rus fla­vors linger on the palate until the next sat­is­fy­ing sip.

Over­all this is a mas­ter­fully blended Chardon­nay from two dif­fer­ent vine­yards and three dif­fer­ent clones.  93 points.

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Straight Line 2009 Mendocino County Pinot Noir

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Straight Line 2009 Pinot Noir

Straight Line 2009 Pinot Noir

As I uncorked this Straight Line 2009 Pinot Noir, I noticed quite a bit of sed­i­ment under the cork and inside the bot­tle neck.  I was also sur­prised to see a fine haze in the wine as I poured it.  Intrigued, I went to the winery’s web­site and read the wine­maker notes.  There I learned that the wine “received no rack­ing, nor fin­ing, nor fil­ter­ing.”  Inter­est­ing… I like it.  There is noth­ing wrong with sed­i­ment, and it’s refresh­ing to taste a wine know­ing it’s only as pol­ished as it wants to be. Con­tinue read­ing →

Sheldon 2007 Deviant Velocity Petite Syrah

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Sheldon 2007 Deviant Velocity Petite Syrah

Shel­don 2007 Deviant Veloc­ity Petite Syrah

This bot­tle of Shel­don Petite Syrah has been hang­ing out in my cel­lar and giv­ing me the eye for a while.  I almost opened a bot­tle of Ore­gon Pinot Noir, but there was the Shel­don again, watch­ing me.  Shel­don says that this is “the oxy­moron wine… it whis­pers instead of screams.”  Seems accu­rate so far. Con­tinue read­ing →

Alysian 2009 Chardonnay — Westside Farms Clone 4

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Alysian 2009 Chardonnay - Westside Farms Clone 4

Alysian 2009 Chardon­nay — West­side Farms Clone 4

Vibrant, golden and shim­mer­ing in the sun, this Alysian 2009 Chardon­nay is per­fect for a warm after­noon get­away.  Grape­fruit, hon­ey­dew and earthy min­eral aro­mas tempt the nose.  A cas­cade of honey-coated melon deli­cious­ness daz­zles the tongue.  Green apple, but­ter­scotch, and lemon fla­vors also poke through, leav­ing a lin­ger­ing apri­cot fla­vor on the finish.

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Alysian 2009 Pinot Noir — Rochioli Vineyard, Allen-Rochioli Blocks

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Alysian 2009 Pinot Noir - Rochioli Vineyard, Allen-Rochioli Blocks

Alysian 2009 Pinot Noir — Rochi­oli Vine­yard, Allen-Rochioli Blocks

What a dif­fer­ence a year makes. I went in think­ing this 2009 Alysian Pinot Noir would have sim­i­lar qual­i­ties to the excel­lent but mys­te­ri­ous 2008 vin­tage from the very same Rochi­oli vine­yard blocks, but was pleas­antly sur­prised by the differences.

The nose casts pow­er­ful sweet straw­berry and cherry aro­mas, fol­lowed by hints of fresh sponge cake and bak­ing spices as alco­hol and pep­per tickle the nose.  Its bark is worse than its bite though… given the strength of the nose, I was sur­prised how smooth my first sip was.  Deli­cious mouth­wa­ter­ing acid­ity that is com­pletely and har­mo­niously inter­twined with con­cen­trated straw­berry, black cherry and peach fla­vors.  Impec­ca­bly struc­tured and intensely focused to the finish.

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Alysian 2009 Pinot Noir — Floodgate Vineyard — Origins

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Alysian 2009 Pinot Noir - Floodgate Vineyard, Origins

Alysian 2009 Pinot Noir — Flood­gate Vine­yard, Origins

It’s a quiet Wednes­day night, and what bet­ter way to reflect on the week and gear up for the rest of it than with a cool glass of Alysian Pinot Noir.  This time from Flood­gate Vine­yard near Forestville, CA.  I’ve tried the “West Block” and “Rock Hill” des­ig­nates from this vine­yard, so let’s see what “Ori­gins” is all about.

The first thing that hits me when tak­ing in the nose are the trade­mark baked fruit and berry aro­mas, but also a hint of clove.  The aroma is sweet, soft and inviting.

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Alysian 2008 Pinot Noir — Rochioli Vineyard, Allen-Rochioli Blocks

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Alysian 2008 Pinot Noir - Rochioli Vineyard1

Alysian 2008 Pinot Noir — Rochi­oli Vine­yard, Allen-Rochioli Blocks

Alysian wines are always pol­ished and seduc­tive, but this Pinot Noir from Rochi­oli Vine­yard comes with an atti­tude and won’t give up its secrets eas­ily. This elu­sive­ness makes it a joy to taste and sug­gests that a few more years of cel­lar­ing will allow this wine to fully express itself.

The nose is dom­i­nated by cherry and sweet caramel aro­mas, with a touch of red apple, rasp­berry and choco­late. The acid­ity is bright and refresh­ing, and I find this wine to be on the drier side. It fin­ishes cleanly and leaves rasp­berry and caramel fla­vors on the palate. Well-structured to mature grace­fully in the bot­tle for a few years. If you can wait that long, it will be well worth it.

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Alysian Double Feature: 2009 Russian River Selection Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

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Alysian 2009 Russian River Selection Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

Alysian 2009 Russ­ian River Selec­tion Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

Today I am hon­ored to taste Alysian’s two “Russ­ian River Selec­tion” wines: The 2009 Pinot Noir and Chardon­nay.  While Gary Far­rell is known for cre­at­ing some incred­i­ble sin­gle vine­yard des­ig­nate wines (see my pre­vi­ous Alysian review), Gary also sources sev­eral dif­fer­ent Russ­ian River Val­ley vine­yards to craft these blended wines with lev­els of com­plex­ity dif­fi­cult to obtain from a sin­gle vine­yard alone.

Let’s start with the Chardonnay!

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