2011 Donkey and Goat Rhone Blend. Not one of their more successful wines.
Storage issues on my part? Quite "cidery". Still am acceptable quaff with the Christmas Eve dinner.2010 Clarksburg Wine Company Chenin Blanc (Vouvray Style). This was a wow wine. Savory and saline with lovely chenin blanc fruit. Palate cleansing acid-I loved this wine, even if it was lost in the parade of bigger reds!
2009 Da Vero Hawk Mountain Sangiovese (Dry Creek). Having tasted a couple of other too typical (and frankly awful) California Sangioveses over the weekend as well, this lovely wine reminded me how good Sangiovese can be even if it rarely reaches this level! Not "sweet" at all, and the oak was balanced and not prominent at all. Savory bright cherry fruit, with a nice leathery edge. Ridgely is a real Italophile when it comes to his wines!
2005 Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23. Wow. Just wow. Warm old school cabernet with everything I like in cabernet.
2009 Drouhin Brouilly Beaujolais. In a very nice place right now! Despite the warm year, not flabby at all. Dark in color. Plenty of bracing saline acidity, but also some lovely floral cherry notes. My last bottle
2007 Sequoia Grove Lamoreaux Cabernet Sauvignon. Quite lovely-beginning to show some NICE bottle age. Warm black fruit but still fresh and nice to drink with food.
2012 Donkey and Goat "The Prospector" El Dorado County Mouvedre. Now this was quite delicious. We should have been wined out by this point, but the freshness of the wine, with the nice black meaty fruit made this wine sing. I have always liked their Mouvedres, and this bottle confirmed it!
2008 Wind Gap Armagh Vineyard Syrah. The current release got nice kudos from John Bennet in the Chronicle, and this bottle was delicious with a few years of bottle age on it. Only 12.7% abv! Everything one looks for in a lighter style syrah-floral, meaty, savory, light on the tongue. But you know what...there was also some lovely richness to the fruit as well. What an odd place for a vineyard, also...Chileno Valley Road in the middle of Petaluma dairy country. Chileno Valley Road is always one of my favorite bicycling routes (it is actually PAVED WELL, unlike the rest of the backwards third world standards of Sonoma County) and had observed this little vineyard in the middle of "nowhere".
2012 Bouchaine Cabernet Sauvignon. Coombsville, Napa County. This is a Pinot-makers Cabernet. Not sure it has the tannic structure to age, but it is lovely right now, with a hint of pyrazines and some lovely red plum and cassis fruit. It needs a little bottle time, though, as this tasting was much better than a month ago