A couple of unusual items from the last week:
Ravenswood 1995 Sonoma Valley Red Wine, Rancho Salina Vineyards. From the Joel Peterson Ravenswood library sale. 42% Cab Franc, 40% Cab Sauv, 18% Merlot. 14.2% abv. One negative report on CT from last year on a similarly sourced bottle had me worried, but needlessly. This is mature but not tired, still bright and fresh in color, not especially aromatic but has a touch of fresh plummy and berry fruit on top of herbs and earth; not spectacular or immersive but a pleasing wine at the very beginning, I suspect, of a gentle downslope. None of the bottles we've opened from this mixed six-pack so far has really sung, but they've all at least hummed, which is more or less what I was hoping for.
Arnot-Roberts 2018 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay, Trout Gulch Vineyard. The first bottle I ever had of this, a few vintages back, has enough positive contextual associations that I always brace myself for mild disappointment when I have the wine again. And this time, that was compounded by its being overchilled. But you know what? It wasn't so disappointing in the end. I really like the fine line this walks between taut chablisiennité (is that a word?) and sunnier cali-entism, perceptible mainly in a hint of tropicality at the center of a wine that's otherwise chiseled out of stone. I think that tension was turned up to 11 in that first bottle, but it's still recognizable here, and delicious.