Tried these two whites last night:
1. Kontozisis Rodits PGI: Karditsa (12.5%; Bio/Organic; www.KontozisisWines.Gr; ElektikonImprts/Wilmington/DE; U/U; "Drop by Drop The Jar Fills Up") Thessaly/Kanditsa/Greece 2019: Light yellow color; lightly grapey/fruity/appley slight floral/marigolds some fragrant pleasant nose; rather tart/tangy/grapefruity appley/fruity some stony/chalky clean/crisp/light-bodied bit vapid flavor; med.short some stony/chalky lightly floral/appley/grapefruity somewhat light/vapid finish; a "natural" wine but not at all natty; a thoroughly undistinguished rather vapid/innocuous white not worth the price. $17.50 (KK)
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2. Grottafumata lato sud Carricante IGT: Terre Siciliane (70% Carricante/30% Catarratto; 11%; KermitLynchImprts) grottofumata/Castiglione di Sicilia 2018: Med.gold color w/ lots of small bubbles; rather pungent/resiny some earthy slight honeyed/honeycomb bit coarse/musky nose; lightly tart fairly earthy/coarse bit pun gent/resinous/pine pitch/pine sap lightly floral/honeycomb fairly rich sight oxidative flavor; long bit tart some earthy/coarse slight honeycomb/pungent/resiny/pine sap finish; not a lot of fruit & rather on the coarse/earthy side, no obvious skin-contact, but a rather interesting earthy/coarse white but not Carricante at its best, though; bit pricey at $49.00 (KK)
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And I needed something good, so I cracked:
3. Bedrock Zin EsolaVnyd/AmadorCnty (14.5%; Farmed: DeniseEsola) 2018: Med.dark color; very strong briary/Amador/blackberry/Zin/quite spicy bit peppery light toasty/oak slight earthy some dusty/OV classic ShenandoahVlly/Amador nose; lightly tart/tangy very spicy/blackberry/briary/classic Amador Zin/bit peppery light toasty/oak some dusty/OV flavor w/ light tangy tannins; very long lightly tart strong very spicy/briary/Zin/bit peppery slightly hot some dusty/OV finish w/ light tannins; quite an attractive/balanced Esola Zin that speaks strongly of Amador briary Zin. $35.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Yesterday was Denise Esola's BD, so I cracked this Bedrock in her honor. I was 35 onetime, too, & it looks pretty good in the rear-view mirror. She has been farming the Ernie Esola vnyd for a fair number of yrs & started selling to Morgan a number of yrs ago.
I did a visit w/ Ernie & Lena d'Agostini Esola a number of yrs ago when I was working on a article for Vintage magazine on the Zins of the Esola & Eschen vnyds, primarily CarnerosCreek & Ridge, some of Mt.Veeder Vnyds. We visited for several hrs and they insisted I stay for lunch. After dealing w/ high-end/nerdy/tedious/crotchety scientific types day in & day out, it was such a pleasure to visit with two folks who were the salt of the Earth and not a pretentious bone in their bodies. Visiting w/ this charming couple is a memory I have treasured my entire life. They seemed quite flattered that a "famous" wine writer was interested in what they were doing. One of my best-ever wine visits in Calif.
This Esola of Morgan's was not like the Esolas of the mid-'70's, where bigness & extraction were the big thing. It resembled more the old Ridge Esolas w/o the Draper perfume. Or maybe the old BeauVal Zins that ScottHarvey used to make. But it does speak strongly of ShenandoahVlly Zin in a restrained/elegant voice.
Tom