WTN: Whoa Nelly(ssen)

[Jenise]

2014 Wind Gap Wines Syrah Nellessen Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Offputting, sour prickly pear fruit. Set aside for a day, and it was worse the next. Cloudier, too. Fed it to the rhododendrons. Off bottle, I hope.

[David M. Bueker]

Hmm...

I have a mixed vintages case of Nellessen, but zero 2014. Nellessen was always one of my favorite Wind Gap wines. It now makes up the backbone of the Pax Sonoma Hillsides bottling, which can be thrilling, but is also quite variable.

Right around 2014, Pax started dialing back the sulfur, and things got wonky. The great bottles are thrilling, but there are a lot of misses. I still get sucked in for certain wines (Armagh & Majik Syrahs), but have backed away from his other wines.

[Jenise]

Once upon a time you raved about Wind Gap wines. Largely on the strength of your enthusiasm, I tried a '13 pinot and loved it. Just about every Wind Gap wine I've bought and tried since then (several cases in fact) have been disappointments. I did like the last (and first) Nellessen I tried from this case almost exactly a year ago, but this one was disgusting. I'll never buy another Pax Mahle wine again.