Tasted these three wines just released over the last two days:
1. Aeris Bianco CentennialMtnVnyd/Calif (100% Carricante; 12.0%) RhysVnyds/Ukiah 2018: Med.yellow color; very perfumed/fragrant/floral/gardenias/alpine flowers fairly chalky/flinty/perfumed talc/minerally quite spicy/bit cardamon beautiful aromatic nose; quite tart/tangy/bit steely/metallic very floral/gardenias/alpine flowers strong mineral/flinty/chalky/perfumed talc bright/brisk/bracing/savory beautiful flavor; very long/lingering quite tart/tangy/flinty/steely very floral/perfumed/gardenias/alpine flowers quite mineral/perfumed talc/chalky very savory complex finish; plenty of acidity but not at all lean/eviscerated; packs lots of flavor on a 12.0% frame; reminds a lot of a recent Val d'Aosta PetiteArvine but w/ much more minerality; a brisk/minerally floral/fragrant white; a beautiful expression of Carricante w/o the rusticity they can sometimes show from Etna; should age very well. $nc (JB)/$39.00
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2. Aeris Barbera CentennialMtnVnyd/Calif (14.5%; SS frmtd + 20 mo. in neutral oak) 2018: Med.dark color; beautiful classic Barbera/very spicy/Italian sausage/dried Italian herbs light dusty/earthy bit herbal fairly fragrant quite Piemontese/spicy bit complex nose; quite tart/tangy/bit acidic quite spicy/Barbera/dried Italian herbs/pizza spices fairly rich/structured bit earthy/herbal lovely classic Barbera flavor w/ modest tangy tannins; very long/lingering quite spicy/Barbera/pizza spices fairly tart/tangy fairly rich light oak structured bit complex finish w/ some tangy tannins; reminds some of Idlewild FoxHill Barbera but more structured & not as rich/lush; some of Piemontese Barbera but not as acidic/angular; some of the old MontereyPeninsula Barbera but w/o the overwhelming oak; a lovely expression of Calif Barbera more Piemontese in style than Calif. $nc (JB)/$45.00
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3. Aeris BriccoRosso CentennialMtnVnyd/Calif (50% Nebb/15% NerelloMascalese/15% Carignan/15% Primitivo/5% Barbera; 20 mo. aged in oak) 2018: Med.light color; strong floral/Nebb/lilacs/violets quite aromatic slight pungent/tarry/smokey some grapey/plummy/cherry bit herbal fairly complex lovely nose; very tart/tangy quite spicy/Nebb/floral/lilacs bit plummy/grapey/cherry bit earthy/herbal/pungent rather structured some complex flavor w/ modest bitey tannins; very long/lingering rather perfumed/Nebb/floral/violets fairly tart/tannic some complex finish w/ modest grippy tannins; clearly needs more age but the fierce Nebb tannins are well under control; a bit like the Idlewild Nebb but not as hard/tannic; a bit of AltoPiemonte Nebb w/ lots of Croatina/Vespolina; not a pure expression of Nebb but the other varieties tame those hard Nebb tannins; definitely a Calif Rosso but w/ an Italiante sense. $nc (JB)/$59.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. These were samples sent me by JeffBrinkman, winemaker at Rhys. Aeris is the Italian wine project of KevinHarver/Rhys and Jeff. The CentennialMtnVnyd is located up on that mtn due West of LakeSonoma, almost to Annapolis. Definitely cold-climate SonomaCoast. Looks like pretty virgin vnyd area w/ no other vnyds in the area. When Keven got interested in growing Nebbiolo in Calif, he (typically) did an extremely thorough job on researching the subject and planted this virgin land to his CentennialMtnVnyd.
I was particularly taken by the Carricante. CentennialMtn is pretty far removed from the volcanic slopes of MtEtna, but it strikes me as a very good home for the grape.
These are all definitely Calif wines but made w/ an old-world sense of winemaking. They have just been released so should be available.
Tom