Tried these 4 over the last few days:
1. LaSalita Chard Dd'OC: Langhe (13.5%; GiulianaImprts/Boulder) 2020:Light gold color; fairly fragrant almondy/melony/Chard rather mineraly/chalky little oak quite pleasant nose; bit soft slight tangy/metallic/mineral some Chard/melony/almondy bit floral/carnations quite attractive somewhat interesting flavor; med.long light Chard/almondy/melony bit floral/R-like some mineral/chalky finish; a light-weight varietally-correct Chard; rather pretty but not vapid or eviscerated; a pleasant Chard at a good price but just that. $13.00 (SFW&S)
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2. Hirsch GrunerVeltliner DAC: Kamptal Hirsch Vergnugen (12.0%; SkurnikWines/NY) Hirsch/Kammern 2021: Big pop when the screwcap is removed; vaguely floral/fruity rather R-like/grapey little GV varietal character rather simple bit vapid nose; soft/flat rather sweet (0.6%-0.8% r.s.) somewhat frizzante vaguely R-like/fruity simple/vapid quite dull flavor; med.short soft fairly sweet bit frizzante vaguely fruity finish; a very vapid/dull as dishwater white w/ no GV character whatsoever; not even at the level of the dullest Liebfraumilch; way overpriced at $23.00 (SFW&S)
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3. CaretakerWines PinotNoir SantaMariaVlly CentralCoast (14.2%; Sustainably Farmed; Clones: Pommard/2A/23; French Oak) C&B by MillerFamilyWineCo/SantaMaria 2020: Dark color; strong PN/cherry/black cherry/quite spicy some toasty/pencilly/Fr.oak quite perfumed really lovely nose; fairly tart/tangy strong black cherry/PN/cherry very spicy/cloves bit earthy/dusty some pencilly/Burgundian/Fr.oak lovely flavor w/ modest tangy tannins; very long fairly tart/tangy structured strong black cherry/PN/cherry/spicy/cold-climate some toasty/pencilly/Fr.oak bit Burgundian finish w/ modest tangy tannins; a lovely classic SMV PN that has some structure & could use a few more rs; reminds some of an AuBonClimat BienNacido PN but not as polished; an absolute steal at this price. $10.00 (TJ)
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4. HarborWnry Syrah AmadorCnty (13.1%) CharlieMeyers/WestSacramento 2003: Med.dark color w/ some bricking; strong cedary/pencilly/oldRed some briary/blackberry/Syrah/licorice light vanilla/Am.oak fairly complex interesting nose; soft smooth/gentle some blackberry/Syrah/bit spicy slight Amador/briary light vanilla/Am.oak some cedary/pencilly/oldRed fairly complex flavor w/ light smooth tannins; very long rather vanilla/Am.oak bit cedary/pencilly/oldRed light spicy/blackberry/Syrah slight earthy finish w/ light gentle tannins; lots of cedary/pencilly/oldRed character but still speaks quietly of Syrah; a classic Harbor Red made w/ Charlie's oldWorld sensibility but in the twilight of its yrs, but still offers up some pleasure. $13.80 (CB)
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More spickerfloss from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. The LaSalita is a wine from GiulianaImprts/Boulder. Probably some excess Chard one of their producers probably bttld up for them for a song. A pretty decent expression of Chard at a very good price.
Did some bottom feeding at TraderJoe's this weekend. It was sorta a generic label that I suspected was a FredFranzia wine. But when I looked on the back, I saw it was from the Millers of BienNacidoVnyd. So I expected it might be something good. It was exactly that. A serious SantaMaria Pinot at a steal of a price.
I was expecting the Harbor Syrah to be pretty much dead&gone. It was not...it still had some Syrah fruit and offered up a bit of pleasure. Sitting out on the counter overnight, it was pretty much shot, dominated by the cedary/pencilly/oldRed character & rather hard/bitter on the alate.
Tom