I’m not sure I knew zibibbo before I tasted this from Barraco. Floral. Intense. Orange blossom and steroidal. No shy flower.
Intensely sandy, violet, tough, rugged and really fun. Bush-trained vines in Marsala, no green harvest and little pruning.
Think pelaverga with complexity of nebbiolo. Stunning, tea, and flower power, aged in cherry and chestnut barrels, dusty dolcetto-like quality. Soils are clay, basalt and some limestone, and the wine... read more →
My note? This feels good. I have no idea what it means, but what more do you want from bubbles. Combination of stainless, foudres, old demi-muids and barriques.
Can only find the photo for the 2005 (which I have not tasted). Here's a fifth dimension, with a marshmallow kicker and a non-citrusy orange rind.
I stood in Jean Marie’s globular vines and felt the angry wind he must farm. I got it. There’s wildness in this wine even though it’s only 12.5%. From schist... read more →
Lovers of Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon? Listen up! This wine is a close genetic relative. Underneath the melon there is cool, green grass. And the CRB is getting rarer and... read more →
This knocked me out. Stunner. Petrol. Classic. More SO2 than usually found in these pages. So much for dogma. Developed a little prematurely. Lucky for us, it’s drinking fabulously now.
How rare is Chablis that tastes like a Chablis? Rare. This is not an ultra-natural, so devotees of deMoor, be warned. But it is organic viticulture, lean, nuanced, smokey and... read more →
Hank is one of the best winemakers in California today and for some reason all of his wines are always more delicious the next day. Delicious—cinnamon and honey, perfumed with... read more →