On deck for wine tasting next week at VRW:

Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
2022 Roar Rosella’s Chardonnay

From the coolest site this team works with, the 2022 Chardonnay Rosella's Vineyard reveals a medium gold hue as well as a classy nose of ripe stone fruits, honeyed lemons, minty herbs, and some subtle tropical flowers. With medium-bodied richness, it builds nicely with time in the glass and has beautifully integrated oak, a layered mouthfeel, integrated acidity, and a great finish. It's another gorgeous Chardonnay from this team, and it's closer in style to the Sierra Mar than the richer Soberanes release. $66

Wine Advocate 96+ Points
2021 Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red

The components of the 2021 Proprietary Red barely changed relative to the barrel sample I tasted last year, with 61% of the fruit being estate grown (Stagecoach and Waters Ranch), with the remainder coming from Upper Range (35%) and Vangone (4%). Dominant scents of cassis mark the nose, joined by hints of dark chocolate, black cherries and pencil shavings. This full-bodied wine is firm and muscular but with enough baby fat that you could try one now if you had a big steak on hand. The lingering, dusty finish adds savory tones of black olive and dried herbs. $250

Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
2022 Roar Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard

From a cooler site in the middle of the Santa Cruz Mountain appellation, the 2022 Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard offers more mulberry and wild strawberry fruit as well as a beautiful core of sappy flowers, violets, and underbrush. I love its overall purity and precision, and it's medium-bodied, has ripe, polished tannins, integrated acidity, and a great finish. It's up with the creme de la creme of the appellation, and it's going to have at least 10-12 years of prime drinking. It benefits from air if drinking any time soon. $80

**********

Taste 2022 Hartford Court Pinot Noir Land's Edge Vineyards, 2021 Black Stallion Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and 2022 Bevan Ontogeny Napa Proprietary Red at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $15 per person.
Thursday, September 12th. Available 12:00 noon -5:45 PM

Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
2022 Hartford Court Pinot Noir Land's Edge Vineyards

From the far Sonoma Coast, the 2022 Pinot Noir Land's Edge Vineyards was aged for 9 months in 32% new French oak barrels. In the glass, it displays a medium ruby color and offers expressive notes of red berries, cranberries, and juniper. There’s a good bit of reduction initially that benefits from a little air at this stage, but it starts to reveal darker notes as it opens, so I would recommend decanting if opening it on the young side. The palate has a wonderful, compact feel, with refreshing lift, fine tannins, and a snappy finish. I personally enjoy the bright and coiled energy that comes through in this one. It’s a lovely wine that is going to drink well over the next 15 years. $48

2021 Black Stallion Napa Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Notes: Spicy, with clove and juicy black-cherry flavors, this approachable, densely packed wine is full of fruit and integrated power, yet surprisingly balanced. Soft chocolate and tobacco notes accent the fruit as a long finish wraps up the experience. $35

2022 Bevan Ontogeny Napa Proprietary Red

Winemaker Notes: Wow! Best of the best red wine blend of our "big boy" vineyards! This may be the best Ontogeny we have yet to produce. It is over 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, mainly fron the Tench Vineyard. This is a Cabernet lovers Ontogney! Pure, blue lush fruit profile with mouth-filling texture. Gorgeous, dark, and rich. If you are Tench fan, you will be impressed by this bottling of our 2022 Ontogeny. $100

***********

Wine Enthusiast 93 Points
2023 Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Rosé

Soft peach, watermelon and rose petal aromas hold their poise for days on the nose of this blend of 71% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 8% Vermentino and 1% Counoise. The palate is energetic and and stony in texture, offering crisp pomegranate and orange peel flavors. $28 Our Price $21.99 (Back in stock GT)

2022 Thread Feathers Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Notes: Aromas of dusty graphite, crushed rock and dried herb linger with cocoa powder and coffee bean in this intensely concentrated, powerful, mountain-grown wine. Seamless, complex and structured, the palate offers a dense array of red and dark fruit flavors highlighted by cassis and tobacco leaf with hints of leather and blackberry compote. Soft, rich, and round, it delivers well-integrated, resolved tannin buoyed by a lively palate of bright acidity and a long-lasting finish. 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc. $49 Our Price $36.99 (Arrives GT 9/18/24)

2021 Thread Feather Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Notes: On the palate, the aromas are a captivating blend of ripe blackberries and cassis, giving way to subtle notes of cedar and a touch of vanilla. The wine impresses with a velvety and full-bodied texture. Ripe black fruit flavors dominate, with blackcurrant and plum taking center stage. The palate is further enriched by nuances of dark chocolate, espresso, and a trace of baking spices. Blend: 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot Our Price $34.99 (Arrives GT 9/18/24)

Wine Enthusiast 93 Points
2022 Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir

This priced-to-sell appellation blend gives hints of what the single-vineyard expressions can do in a more accessible manner. Aromas of pomegranate, green peppercorn and oregano decorate the nose. The palate shows baked plum and strawberry flavors as well as Calera's telltale showing of terpene-laden herbs like bay leaf and marjoram. $32 Our Price $23.99 (Available GT)

Wine Advocate 96-98 Points
2021 Joseph Phelps Insignia

Set to be bottled in January 2024, the 2021 Insignia looks to be another huge success. A blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot, with 2% each Cabernet Franc and Malbec, all matured in 100% new French oak, winemaker Ashley Hepworth said she thought production would be about 18,000 cases. Waves of cherries, cassis and dark chocolate mark the nose, while the palate is full-bodied, concentrated, rich, velvety, plush, layered and long. The dusty tannins suggest ample structure, yet the wine is plush enough to be almost approachable. It's a truly complete, delicious, seductive wine, yet naysayers may criticize it for lacking a certain amount of individuality or soul. $365 Pre-Arrival Notice. Our Price TBD

**********

Taste 2021 Cattleya Pinot Noir Cuvee Number Eight, 2022 DAOU Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and 2021 Hess Collection Lion Tamer Napa Valley Cabernet at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $15 per person.
Friday, September 13th. Available 12:00 noon -5:45 PM

Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
2021 Cattleya Wines Pinot Noir Cuvee Number Eight

A semi-opaque, deep ruby with a purple hint, the 2021 Pinot Noir Cuvee Number Eight takes on a darker profile, with wet stone, blackberry, pepper, and grilled rosemary. Full-bodied, it brings more structure, with ripe tannins, iron-rich earth, and kirsch as well as fresh lift on the finish. Drink 2025-2035 $65

Wine Advocate 92-94 Points
2022 DAOU Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is a barrel sample of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Petit Verdot maturing for 16 months in 50% new French oak and is due to be bottled in the spring of 2024. The nose offers wild berry fruit streaked with graphite and nuances of truffle, forest floor and oak spices. The full-bodied palate is highly concentrated and floral, with approachable, clay-textured tannins, satisfying bursts of acidity and a long, perfumed finish. $55

Wine Enthusiast 95 Points
2021 Hess Collection Lion Tamer Napa Valley Cabernet

Polished and perfumed, this elegant wine drinks easily now but has the balance and quiet concentration to help it improve for several years. Lush black cherries, black currants and blueberries fill the palate, buoyed on moderate tannins and spiced with toast, cinnamon and cedar notes from oak barrels. Blended with 8% Malbec. $65

**********

Taste Sparking Wine and Champagne: Lambert de Seyssel Petit Royal Brut, Roederer Anderson Valley Brut and 2013 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $20 per person.
Saturday, September 14th. Available 12:00 noon -3:45 PM

Lambert de Seyssel Petit Royal Brut

Importer Notes: The village of Seyssel, in the French Alps, has a history of viticulture dating back centuries, having built a reputation for floral-scented charmers from the local grapes, Molette and Altesse. Produced in the méthode traditionnelle and aged for two years sur latte, the Petit Royal is unequaled in the world of sparkling wine: alpine flowers, dried fruit, wildflower honey, and a toasty, yeasty note give this value sparkler an utterly delightful aromatic richness and complexity. Serve it with various salty toasts to kick off your next dinner party, or pop one open to liven up a night at home with a big bowl of mac and cheese. –Anthony Lynch $22

Decanter 94 Points
Roederer Anderson Valley Brut

Always a solid wine from Anderson Valley, this NV is built of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir and offers pretty lemony and lemon oil notes atop a bed of fragrant white flowers. Very round and complete with an assertive mousse, just-baked bread, and bruised yellow apple fruit. This bubbly has excellent depth and a terrific mineral finish. Aged a minimum of two years on the yeast, clocking in at 10 g/L. 85,000 9-litre cases produced. $30

Antonio Galloni, Vinous 98 Points
Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs 2013

The 2013 Comtes de Champagne captures all the pedigree of this great vintage in its energy, depth and vibrancy. Lemon confit, dried flowers, chamomile, spice and crushed rocks all race across the palate. Passionfruit, ginger, marzipan and mint appear later, filling out the layers beautifully. Harvest took place in October in what has become the exception rather than the norm in Champagne. $220

**********

Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW)
1552 E. Champlain Drive,
Ste 109
Fresno, CA 93720
Via Montana Center
(NE Corner Shepherd and Champlain-Two doors south of Big 5)
www.vintagereserve.biz
559-878-3953
Tuesday-Friday 12:00 Noon-6:00 PM
Saturday 12 Noon-4:00 PM

The Grape Tray (GT)
6023 N. Palm Avenue
Fresno, CA 93704
Opus One Center
(NW Corner Bullard and Palm)
www.grapetray.com
559-226-6828
Tuesday-Friday 10:30 AM-5:30 PM
Saturday 10:30 AM-4:00 PM