#zieherglass

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Dark ruby, no brick. Green-brair in the nose. That's just about it. A little murky fruit, dark cherry and some other forgettable stuff kinda peeking around timidly on the wings. Christmas-tree barnyard introduces a sorta carnival Midway gutter candy melted in warm Pepsi and Skoal spit. I don't have to tell you about this brand, and Hillside is literally one of my top one-or-two bottlings from them. I have LOTS of these wines. I hope you don't. Decanted for two hours in hopes of something I am missing. No. A sluggish entry on the palate, watery and positively un-fruity, thinning out to harsh bitter fruitless soul-less burn, an complete dumpster-fire in the mouth not even an effigy of interest or fruit or spirit or even tertiary to present to the crowd, all absolute nothingness combined with unpleasantness and a bad apple finish punctuated with burn. 2009 #QUPÉ #Syrah Hillside #BienNacido SMV SBC 13.5 #zieherglass (at Qupe Wine Cellars) https://www.instagram.com/p/B619GU7HPFa/?igshid=ry8i3nt2u03g

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Dark garnet, thinning to crystalline stained glass at the edge.  A bit of bottle-funk had me scared for about 5 minutes, but the fruit started pouring off it and decided to decant gently.  Persimmon and prune-plum, thick-skinned and smoky, a mint-chocolate-chip ice-cream burns bright holes in soggy peat, carved into neat rectangles of firm mineral composition.  A bit of boozy cherry preserves and a really old-skool sort of flabby rock mist explains in no uncertain terms we are not in Napa, and no pedantic french oak obscuring all that luscious--fut seriously mature--fruit. I don't have to tell you who Ed Sbragia is, right? This isn't Wine101. Buy a book or something. In the mouth, instantly dark and impressing with brooding and burning tertiary more than any fresh spirit.  I have several of these and am going to put them on a sooner-rather-than-later drinking schedule.  Old lady perfume applied on fairly flaccid berry causes the mint and eucalyptus to do funky things on your tongue Napa or Paso would probably not approve of.  A red-dirt seriousness is cheerful enough in theory, but a bit of burn traveling with it reminds you it means business.  Gorgeous and full through most of the mouthfeel, strong banana-blueberry evolves out of the nose late in the tasting--but more burn and fresh swirls pop up more of that funk. Very dry and one-dimensional in the finish, fruit chugs through and tannins are at a nice resolution-point, but of course more burn. This is not a mind-bogglingly good wine, but definitely a place-mark of this ridiculous vineyard. Clear and bright and an absolute chameleon of nuances--sorry for the disjointed notes--it's a big bold beauty from the master. 2009 #SBRAGIAFAMILYVINEYARDS #CabernetSauvignon #MonteRossoVineyard #Sonoma Valley 14.8 #zieherglass (at Sbragia Family Vineyards) https://www.instagram.com/p/Byl4NFKHzq8/?igshid=unbz9itrbbtj

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Dank dirty nose, roiled in Vit B12, squished bug and a little lettuce fom the crisper drawer. Peat and stewed fruit, the cherry dull and buried, everything bold, but the crushed rock bolder--not shrill minerality, rather a solid, tertiary glow to dankness and despair. Not fresh by any means, but it's Petite Sirah at 11, so what were you expecting? Conflictingly pretty in the mouth, like mediocre food delivered by a hot stripper--you grant some positive nods to things you wish were nicer because the *theme* is there and rather lascivious. Bold and grainy, a streak of acid courses throughout, burnishing the leather and gospel-ridden ripe cranberry down into a raspy finish that is all vulgar typicity for the variety and for that you are thankful. It could go a lot of different ways, but the way chosen expresses most of what you expected and little left to the imagination. If you have these I highly recommend drinking them. On the downhill slope and you have to remind yourself how much you love PS constantly as you work through the bold--but tired concentration and still-agressive tannin. I love petite sirah, and with an ass like that, it gets a hard like. 2008 @spellboundwines #PetiteSirah #napavalley 13.9 #zieherglass (at Napa Valley) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-GgtwJHXVi/?igshid=noifunkvzpcf

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Such a gorgeous wine. Nutty and briar-sharp with a touch of petrol in the nose. 5-spice is strong. Clean and ripe in the mouth, salted licorice and an angsty sharp note up top before more petrol shows up in the finish. Lovin every minute of it. 2015 @markuswineco DOMO #Carignan #PetiteSirah #syrah 75/15/10 #lodiwine #california 13.8 #zieherglass https://www.instagram.com/p/B9BL642HTi4/?igshid=11wp57c8h72y0

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Scrumptdillyiscious dill and cedar swooning out of the dull prune color. Wide orange edge fading to clear. Brownies fraught with moldy fur made by nuns trussed up with soaked rattan, a Welch's spot of perfect grape evades capture in the background, despite the Naugahyde floggings and gear-lube shine. Nuttier than Randall Grahm and danker than Manfred Krankl, it sends a green vegetal shot across the bow of the good ship California, with not just ripeness, but texture you can SMELL. I discovered this label a few years back and then have been blessed with their attendance of WORLD OF PINOT the past couple years. SOOOO much great Oregon comes down for that event. Far more than we could ever dream of seeing on a shelf here in Socal. In the mouth, fresh-picked flowers at the height of young springtime fragrance. Daffodils and crocus, lily and jasmine. Oil-rubbed and shiny-smooth where it has been touched, green sapling in a pouty argument with tertiary wood. Sweet cherry cola takes an extra helping of dirt with it to the bedroom, where savory mixes with succulent and finishes hot. A beautiful--if piquant--aged Pinot. 2007 @monksgate_vineyard #PinotNoir #WillametteValley #oregonwinecountry 13.5 #zieherglass (at MonksGate Vineyard and Wines) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8-WI9GHvX4/?igshid=7zde03zgdezb

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Flinty steely musk. Not a speck of... well, there's a descriptor which has become nearly synonymous with Sauv-blanc description which I refuse to use on my blog--you all know what it is--there is NONE of that here. No, this is all clean toasty brown butter, so light, so ethereal, a touch of soiled carpet that tells you it is fermented alive, but otherwise clean and bright, not even grassy. This is Sancerre, pure and simple, and knowing this winemaker, the intentions are irrefutable. In the mouth, warm, off-colored melon and vanilla tapioca hesitate briefly before sharp crystal-clear spring water and the bite of acid take over in the middle.  Jalapeno and ginger-sprite tingle the tongue--acid's peppery bite--but the vaguely citrus etch is more chalk and walnut-skin than lemonade.  Mind-numbingly perfect in finish, a white wine for true white-wine lovers, at once quaffable and simultaneously stunning in near-religious adherence to classical beauty. Name your top-5 world-class Sauvignon Blancs made  in California and then place this alongside. The Merry Edwards'. The Arkenstones. The Branders. This plays in that field easily and effortlessly. 2016 @VELVETBEE_WINE #SauvignonBlanc McGinley Vineyard Happy Canyon #santaynezvalley Santa Barbara 13.15 #zieherglass (at Santa Ynez Valley) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4t0DvqHVgF/?igshid=12ifaxtti2wvi

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Light, bright clear ruby, gorgeous and transparent.  Lemon zest and Bonnie Bell Lip gloss over a sultry crushed fig and German chocolate cake. Bright raspberry pours from every pore, sharpened and richened by gobs of petrichor. This is the kind of wine I wish everyone who has ever said, "I hate Chianti." could try.  The things these people do with Sangiovese does not fit into any established regional roles classically assigned to this grape, and while clean and direct and new-world professional, it also does not fit into the Americanization visible in most Super-Tuscans or IGT's with healthy proportions of Sangiovese. Refined and focused, a near-perfect drinking wine.  Chalky, clawing acidity and minerality are your first impression as that fruit-bowl hits your mouth.  Black cherry drives the middle, and a dirty little Coca-Cola introduces the intense tannin. Now... there's a good chance Napa-cab drinker is going to hate this wine.  It's just not their kind of *perfectly balanced*.  But to ME, it is perfectly balanced. To anyone who drinks Chinon and Cru Bojo and Tenerife and Sonoma Coast and Santa Ynez  Valley, THIS is what we call perfectly balanced. It smells fabulous: there's funky earth and dirt encapsulating perfect fruit. It tastes fabulous, there's a teensy old-world nod but everything surrounding is clear and direct. It looks fabulous and finishes fabulous.  I know a couple other wines from this producer have come *close*, but THIS. This I believe might just be the best 100% Sangio I've ever had in my life. And guess what, boys & girls? It is now 100% fully imported in the US. Yes, EVEN THE WEST COAST. 2016 #POGGIOlaNOCE #Sangiovese #IGT #Toscana Italy 13-0 #pixel #zieherglass (at Poggio La Noce) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0pPsflHQUZ/?igshid=wy8m7nspso03

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Loyal readers of mine will know how much I adore this brilliant little @kobrandwines $25 super Tuscan, this baby Orena as it were, as I continually find it not flabby or over-oaked as have been the Napa comparisons to Super Tuscans of late but even at its approachability and low price it is intensely structured and lovely with a little age. I keep a pretty stiff vertical of this wine and grabbed an 11 tonight with some pasta I'm thinking of whippin up. Intense bottle funk headed hardcore into barnyard. I could see this being off-putting for a large number of people. Still considerably tannic even though the nose has gone all mineral and greenbriar, the fruit is all a dried preserve. Funky sharp back-sweat and a wet-slate chalkboard nail, brilliant with match-head and cut herbs. Fresh swirls or fresh pours bring the funk back to life but easy air exposes all of the true sharp beauty. Entry is an expectant mix of almost 10 year old Merlot but look again, this is Sangiovese! This Super Tuscan doesn't mess around. Brilliant aged fruit runs over the tongue, drying on all sides, edgy and brilliant but absolutely drinkable at this point. Sharp, plentiful fruit doesn't insult--as I have never found this wine to do. If you have a 11's of this sitting around--as I have several--I suggest you visit them and make a decision for yourself. And easily overlooked wine in the Italian catalog, but if you have this one available to you in your market I suggest finding a reliable source and visiting it every year. 2011 @tenutasetteponti #Crognolo #supertuscan #sangiovese #italy 14-5 #zieherglass (at Tenuta Sette Ponti) https://www.instagram.com/p/By4AaIdn6ZX/?igshid=171gvko5012ro

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Light bright clear ruby, a BEAUTIFUL tone and transparency to see this variety be offered in. Funky wallow through basement dust and stinky cheese, a vanilla aspect pulls the Jolly Rancher and lacquer box into cohesive and proper Zinfandel plum. Every time I see RRV on a Zin label, it kinda cracks me up because people get into ruts about where their wine should come from, and of course it intensifies the further from wine country you get and the less experience you have. It's like Napa Syrah, or Mendocino Merlot, or Santa Barbara Cab, and people are forced to step out of their comfort zone--well, the ones who take a chance on an unfamiliar appellation. In this case though, it makes much more sense because RRV is literally RIGHT THERE, bordering everybody's darling child DCV, a little cooler, more ocean influence, making Zinfandel probably more nuanced and lower in alcohol than the Northern neighbor. Now if that doesn't sound like Zinfandel you would like, you probably shouldn't be following me. In the mouth, bright clean cherry, refreshing and wonderful, takes a turn down a dark alley, wet and oily, dank lighting, restaurant back doors with smokers in white floor-length aprons and movements in shadows.  Even though you're tempted to hold her closer, the warm cheery fruit is convincing: you have never been safer. Flinty and sharp, there's no *Jam & Vodka* here, this thing scrapes by ever-increasingly on its green merits, the bitter chorus from the finish the perfect antidote to notions of flabbiness. And it tastes and smells like Zinfandel, and loyal readers know how important that is to me. You can fool Cab people with Merlot, and you can fool Syrah people with Pinot, but Zin needs that special sauce ALWAYS in the nose and taste. This is that wine. Bright and beautiful and positively yummy; true to form, approachable and educational, and IMPECCABLE Zinfandel. 2017 @TVINEWINERY #Zinfandel #RussianRiverValley #sonomawinecountry 14.7 #zieherglass (at T-Vine Winery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxgXlfZHqn1/?igshid=d1dffd1dafcv

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Deep, nearly impenetrable ruby b-a-r-e-l-y thinning to a sliver of pink at the otherwise abrupt edge.  Rosy vanilla and dusky oak edge a fat funk of winery interior but a massive nutty lake of thick cherry, licorice, intense chocolate and smoky blackberry make this an instant rich charmer, smooth-talking its way into place you typically would not go on the first date. Have I ever told you how much I love Carignane?  At one time THE most heavily planted grape in South France and I believe it even matched that title in California. So versatile, it can do anything from cheap over-cropped filler in red blends to stalwart stand-alone bottles from rustic to elegant, light and fruity to massive extractions. It also make great rosé. This bottle is Contra Costa County, home of some of the finest examples of old-vine south-france varieties in California. This is Cline and Evangelho country. Bottomless sand and a high water table. In the mouth, a bit of a shock from the opulent nose. The chocolate and licorice and rich vanilla do not translate over as they would with more user-friendly red wines, but everything is taken down several notches into an acidic, low-pH wonderland of un-insulting pie-cherry and cranberry, beautiful even-keeled balance ALL across the palate--a rich, thin slip of fruit buoyed along joyously and perfectly by the perfect injection of toe-curling structure. Sharp and zitruzy, I don't think this thing is over 14-0, and the finish brings a bit more wood to the foreground, but the hi-note plum and Granny Smith power on forever and ever before a teensy glimpse of tertiary leather peeks out of a finish that will have you asking your girlfriends how long you must wait before calling him back. Holy shit, this is Evangelho Vineyard. I didn't even notice that until I started typing the details. 2015 @TVINEWINERY #Carignane #EvangelhoVineyard #ContraCostaCounty 13.9 #zieherglass (at T-Vine Winery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwirqqphFPD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ohhenzs3l0qx

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Clear orange garnet pumping out ridiculous levels of meaty spice, dirty-baby-diaper, and a landslide of sautéed fruit. Beautiful cherry, witch hazel and steamy lavender in a bouquet tinged in just enough green-briar and mud to anchor and brighten all that sultry Dr. Pepper. An INCREDIBLE pinot nose, mature and curvy smoking a cigarette in a skin-tight dress and come-hithering straight into your soul. I can't wait to taste this, but there always is the possibility of a let-down when wine smells this glorious. Nice mellow entry, definitely pinot, but shielding you from anything mind-boggling for a split-second. Grapefruit and BBQ ribs, cast iron and oiled wood accelerate onto your tongue flooding all with good tidings of cherry bitters as bright citrus minerality and tannins begin their zangy job of mopping up and giving you something to remember her by. For a LONG time. This thing is a ripe stanky green smoky masterpiece and of the 5 or 10 pinots he makes, I'm pretty sure it is my favorite. Bien Nacido doesn't mess around. Could this be the best pinot in Santa Maria Valley? 2015 @TIMBREWINERY 'Lead Vocals' #pinotnoir #biennacido #santamariavalley #santabarbarawinecountry 13.2 #zieherglass (at Timbre Winery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwI_sJJB5bj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7zejajakae8f

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Big nutty round nose warm and sexy, laying fat slabs of velvet dessert, chocolate, and heady blackberry all over Manhattan. A nice piney mint rises up through it and a certain amount of the flabbiness breathes out with decanting, exposing all the bare metal and easy petrichor, but still super plump blackberry churns on. You've seen me digging into these RJV's lately and they are stunning quality Cabs. This of course--as I am sure you can tell by the label--is their foray into the bargain market, and at about half the price of their regular cabernets, drinking pretty much along those lines. In the mouth, all that rich cherry and savory olive in the nose influences hardcore as the glass moves to your lips. But then it hits your palate and one of the first things you notice is the amount of structure that is alongside this beautiful fruit. Any visions of flabbiness gained from the nose are dashed as soon as all this acid and tannin wrap your tongue, driving the fruit--which doesn't feel so loud anymore--into the background. Licorice and tobacco claw at your insides, slowly releasing their grip on the now-bright fruit, tempering it with oil-rubbed wood and velvet theatre seats before it dries out COMPLETELY in the brash finish. See, you see a label like this and you think: OK, we're tapping into the prisoner and apothic crowd here, and then you drink it and this thing is not whoring itself out to the lowest-common-denominator pancake-syrup crowd at ALL. Did I mention it's half the price of RJV? 2016 @RJVWINES 'Bold' #CabernetSauvignon #NapaValley 14-8 #zieherglass (at Napa Valley Wine Country) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvnapn8AGiY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=il6gvh6qt8kh

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Raw egg, popcorn and gruyère blasting into the nose on a sort of peachy Butterfinger board caked in dirty wax and beach campfire. In the mouth, curdy Meyer cheesecake--not that dense Philly stuff, no: light pillowy stuff--framed in acid and bringing butter, pineapple and coconut into areas not even remotely resembling pina-colada. Thick and viscous in the finish, a neutral oak roundness encapsulates all. For those in the front rows, this is a Donald Patz-Francoise Villard Alder Springs compilation of Marsanne and Roussanne. Stay tuned, because as good as this is, the Alder Springs wine from these two you have ALL been waiting for--the SYRAH--is in hand. 2017 @TERMINIM_WINES #Marsanne #Roussanne 66/34 #alderspringsvineyard #mendocinocounty 13-5 #zieherglass (at Alder Springs Vineyard) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvdWF5JgS6f/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=plmvqio3462m