Soils on a rocky hillside from Titus Estate on Ehlers Lane with some fruit from the home ranch delivers a majestic red. Dark chocolate flows out of a flourless chocolate cake like melting lava. Fennel top notes glide over suede tannins, while aromas and flavors of cigar box linger. Espresso and a mineral hint on the palate combine with fleshy, plum pit and cinnamon-blackberry pulled from the soil.
From a family owned 60-acre vineyard and winery in St. Helena, here’s a Cab Franc that fits this column, rich and graceful as a grande dame. It’s bathed in chocolate lavender and brandied red fruit. From a very warm year, it developed maturity early and is apparent by its mouthfeel, cloaked in silky tannins. Mediterranean herbs have an underlying presence, adding a subtle spice to ripe raspberry on the finish.
A lushly generous licorice-coated blockbuster, flooding the palate with blackberry preserves and sprinkled with black pepper. An accomplished mountain Cab with gracious tannins and balanced oak.
Black-peppered cherries, graphite, tobacco, and roasted coffee are greeted by arching tannins which demonstrate a fine backbone for this juicy, demonstrative red.
Produced by Scheid Family Vineyards and sustainably farmed, a small touch of Viognier, Pinot Manseng, and Pinot Blanc are added in, with a balanced abv of 13.5%. Toasty, with vanilla marshmallow and baked pear. Rich and viscous with fine acidity.
The wine is produced by Scheid Family Wines and sustainably farmed. Two percent Syrah is blended in. It exhibits an earthy, woodsy start, with cherry cedar and cinnamon red tea. Silky and juicy.
Tangerine and plumeria are accented by a fine acidity and minerality. Pleasingly juicy, with apricot and green tea on the finish.
With a freshness undiminished by its largesse (and vice versa), the 25th vintage of La Grande Dame—a blend of 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay—is simply gorgeous as intense sensations of apple and pear lead the way to tangerine and lime flesh and peel, nectarine, pink ginger, a touch of strawberry, and subtleties of toffee-nut bread and spice. Its lilting cadence is punctuated by a saline streak that only elongates the resounding finish.