Toeing the line separating rich from heavy, this satisfying Chardonnay features flavors of baked apples and orchard fruits accented with suggestions of caramel and vanilla. Its youth as a 2023 release works to its advantage for now, as the freshness of its fruit offsets the wood notes and keeps the aftertastes in balance.
A radiant red color accompanies aromas of Bing cherry and ripe strawberry. The mouthfeel is energetic and refreshing. This is a quaffer made with precision, with pleasant notes of wild cranberry, bramble fruit and a subtle hint of bay leaf.
Lush and creamy, with cinnamon toast and ripe pineapple. Buttered popcorn mid-palate is almost hedonistic but tamed thanks to a spark of fine acidity.
This third single vineyard spans 141 acres and rises to 1,000 feet above sea level. The farthest north of the three, the vineyard is situated near Cloverdale, gifted with the warmest temperatures in Alexander Valley. Its western facing slopes enjoy plenty of sunshine. Relative to the other two, Brothers is the most powerful expression with black cassis and a Napa-esque density. From its pecan pie nose to a dollop of dark fudge and a splash of Worcestershire, the wine is powered by ripeness, an engine purring with graphite, used saddle leather, and blackberry in aspic.
The winery’s first Sauv Blanc from Alexander Valley is a glistening beauty. Aged in stainless steel, 40% French oak, and one percent in a small tank that Winemaker Greg Morthole refers to as a “sideways concrete egg.”
The enhancement of a split of six percent Viognier and Semillon adds volume and aromatics, and the Sauvignon Musqué clone only intensifies the exotic nature of this complex white. Lemon sorbet and salinity whisper on first sip. Honeysuckle develops mid-way, lengthening the well-rounded palate feel. A squeeze of white grapefruit and ripe melon captivate on the finish. Sancerre-like with a dollop of California sun.
Un-fined and unfiltered, this wine, as are others in the Reserve tier, sourced from individual lots from specially selected estate vineyards in Sonoma County, including the winery’s own Cooley Ranch, Rockaway, and Brothers. This wine establishes a defining nature of purity of Cabernet Sauvignon, with structure, density, aromas, and color. Chocolate-covered roses, cassis, soy sauce, heather, slate, and minty raspberry parade up and down the palate along smooth tannins. Mid-point notes of jasmine and coconut-chocolate lead to a finish of sweet earth.
Crafted in the Artisan Cellar at Rodney Strong Vineyards, Symmetry is the ultimate nod to its name: the art of balance. The Bordeaux-style blend is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, with smaller proportions of the four other blending grapes, aged in 75% new French oak for 24 months. It also combines all the single vineyard wines and weaves it together with each vintage. The journey it took for this 2019 offering is a pattern of fleshy, perfumed complexity featuring the fresh herbs of a mountain forest, the intensity of dark and dried fruits, and the exotic floral notes of ylang ylang. Chocolate pecan and a whisper of dusty cedar linger on the silky finish. This is a pedigreed wine of style and substance.
Recognized in 1971 as the first vineyard in Alexander Valley to produce a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, the 63-acre Alexander’s Crown sits on an elevated hill over 350 feet, caressed the the breezes off the Pacific. It is perfumed with peach blossom, Luxardo cherry, jasmine, rosemary, and linden. On the palate, flavors of Mediterranean scrub, blackberry, tangerine bitters, and cherries wrapped around a candy cane, adhere to soft, sensual tannins. “This is the epitome of terroir in Sonoma County,” Seidenfeld pointed out as we tasted together. As the wine continued to open up, the flavors of blueberry jelly meshed with a luxe mocha creaminess. The elegant texture stays in my mind as I write this.