3/30/2024 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Drank on steak night; dark, opaque red color, blackberry nose and taste, ripe but not overripe, still our favorite Turley zin and this was an exceptional bottle. Not too early, not too late. May try breaking my "no more than five years" rule for Turley zins for the last bottle.

7/27/2023 - twoamps wrote:

found a long-lost bottle; wanted to just dump it but was convinced to try it. Really, had held up surprisingly well when first opened, but faded fast, like within 20 minutes was completely tawny and well and truly oxidized. Reminded me of an oxidative Portuguese wine from Cartuxa that was wonderful when opened, but a day later, undrinkable.

12/31/2022 - twoamps wrote:

12/31/2022 drank with a nice chateaubriand on NYE. Disappointing. 2 hour decant, some settled sediment, red throughout, but very thin, hollow, and lifeless. Not corked, not oxidized, but not very good and very atypical for a MB. Had been stored at 55 throughout, so dunno what went wrong. Still holding out hope for the other bottle in a few years...

12/31/2022 - twoamps wrote:

Please ignore my previous tasting note; it was intended for the 2014 Monte Bello we actually drank.

4/24/2020 - twoamps Likes this wine:

very dark, almost opaque, red, a little fine sediment. Lots of dark fruit, clearly very highly extracted but getting bit muted now. Enjoyable ut probably near the end of its window, at least as I would define it.

4/17/2020 - twoamps Likes this wine:

good color, zero sediment. Medium fruit, mostly cherry, a little coffee maybe. Full but not chewy finish. Much better than the bottle from a couple years ago. Too bad it's my last. Could have waited a few more years, but I liked the way it is now.

4/18/2020 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Drk red, zero sediment, good fruit, a little chocolate, a little leather and tobacco, surprisingly big finish. Picked a good time to drink this bottle, and can still wait a bit to drink the one remaining.

4/19/2020 - twoamps wrote:

Surprisingly lightweight, thin and acidic. Not the LC norm, may have been a bad bottle but zero evidence of cork taint.

12/31/2019 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Not my best monte bello. Good dark red color, no tawny at all. Some grainy sediment. Muted and a bit lifeless with almost no finish. Maybe just a tiny bit corked, maybe just an off bottle.

5/21/2018 - twoamps wrote:

this particular bottle was not my favorite. A bit too thin and bright. Loved it at the tasting room, though, so this may be a one-off.

5/23/2018 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Yup, it's everything I expect LC Problem Child zin. The fruit, a dash of pepper, just bright enough. That's the stuff. Drink now.

5/25/2018 - twoamps Likes this wine:

deep deep red, zero sediment. Nose and first impressions of black cherry and blackberry. Highly extracted but not over the top. Nice finish with no heat. One of my recent favorites. Paired perfectly with a bacon wrapped filet.

1/20/2018 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Typical Ridge Lytton Springs; lots of cherry and grape fruit up front (but not over extracted by any means), a tour through the briar patch and pepper trees in the middle, and some really chewy tannins at the finish. Has been my favorite Ridge Zin since the 70s and this did nothing to change that opinion.

12/15/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

big ripe fruit without veering into jam. Some nice zin pepper. The alcohol was well hidden. A really nice Turley in the house style.

12/31/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

in theory, waaaaay too old. Actually, it has turned into a really nice dessert wine. Some of the sweetness has faded and it's a little more tawny than it was a decade ago, but it still reminded me of a decent sauterne.

12/31/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

clear, dark ruby red, no brick, firm sediment which settled quickly. Decanted for an hour. A rich nose of blackberry, something like soy sauce, and an aromatic wood (no, not oak. that came later). Tasted of chocolate and blueberry with spice and earth and (finally) oak further on. A soft but long chewy finish. A great wine for a NYE steak dinner. This particular bottle (my one and only) was certainly ready to drink now. Well, ready for ME to drink now. I seem to like my wines a bit younger than some of y'all. Your mileage may vary.

10/7/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Just what we'd expect from a slightly-aged Hayne Zin. Held up quite well; still fruit forward but with some of the earthiness that comes from a couple years in the cellar. I'm still sticking to my 5-year-max-rule for zins, especially Turley zins.

9/3/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

dark ruby red, zero sediment, deep fruit and oak and a little earthy nose. An exceptionally big fruit forward cab, esp. for a 2010. Not over-extracted at all, just a nicely balanced big cab (to go with a big steak), a real mouthful with good blackberry and a nice but not too chewy finish. Still has a long way to run.

9/2/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

cranberry juice red, zero sediment, nose of blackberry and old oak. Bitter cherry, medium bodied, versatile pinot, not over the top in any dimension. Went nicely with salmon and green beans. Drinking well now, but still has a year or two left in it.

6/30/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

A really excellent fruit-forward zin, very much in the style of Proulx's neighbors at Linne Calodo and Turley. Ripe but not over-ripe, jammy without getting too plummy, balanced nicely with a good structure and backbone, plus enough peppery spice to know it's a zin. One of those rare wines that tasted wonderful at the winery visit AND a couple years later at home.

4/29/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

I can't remember not loving a Rafanelli Zin. Consistently excellent and an excellent example of straight up zinfandel; not too fruit forward, not too restrained, not too peppery, not jammy at all, just a wonderful California zinfandel...which also means I wouldn't let it sit around forever. Five years, tops is my rule.

5/17/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

old world, old school, not ready for prime time, not yet. Decanting would have helped; vacuvin for a couple of days definitely did.

5/13/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Yup, it's a Ridge Geyserville, which I'm starting to prefer to my old favorite Lytton Springs. It's also one of the few zins which seems to hold up more than 5 years (your mileage may vary). Still, it's drinking well now, so drink up.

5/5/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

what I expected--fruit forward, spice aft. Big but not over the top; time has probably softened it a bit. Held its own against a meaty dinner. Probably won't last forever; paso zins usually poop out after 5-7 years, and this one tastes like it's along the same path.

5/29/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

More restrained than I remember from tasting at the winery. That happens a lot, and I don't think it has anything to do with the wine, more to do with the difference between tasting a glass of wine at 10AM vs having it with dinner.

5/17/2017 - twoamps wrote:

rather tawny and brick-colored and tasted faded and much older than the vintage, I suspect poor storage

5/20/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Turley Hayne PS has always been my go-to wine with a fine steak dinner; something that can hold its own against everything else that's going on. This bottle, however, didn't have the oomph that I'm used to; it may just not have been ready yet.

5/28/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

dark red, clear, spice and berry on the nose, and on the palate, too. Fruit forward, but not too much; nicely balanced by a layer of loam and pepper on the finish. One of my favorite recent syrahs. It's good now; won't wait too long to drink the last bottles; 2019 or 2020 at the latest.

4/8/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Just what I'd expect from a Truly Paso/Dusi zin. Just jammy enough without veering into prunishness.

2/18/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

chocolate, black cherry, a little floral note, a really nice luscious mouthful. Some flaky sediment but nothing to worry about. We'll try the next bottle in 2020.

2/13/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

most of our pinots are russian river so an occasional bottle of Oregon pinot is a bit jarring, even when it's one of the bolder Oregon pinots like this one. Maybe it's just me right now, but several very different wines recently, including this one, have come across as much more restrained than I remember from previous tastings. Not bad, just not the knock-your-socks-off wine I was hoping for based on a winery tasting.

2/17/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

I remember this being a blockbuster zin at the winery, this bottle was a lot less fruit forward and definitely more acid than expected. (Edit: A subsequent bottle--my only other one--was wonderful; one of the two--hopefully this one--is an aberration.)

2/15/2017 - twoamps wrote:

not as robust as expected, still a nice paso zin

1/24/2017 - twoamps wrote:

fruit-forward, grenache-forward, very much a LC house style GSM. Has a few years left to go.

1/20/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

a nicely balanced, fruit forward petite syrah, but not the blockbuster I remembered from the first tasting.

1/21/2017 - twoamps Likes this wine:

one of the best Lytton Springs we've tasted in awhile. Raspberry, chocolate, smoke, loam, pepper, all of the above.

12/28/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Very fruit forward with dark cherry and plum. Not a lot of the pepperiness I'd expect from a Petite Sirah. Chewy, gritty finish.

12/30/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Very nice, still pretty young. Chocolate, coffee and earth. Not as overwhelming as most Monte Bellos but still a quite good bottle of wine. A good "food wine" which won't take over the palate.

9/17/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Drank side-by-side with a 2000 Lynch Bages over a red-meat dinner. An interesting comparison. Decanted and drank. Both similarly deep red, clear, very little sediment, no bricking at all. The two wines started out as you'd expect--the Lynch-Bages' minerality dominated, the Monte Bello was much more fruit forward, but as the evening went on, the Monte Bello fruit mellowed a bit as did the LB slatey-ness. The MB was wonderfully balanced, some tar and chocolate and cedar(?) notes, and quite a long, chewy finish. Has a long road ahead of it. At the end, the similarities between the two were more surprising than the differences. Still, our California palates preferred the MB.

9/17/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Drank side-by-side with a 2001 Monte Bello over dinner. An interesting comparison. Decanted and drank. Both similarly deep red, clear, very little sediment, just a tiny hint of brick at the edge. The two wines started out as you'd expect--the Lynch-Bages' minerality dominated, the Monte Bello was much more fruit forward, but as the evening went on, the Monte Bello fruit mellowed a bit as did the LB slatey-ness, revealing a cherry note. Nicely balanced, some tobacco and earth notes, and a good chewy finish. At the end, the similarities were more surprising than the differences. Still, our California palates preferred the MB by a note.

10/1/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Clear, dark red, zero sediment. Good for 2011. Took a while to open up. Fruit forward, raspberry and grape, nicely balanced, some chewy tannins on the finish, but not a "wow" wine like some Isosceles vintages are. Still, a really nice young cab blend, I just wouldn't wait too too long to drink it. Of course, that's my usual position.

8/21/2016 - twoamps wrote:

The reason we get G&L is because, sometimes, we really do want a 10 megaton zinfandel fruit bomb, something highly extracted to go with, and stand up to, some really highly flavored foods. This is not that wine. Recent vintages of G&L, including this one, have been rather nice, quite pleasant, don't-rock-the-boat, somewhat polished, multi-purpose zins. Nothing wrong with that, but, frankly, we can get that elsewhere. What happened to my weapons-grade fruit bombs?

8/20/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

clear, deep, deep purple, no sediment, dark fruit--blackberry, blueberry--and a little pepper up front, a mellow finish that faded quickly. An elegant turley PS, a wonderful wine with a big rib eye, but not a particularly memorable wine.

8/13/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Medium red, no brick. A bit of settled sediment. Decanted. Served with, and went well with, a prime new york strip. Nice ripe fruit, some earthiness, good backbone, and a soft but long finish. Not as young tasting as, say, a 2001 Monte Bello, but still, in my book, a perfectly aged bottle of Napa cab. I'm biased towards younger wines, so this one is at the tail end of my drinking window, but your mileage may vary.

8/6/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Opaque inky purple/black. Zero sediment. Giant full mouthful of fresh berry taste with a sturdy backbone and a long finish. One of my favorite wines this year.

5/13/2016 - twoamps wrote:

5/14/2016 What an odd wine. Not bad, just odd. Color was more pinot than zin--in fact, I had an open Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge to compare it to, and the Blue Slide Ridge was darker and more opaque than this. The nose up front was overwhelmingly fresh fruit and a little oak--reminded me very much of a barrel tasting. The nose mellowed out after decanting. The taste matched the nose--all about bright fruit--grape, cherry, berry, maybe even a little cranberry. Some, but not much of the obligatory zinfandel spice. The finish sorta kinda hid the 17.5% alcohol, which snuck back in an hour or so after dinner and put us right to sleep. I certainly wouldn't drive after a half bottle of this. How will it age? I have no idea. The high acidity and fresh fruit bodes well, but there may not be enough fruit to give it staying power. Frankly, I've stopped keeping highly extracted ripe zins--including Jackass Hill--more than 5 years. Too many disappointments.

4/22/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

medium red, medium body, medium dark cherry. A bit sharp.

4/23/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

Really, really jammy, but in a good way. Surprisingly so for a five year old LC zin.

4/11/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

dark red, some fine hard sediment coating the bottle. Decanted. Nice enough, but more earth than fruit, and not much of the typical zin spice.

4/5/2016 - twoamps Likes this wine:

cherry, huckleberry, pepper and chocolate. Sharp at first, chewy middle, then the tannins and pepper kick in. Pretty much what I'd expect from a young Ridge zin; a nice addition to the lineup.