5/13/2024 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinners at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Popped and poured night 1, with over 1/2 bottle saved for night 2

Elegant, almost ethereal nose with soft gloved power on the palette. Long finish. Mature but far from fading, it came in stronger and more complete after spending a night in the fridge. Night 1 it was a little disjointed, probably due to being P&P (not my usual approach for Nebbiolo). But on night 2 the wine was on point. Reminded me why I love barbaresco.

3/2/2024 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Tasted at several points over the evening.

This is increasingly becoming my favorite of the Bedrock whites, so distinctive and rewarding. The 2020 is perhaps not the best vintage of this wine (understandable given the challenges), but it's still a pleasure on both intellectual and pure enjoyment levels.

3/2/2024 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Opened 1/2 hour prior to serving.

My first of the 2017s. Usually my favorite bottling from Ultramarine, this was solid and imminently drinkable, almost too easy compared to earlier vintages. Not quite as complex, pause-inducing. Could be due to the (warm) vintage, its relative youth, or the fact that I had only one glass of the wine and didn't get to observe it over the course of the evening. Not complaining, but I do look forward to trying it and other 2017s in the coming years.

3/2/2024 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From magnum purchased and stored since release. Decanted and returned to bottle about six hrs before serving. Decanted again prior to serving.

Superb soulful barolo. Some of the 750ml were hit or miss over the years, but the magnum was spot on and singing. Beautiful classic and nuanced on the nose, open but with nice tannic spine on the palate. Long, varied finish. Wish I had more in this format. The sediment pour, left in the glass for 24 hrs, was still alive and vibrant. I would bet this could evolve positively for a few more years at least, but then again why wait if you have it.

5/20/2023 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased from Chambers St Wines a number of years ago. Popped and poured.

Beautiful out of the gate. Lovely mature No. Rhone syrah, with age having softened, but not eliminated, the signature granite stern-ness of Hermitage. Definitely pulling towards burgundy with age.

1/26/2023 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Coho, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Popped and poured.

Superb Chablis, an explosion of minerals, high toned fruit and deeper white/yellow floral notes on the nose. Round yet incisively vivid mouthfeel, with endless finish of repeating mineral and quinine notes on the finish. Beautiful wine, with a long life ahead of it

12/29/2022 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Decanted 2 hours prior to serving.

Beautiful expression of Barolo. Classic old school wine from Brunate. Highly perfumed, but powerful. Would have benefited from a longer decant, based on how the wine unfolded over the evening.

10/13/2022 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Cafe at Chez Panisse, Berkeley, CA. From 750ml purchased from importer. Popped, decanted and poured.

A wine to remember. Made hitting the 50 year mark seem not so old, given the life in this bottle. Mature but still clearly within the plateau of enjoyable drinking. Shame it was my last bottle.

9/30/2022 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release in US. Decanted and returned to bottle 6 hrs prior to serving.

A stunning wine, exploding from the glass with an enthralling mix of pure fruit, flowers and soil. Long engaging finish. Paired perfecting with grilled tritip. Fully open at this point, although no hint of decline on the horizon. This is why one cellars wines….

7/7/2022 - Ben F wrote:

Dinner at the Lumberyard, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased en primeur. Opened 1 hour prior to consuming.

Closed, and not showing much other than slightly mellow primary fruit and hints of complexity. Interesting to check in on it, but will not disturb my remaining bottles of this wine for many years. While a long decant or slowox would have been helpful, my guess is that this is just too young right now for my palate. Rating deferred.

4/24/2022 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Opened 1 hr before serving.

This wine was singing tonight. Beautiful multifaceted nose, floral, gravelly, with a core of mature red fruits. Complexity carried through across the palate, with a long, varied finish. Drinking well now. Paired well with local grilled lamb loin with fresh thyme/oregano. Last bottle from a case purchased in my early wine buying days. Memorable.

3/3/2022 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. Opened 1 hour before serving. From 750ml. Cellared since release in US.

I look forward to trying this over two nights, especially given the raw power and tannin typical of this wine and producer. A very promising first evening. While still vigorously youthful in many respects, it is starting to show positive signs of secondary development, with a touch of softness from age rounding off the edges and allowing more floral and earthy notes to come to the fore. At this point in its evolution, I can start to see where the “barolo of the south” moniker comes from. Outstanding wine.

3/2/2022 - Ben F wrote:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Poured 1/2 hour after opening and imbibed over three hours. Cellared since release.

This wine has come together beautifully over the last year. Super expressive but nuanced/delicate pinot fruit, with taut acidity providing verve and structure. Really enjoyed the interplay of fruit and minerality on the finish. Refreshing and complex. A memorable sparkling wine.

4/16/2021 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release.

Opened and decanted for an hour. Hard as nails until the end of the evening some three hours later. Just beginning to open aromatically, and in need of food on the palate. This wasn't close to approachable. Will see how it is again this evening after a day in the fridge. Will leave my remaining bottles in the cellar for a few more years.

4/12/2021 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley,CA. From 750 purchased on release.

After a few lackluster turns with Rhys wines, this mountain pinot was a wholly different—and immensely positive—experience. Captivatingly complex nose, with intense yet transparent pure red fruit transitioning seamlessly into loamy soil notes, and incipient florality playing at the edges of the glass. Palate is intense, almost overly so, but with a lightness that suggests it will resolve positively with some more age. Definite upside to laying this wine down longer.

3/2/2021 - Ben F Does not like this wine:

Dinners at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release from winery.

An opulent and dense wine, with heavy tropical notes and buttery mouthfeel kept from being overly syrupy by moderate acidity and some peppery minerality. Lacks real tension or grip. A bit boring for my palate to be honest. Not entirely consistent with other SCM chardonnays I've had from this producer, so perhaps this vintage or bottle is an outlier.

3/3/2021 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Decanted and returned to bottle mid-afternoon.

Fantastically fresh, vivid and transparent. Crazily engaging and satisfying nose. Surprisingly sweet youthful fruit on the palate, complicated by strong pulses of minerality and classic tar and floral rose notes. Surprisingly large scaled, but not heavy or tiring. Could use more detail on the finish, but I'd bet that will come with more time. Thoroughly enjoyable, even when finishing the glass after dinner without food. In its early window of approachability.

2/27/2021 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened 1/2 hr prior to serving. Takeout from Atelier Crenn.

A definite step up in complexity from the regular bottling, based on my experience. We enjoyed a bottle of the 2012 BdB a couple of years ago, and have willfully imbibed more recent vintages of the same, but this was another level. The subtlety that LD seems to have coaxed from the wine was enthralling. Highly recommended.

12/15/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and slow-oxed an hour prior to dinner.

Beautiful pure expression of Syrah. Meatier and fuller than prior bottles, but with a sense of lift and tension that keeps it from being heavy or ponderous. Drinking well, but still evolving positively in bottle. Will see where the journey goes next.

12/14/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home (where else?), Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml.

Opened and served 1/2 hr later. A pure and translucent wine, with a crystalline, understated expression of grape and soil. Bright and floral, pairing a savory element and minerality that creates a feeling of weightlessness with a candied cherry core that is never heavy or syrupy. I am enthralled with Angela’s touch with Grenache.

11/8/2020 - Ben F wrote:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml.

Opened 1 hr prior to dinner. Nice, correct wine, much in the mold of most Rhys wines I've tried. Finely made, but lacking real character, tension or detail.

10/12/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Takeout dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml.

Surprisingly golden color that hints at the richness to come. Fuller style for sure, with what I’d guess is a significant aged component. On the nose and palate, the wine is beautifully etched with a significant but interwoven acidic frame, giving a more mid weight feel to the flavor richness. I really like it although typically prefer a tauter style.

10/12/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Takeout dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Decanted 1hr prior to serving.

I was a bit apprehensive not having opened this wine well in advance, given my other ‘96 experiences. But this wine was accessible from first pour after a short decant. And what a beautiful wine it is. Pure, floral and harmonious, with ample fruit lifted by the tannic core. Most ‘96s need more time for my palette, but this was ready and superb.

8/3/2017 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and slow ones for 1 hr prior to serving.

Stunningly beautiful wine. Vivid, complex and alive. I could write a more detailed note but would not capture all that is going on here. Drinking superbly, with potential to hold further (if I can keep my hands off the rest).

6/30/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home (where else), Mill Valley. From 750ml. Opened and allowed to breath for an hour.

First bottle from 1/2 case purchased on release. Beautiful glass-filling nose of barbaresco perfume, with characteristic Rabaja boldness etched with pretty foral and mineral notes. Probably one of the most aromatic wines we've opened of late. While enjoyable now youthful tannins notwithstanding, the palate hints at more complexity to come. Great early showing of a special wine.

3/17/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Home/Office/School, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Popped and poured.

Quarantine Day 1. Feeling good that I made it to offsite wine storage before the lockdown, we opened a decent bottle to share over dinner. Golden color. Beautiful nose of ripe pit fruit, with an opulent creamy heft on the palate but fully alive with a real current of acidity and the trademark Donnhoff tension. A different expression than the vineyards I usually buy from this domain. Given the fruit expression of Dellchen, I can see why they shifted this to GG trocken in more recent vintages. Really outstanding with plenty of bottle evolution possible. Will hold my remaining bottles.

1/13/2020 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinners at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Enjoyed over several evenings.

Pure, crystalline expression of cabernet franc, with a stony crunchy underpinning. A lithe midweight, medicinal in its tightly wound personality the first evening but more open and floral the second. Beautiful singular expression of Loire cabernet.

12/17/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml bought on release. Opened 1 hr prior.

This wine has finally shed its baby fat and is hitting its stride. An elegant if still untamed expression of CdP terroir. Ripe, slightly funky/Mourvèdre fruit avoids the sweet jamminess often associated in my mind with the appellation, which is enlivened by a core of dark florality across the palate and mineral stony notes that add lightness to the feel of the wine. Beautiful right now.

12/2/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner with friends, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Opened and decanted prior to serving.

Wonderful mouthfeel and presence, but not too revealing on the nose and finish. I really should have opened and decanted this at least an hour in advance.

12/1/2019 - Ben F wrote:

Dinner with friends, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Decanted and returned to bottle 2 hrs prior to serving. Decanted again 1/2 hour prior to service.

A burley, warm wine. The nose was far more nuanced and engaging than the palate, which struck me as dense, jammy and basically impenetrable at this point. Vintage notwithstanding, I would give this more time to open than I did. That or let it rest for another 10 years to see if its charms unfold with time. Given the producer, I'll give the wine the benefit of the doubt, but at this point it's not showing well.

11/23/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at La Ginestra, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened, decanted and returned to bottle 1 hr prior to serving.

After a couple of rather boring bottles the past few years, this wine is finally starting to show some life and nuance. It’s definintely in the dark fruited style of the vintage, but has nascent florality and deep soil notes, with glimpses of redder fruits. Still tannic and young, but finally showing promise.

11/21/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Belcampo, Larkspur, CA. From 750ml purchased on release. Popped and poured.

Powerful expression of Teroldego. Ever changing in the glass, this swung from dense Syrah like savory notes to a stern almost impenetrable wall of fruit. Notwithstanding its formidable exterior, there was plenty of nuance, spice and complicating soil notes that elevated the experience. Wish I had more to age, as this is a fascinating wine to follow in the glass. Not your average Teroldego.

11/19/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml.

Wonderful mature syrah. In a great place, but no rush to drink.

11/18/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Popped and poured.

Vintage label had disappeared but the cork included the year. An intoxicating mix of plush lanolin and yellow stone fruits dappled with complicating savory kräuter and pepper notes. Round and viscous in the mouth, coating the palate with beautifully mature fruit and rocky soil notes. Thoroughly enjoyable. Hard to believe it’s 33 years old. But for the deep yellow color, I would have guessed it was barely a teenager.

10/14/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinners at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and enjoyed over two evenings.

Note to self: I should have read my own tasting note from last year before pulling the cork on this. Way too young, almost painfully austere the first evening but not without its charms. The second night it had put on weight, but still had a clenched medicinal core. Good juice but needs time to unfurl.

10/13/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Decanted early afternoon and returned to bottle. Decanted again prior to serving.

Hard not to smile when enjoying this wine. Engagingly complex, balanced and true to place. There is an aromatic wildness to this wine that breaks free from the foursquare Baroli that I’ve had of late. Wonderful, and based on this bottle the wine is certainly enjoyable now but with plenty of potential to develop further positively for years.

10/13/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinners at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and enjoyed over two evenings.

Beautiful and engaging, with great tension and energy. The interplay of white floral and pit fruit notes with deeper tones of lanolin nuttiness, kept alive with terrific bright acidity and minerality on the palate, was particularly striking. Approachable now but it seems to me this could evolve positively for a few more years.

9/17/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Poured shortly after opening.

A nice, midweight village-level Burgundy that seems to be just entering early maturity. Rounder and fuller than expected, initially almost jarringly so when combined with the barrel notes. But this dissipated after a 1/2 hour in the glass to reveal a wine with complicating floral and slight stem notes that offset the core of fruit. Memorable for its impeccable balance on the palate. Unpretentious, but satisfying.

8/25/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Popped and poured.

A wine of place. Bold, roasted fruit dominated by a wild gamey Mourvèdre funk that played off the sweet kirsch liqueur of Grenache. At the same time remarkably perfumed and imbued with a warm stone minerality across the palate. A pleasure.

8/22/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Farmshop, Larkspur, CA. Popped and poured from 750ml.

This needed an hour to open up, but was superb once it did. The interplay of bright acidity with subdued lanolin and almond notes and tingling minerality was very attractive.

8/15/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Opened, decanted and returned to bottle for 6 hrs slow-ox. Opened and decanted at restaurant.

Closed, not showing much right now. A complete contrast to the last bottle two years ago. Will let these rest for a while.

8/9/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner in Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened 1/2 hour prior to serving. From a K&L wine offering. Medium shoulder.

Cork was colored up to the seal, but wine was intact. After the initial bottle funk blew off, this was a real treat. Surprising full bodied and ripe for a 70's Ridge, it wore its 14.5% abv well, but perhaps lacked a bit of nuance and precision. The wine note from Paul Draper on the back label states that due to the ripeness that year much of the Montebello fruit was reclassified into this bottling. Regardless, this 100% cab sauvignon was a beautiful expression of Santa Cruz mountain fruit and seemed timeless. No rush on my last bottle.

7/4/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Home, Mill Valley, CA. Popped and poured. Imbibed over three evenings.

First night this wine seemed stewed and past its prime. After letting the glass sit for over an hour it didn’t improve, just seemed pruny and tired. Disappointing for sure.

What a difference a day of resting in the fridge made. I thought for sure the wine would be even more dried out and unengaging. However, by the second evening the wine had come to life, exuding mature Pinot fruit enveloped in a complex nose of soil and underbrush. No prune or stewed notes in evidence, in complete contrast to the prior night. One large pour remainder for the third evening. I expected it to be past its prime by then, but the wine was even more detailed and engaging albeit a little past optimal drinking.

A very illuminating experience. I would not based on the first evening’s showing have thought this wine just needed extended breathing time, but I was mistaken. The next bottle will get an extended slow-ox before serving.

7/2/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. Opened and enjoyed over two nights. From 750ml.

A solid if somewhat reticent and ultimately unengaging showing. My hope is that the wine is in a dumb phase, as it certainly seemed to have the legs to go much further. It lacked nuance and lift, just very clunky at present.

6/10/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. Bottle purchased on release. From 750ml.

I wasn’t sure how this wine would be, having had some variability between bottles and vintages over the years. But while fully mature the wine was still fresh and clean, with a lanolin mineral streak that I associate with aged chenin. Quite nice.

6/15/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and consumed over three hours.

Last bottle of the 2007 Littorai from my cellar. In a beautiful spot right now. Mature and resolved but still with engaging tension between intense spice/dark fruit and good cut. Decidedly light on its feet, with brown soil and mineral notes emerging on the finish. Real Pinot character. Grew increasingly and incredibly floral and piney towards the end, like a North Coast forest. Memorable.

6/1/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened 1 hr prior to serving.

Captivating, intense florality leaps from the glass, with wilder but elegant mature fruit, game and soil notes providing depth. Medium bodied with a long finish enlivened by minerality. Best bottle yet and probably at peak.

5/1/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml.

My last bottle of the '07 summa. Opened several hours prior to my late arrival home from work, a glass equivalent was left in the bottle for my enjoyment, giving the wine the opportunity to fully unfold. Simply beautiful and memorable.

5/2/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml

Opened and decanted two hours prior to serving. A singular expression of Santa Cruz--and California--cabernet. Pure, vivid, lithe, with classic old world bell pepper notes on the nose and a beaming core of intense bright red/black fruit on the palate. Great minerality and florality on the nose and finish. Still potential on the upside. Will let my last bottle from this vintage rest for a while yet.

5/4/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine:

Dinner at Le Comptoir, San Rafael, CA. From 750ml.

Popped and poured, this was accessible from opening and blossomed over the course of the evening. Classic cote-rotie smoke and wild game/damp fur aromas, with a core of dark red fruit and complicating cracked tellicherry pepper and purple flower aromas. Very nice and definitely entering its drinking window.