5/15/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Wild strawberry preserves—kinda just a one-note wine, but it’s lovely. Seems to be lacking acidity and doesn’t have the hallmark earthy spices or complexity Ribbon Ridge is known for.

5/14/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Black cherry, cinnamon, rhubarb, vanilla bean, and tons of acidity. Better with more air, and better on day 2. A farmer’s wine that barely makes it out of the valley.

5/12/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Red candy apple, seaweed, dark chocolate cayenne truffle, and whole-cluster steminess on the nose. Palate has sweet black cherry, boysenberry, and plenty of acidity. Stephen Goff is the winemaker at Colene Clemens and clearly knows what he’s doing.

5/11/2024 - Giggs wrote:

This is young and austere, very McMinnville. Lots of lavender and mint on the nose, then cinnamon and cola with more air. On the palate, sour cherry and chalky mineral are clamped down by wild, drying tannin. Needs a few years at least, but probably 10.

5/7/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Needs a half hour of air to open up, but the initial pungent sour red fruits soon coalesce into a sophisticated, structured, masculine wine. Black cherry, cola, evergreen pine, pastille candy. Surely will gain some flesh with a few more years in the bottle. Only 75 cases though.

5/6/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Grape Nerds, pencil shavings, canned prunes. Complex, charmingly austere, if flabby.

5/1/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. Yeah, it’s mature, but not sure I’d say fading. Heavily oaked and the oak is fully integrated, presenting as chocolate and mesquite, with big notes of blueberry/blackberry compote. Not the first word on complexity—this is all about fruit power and mouthfeel. Now-2027

4/23/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Smoked meat, olive juice, a natural freshness to the berry fruit that gives a freshly pressed impression. It's a simple, everyday style yet with surprising nuance and complexity.

4/23/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Anne Krebiehl’s excellent review from 2016 in WE is dead on. Apples and citrus. Now the herbal character on the nose presents as freshly cut weedy grasses, and there’s a mature beeswax component to the palate. Years of life left.

4/20/2024 - Giggs wrote:

This is great winemaking in a high-yielding vintage. Obviously the concentration isn’t that of a better vintage, but oh man this is balanced and precise and keeps getting better each glass. Wonderfully delineated flavors, archetypal of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir: brown earthy spices, cola, red apple skin, slightly sour cherry, wild raspberry, pastille candy. Super-fine tannins and still plenty of acidity to go four or five more years. Now-2029

4/18/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Tons of mineral on the nose, like a pungent, natural-springs level of salty rock mineral. Palate has lychee, sweet corn, maybe some white pineapple but not tropical. Laser focused acidity on the back end. Fantastic complexity for the price point.

4/16/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Lovely wine that does a good Northern Rhône impression. Nose of freshly picked white and purple flowers, blueberries, wet stone and clay, and a meatiness between bacon and salami. Tons of acidity almost overwhelms the palate, but the sweet floral and blueberry character carries over. I’d suggest at least a couple more years for the acidity to relax and drink 2026-2036.

4/14/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Classic Barossa nose, ripe blackberry, baker’s chocolate, brown sugar. Tannins fully resolved. Just great.

4/11/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Very classy wine, very Marche in character. Pink bubblegum, mulled red plum, clove, and chocolate-covered almonds on the nose. Medium-bodied palate, Kirschwasser, rawhide, orange peel, fine tannins.

4/9/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Now it’s starting to decline.

4/7/2024 - Giggs wrote:

On-lees, burnt orange color, tart pet nat style, cider notes, fierce acidity.

4/6/2024 - Giggs wrote:

This is a fantastic young wine. Nose leads with an almost liqueur-like black cherry, red apple skin, allspice, and finally a twiggy/wet leaves note. Palate has so much concentration and balance: black cherry, maybe some raspberry with an earthy forest edge, subtle and integrated oak treatment, good acidity. I’m sure this will drink nicely for its entire lifetime, but it’s really asking for 5+ years in the cellar. Lucky you to have a bottle around 2029-2033.

4/5/2024 - Giggs wrote:

This is insane! Slightly reduced/honeyed pineapple, apricot, and lime give it a waxy, tropical sweetness, with salty sea shell and grass clippings adding to the fascinating complexity. The lime/citrus acidity overwhelms the finish and leaves a chalky mineral aftertaste. Given the acid, this surely has many more years ahead of it, 5 years at least.

4/2/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Maybe a little acidified?

4/1/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Lovely wine with restraint, balance, and all the hallmarks of Cab Franc. Finishes a bit flabby.

3/31/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Needs a few more years for the oak to fully integrate.

3/29/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Splash decanted and back into the bottle, then it took three hours before it suddenly went from quiet and weedy to brawny with brown sugar-edged black cherry. An interesting wet paint note on the nose. Keeps getting better and better with more air, adding more sweetness to the fruit. It definitely has a touch of sour-fruited character of the rainy 2013 vintage, but there’s enough quality and complexity to balance it out. Mature but doesn’t act like it will be declining anytime in the next few years.

3/27/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Nose blends brown earthy spices with sweet perfumed florals and raspberry-cherry. Kinda has this soapy character that smooths out the underlying texture; I think the soapy note is the acidity that still needs a few years to relax. I’d guess peak around 2028.

3/24/2024 - Giggs wrote:

This is world class. So much matchstick and gunflint creating a pungent minerality that almost comes across as spicy, plus delicate Meyer lemon cream, vervy acidity, and oak effortlessly integrated in the background. It’s a special wine.

3/23/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Fascinating wine, extremely high acid, light body, opens up with air to reveal wild strawberry, just ripe enough. Acts like a cooler-climate Piemontese wine.

3/22/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Sour-fruited like many of the 2013s. Nice texture, though not much depth.

3/22/2024 - Giggs wrote:

All the other reviews really nail it. Great wine. I’m not sure I’d guess Zinfandel right off the bat, but it’s definitely Napa. Reminds me of La Jota Howell Mountain Merlot in style: lush fruit, lots of acidity, wild/austere tannins.

3/18/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Very solid as usual for this bottling.

3/17/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Too candy sweet and lacking a sense of place like so many Washington wines. The nose is more restrained and sophisticated than the palate. I’d love to ask the winemaker about picking a little earlier. If feasible, I can imagine trading some sweetness for more acidity would be beneficial.

3/16/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Awesome right out of the gate but quickly declines with air. Had the exotic red currant, mint, and mature chocolaty oak combo but evolved into more V8/tomato.

3/16/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Really polished, and to such a degree that it smooths out a lot of the rusticity that I love about the region. That being said, it’s excellent wine. There’s an intense candy apple and crushed red raspberry liqueur-like sweetness and weight to the mouthfeel, some pastille/Sweet Tarts flavor to the edges of that fruit, fresh cut mint and herb grasses, and mineral/iron shavings. Powerful, concentrated, and has years of life left, to 2029 at least.

3/16/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Seems to be on a plateau of maturity, but unfortunately this bottle was barrel-marked (corky). Putting that flaw aside, the wild red plum/cherry fruit and mouthfeel are pretty nice. It would likely be a 90- to 91-pointer on my scale.

3/15/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Perfectly at peak drinking right now. Masculine profile with fully integrated oak, dark spices, black currant/berry fruit, butterscotch, damp forest floor, finishes with sweet ripe blackberry and a subtle tannic flourish that ratchets up the authenticity. Sensational.

3/9/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Young. Try in 2026, target 2032.

3/9/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Presents as a couple years past peak drinking, but no question there’s some quality here. Typical 2012 restrained fruit personality, tons of the Ribbon Ridge brown spice, molasses, and an astringent finish that’s kinda hollow in terms of fruit at this stage—if only you could turn back the clock.

3/8/2024 - Giggs wrote:

This is really good. An unpretentious Piemontese style. Needs a few years.

3/1/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Opens up and gains fruit intensity over a few hours of air, Malbec-dominant profile on the nose and more of the Merlot on the palate, wonderful fruit intensity with medium weight, well made, though slightly flabby on the attack and finish, perhaps lacking the acidity it probably had 2-3 years ago. Still would love to have a few of these to drink over the next year with 3-4 hours decanting.

2/29/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Black-fruited, typical Ribera del Duero style that you find in Yakima, heavily oaked, lots of pepper and woodspice, truckloads of capsicum.

2/21/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Decanted 2 hours. This is just now entering early maturity. Nose of earthy spices, sour cherry, pink Starburst, damp forest floor, tree sap. Palate has tangy dark red fruit, plenty of acidity, well-integrated oak notes that blend into a brown spice-accented finish. I’d guess 2026-2030 will be peak drinking.

2/14/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Dark and brooding Nebbiolo profile with a light- to medium-bodied presentation, more vegetal than fruity, with a complex mix of leather, chalk, rosemary, tangerine, wet stone, and crushed violets.

2/14/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Fantastic. Deep pomegranate, pungent red cherry skin, Barbaresco finish. Really good now and will be nuts in 2028.

2/12/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Lots of oak, which needs a couple years to integrate. Drinking it today with a couple hours decanting, the oaky brioche and bourbon notes do eventually blow off to reveal ripe cranberry and brown spices. There’s a lot of quality to the presentation but not much complexity, or at least the oak is concealing any complexity that might be hiding underneath. Drink 2026-2030.

2/11/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Complex nose of sweet plum, cranberry, evergreen, mushroom. Medium-bodied palate, woodspiced plum, rawhide, green tannins on the finish. Has years to go and could see it improving by a point or two in a few years.

2/4/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Second bottle acts like all the other reviews. Still puzzled by the 2/1/2024 bottle because it definitely didn’t seem flawed, just all acid and tannin.

2/3/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Really good but lacking another notch of depth or complexity that would have made it great. Sweet perfume, blue to black fruits, a very Santa Barbara County Syrah profile.

2/2/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Eucalyptus and peppered beef jerky on the nose. Green olive palate. Quality is high, but it’s very young and needs at least 3-4 years, ideally 10.

2/1/2024 - Giggs wrote:

High acidity and tannic, all the usual Gigondas character, just thin and austere. Maybe it has shut down? I’ll try another bottle to confirm.

1/26/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Goes from acid water to pretty fascinating wine in about 2 hours of decanting. Probably could use 6+ hours. Grenadine, sarsaparilla, integrated oak, rhubarb, wild mint.

1/13/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Classic Orcia blend of 87% Sangiovese, 10% Foglia Tonda, 3% Merlot. This is similar to Colombini’s Cenerentola, which in 2016 I think was too heavy on the Foglia Tonda (35%) and is already on the downslope. The Arcere is fresher, fuller-bodied, and more expressive with juicy wild cherry and plum, the Foglia Tonda giving it an inky sappiness and tannic frame, and the French oak treatment giving nutmeg, cloves, and charcoal smoke. I’d say it’s drinking right on peak today and should sit on this plateau for another 12-18 months.

1/8/2024 - Giggs wrote:

Mature and drinking very well. Nose develops with air over the course of a couple hours, starting with wild strawberry jam and rhubarb and gaining intensity to present as ripe cranberry-cherry, perhaps even red raspberry. The palate picks up these notes and has plenty of acidity, tannins are resolved or otherwise hidden beneath fruit that comes across as ideally ripe, then a nice seaweed/saline note in late palate. Drink now-2026