Hello, and Happy New Year. Welcome to this year’s first dig through the pile of wine samples that show up asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have crossed my doorstep recently.

This past week included a couple of nice wines from longtime Oregon producer Argyle, who are known, in particular, for their sparkling wines. This week I opened their “Extended Tirage” Brut which spends 10 years aging on the lees in the bottle before disgorgement and offers lovely mature notes of marzipan and salty apples. Argyle’s Spirithouse Chardonnay and Nuthouse Pinot Noir are also worth looking at, both offering nice expressions of minerality.

While we’re talking about sparkling wine, I also received the latest “1760” rosé from Champagne Lanson, which does what you want a rosé Champagne to do, offering up a blend of berry brightness and nice chalky crispness with a hint of citrus peel.

This week I’m also reviewing a bunch more wines from Ernest Vineyards, which I’ve written about over the last couple weeks of this Unboxed column. This week I’ve got their Trousseau, which used to be bottled under their now-retired Edaphos brand. This wine is a lovely expression of the variety from Alder Springs Vineyard, where they also get fruit for their wonderfully herbal and lean Cabernet Sauvignon. Their Syrah comes from the Palmer Vineyard, a site I’ve never heard of on the Western Sonoma Coast. Finally, I can highly recommend Ernest’s Pinot Noir from the Cleary Ranch. Both the 2021 and 2022 vintages are excellent, but I favor the slightly more sapid 2021.

Last but not least, I’d like to direct your attention to a new wine from Troon Vineyard, whose name appears with some regularity here. Their new bottling of the fairly obscure southern French variety, Negrette, was a lovely surprise, offering a taut, saline berry expression welded to both floral and herbal qualities and some lovely minerality.

Notes on all these below!

Tasting Notes

2013 Argyle “Extended Tirage Brut” Sparkling Wine, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Light gold in the glass with fine bubbles, this wine smells of marzipan and melted butter. A velvety mousse delivers wonderfully salty flavors of sea air, toasted sourdough, candied lemon zest, and baked apple. Bright and juicy with acidity but also creamy at the same time. Very pretty with a faint herbal bitterness that lingers in the finish. A blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay aged for 10 years on the lees before disgorging. 12.5% alcohol. 1500 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $85. click to buy.

2022 Argyle “Spirithouse” Chardonnay, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Light greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon curd and golden apples. Flavors of lemon curd, apple, and a touch of wet pavement have a nice stony quality, and decent acidity that sneakily seems to build in strength over time. 13% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $60. click to buy.

MV Lanson “1760 Le Rosé” Rosé Champagne Blend, Champagne, France
A light to medium orange-pink in color with medium-fine bubbles, this wine smells of rosehips, raspberries, and dried orange peel. A silky mousse delivers flavors of orange peel, hibiscus, dried herbs, and berries across the palate. There’s a crisp chalky quality to the wine, with excellent acidity. A blend of 53% Pinot Noir, 32% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Meunier mostly from the 2016 harvest and 50% from Premier and Grand Cru villages mixed with 35% reserve wines, all aged for 4 years in the bottle and disgorged January 2022. Bottled with 8 g/l dosage. 12.5% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $75. click to buy.

2023 Ernest Vineyards “Alder Springs Vineyard” Trousseau, Mendocino County, California
Light ruby in the glass with hints of garnet, this wine smells of mulberries, herbs, and sawdust. Powdery muscular tannins coat the mouth and stiffen as wet chalkboard, dried herbs, dried flowers, and berries sit fresh on the palate. Excellent acidity. Carbonically macerated in tank for 30 days. Aged in neutral oak for 6 months. 11% alcohol. 200 cases made. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $38. click to buy.

2022 Argyle “Nuthouse” Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of freshly turned earth, black raspberries, and cranberry compote. Darker cherry and raspberry flavors mix with earth and dried herbs as faint gauzy tannins coat the mouth. Hints of green herbs linger in the finish. Decent acidity. 13.8% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $65. click to buy.

2021 Ernest Vineyards “Cleary Ranch” Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry, pomegranate, and flowers. Gorgeous raspberry and floral flavors mix with sour cherry. Dried and fresh herbs mix with dried flowers and hints of dried citrus peel. Gauzy tannins and nice stony minerality. Fantastic acidity. Ferments with around 20% whole cluster in stainless steel and then spends 18 months in 38% new French oak. 12.8% alcohol. 160 cases made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $95. click to buy.

2022 Ernest Vineyards “Cleary Ranch” Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry, cherry, and a hint of brown sugar. Juicy raspberry and cherry flavors mix with more muscular tannins that gradually squeeze the palate. Excellent acidity and notes of dried herbs linger in the finish. Nicely stony quality. Ferments with around 20% whole cluster in stainless steel and then spends 18 months in 38% new French oak. 12.8% alcohol. 150 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $95. click to buy.

2021 Ernest Vineyards “Alder Springs Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino County, California
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of carob and cherry with hints of green herbs. Muscular tannins wrap around a core of bright cherry and plum mix with chopped green herbs and tobacco leaf. Bright, juicy acidity and wonderful earthy notes accompany green herbs and a hint of oak. Wonderfully light on its feet and fresh. Aged for 18 months in 100% new puncheons. 13.3% alcohol. 110 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $125. click to buy.

2021 Ernest Vineyards “Palmer Canyon” Syrah, West Sonoma Coast, California
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of unripe and ripe blackberries with hints of plum skin. Lightly grippy tannins wrap around a core of blackberry and black cherry. Sour cherry and unripe blackberry linger in the finish with the sweet kiss of oak. 14.2% alcohol. 55 cases made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $60.

2023 Troon Vineyard Negrette, Applegate Valley, Southern Oregon, Oregon
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of boysenberries, blueberries, and leather. Juicy flavors of dark berries, leather, and earth mix with some floral notes, dried herbs, and a faint salinity. Supple ghostly tannins add texture while excellent acidity keeps things bright. Lovely. 12.5% alcohol. Regenerative Organic Gold certified. Demeter Biodynamic certified. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $40. click to buy.