Hello and welcome to this week’s 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 number of excellent wines, including a few from Tasca d’Almerita, a venerable Sicilian producer, who make a line of sustainable wines called Tenuta Sallier de la Tour, their estate in Monreale, just outside of Palermo, Sicily. My favorites among those they sent this week are their brisk and snappy Inzolia as well as their lower-alcohol entry-level Syrah, and their supple and juicy Nero d’Avola. Their top-of-the-line Syrah was also decent, but it is unfortunately packaged in an overly heavy bottle.

Portuguese wine usually represents an outstanding value, and the two wines from Symington’s Quinta da Fonte Souto I received this week clearly demonstrate that. The saline, mouthwatering white wine and the mellow, complex red are both between $30 and $40 but drink like much more expensive bottlings.

I’m always excited when I see a box arriving from Nicolas Jay wines in Oregon. This collaborative project between Jean-Nicolas Méo (of Méo Camuzet in Vosne-Romanée) and entrepreneur Jay Boburg (founder of IRS Records) makes some of my favorite wines from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The two wines I’m reviewing this week are their Spirit Hill Chardonnay and their Nysa bottling of Pinot Noir, which is something of a secret bottling for them, I guess (perhaps mailing list only), as there’s no trace of it on their website. The Chardonnay is nervy, saline, and resinous, while the Pinot is sensuous, vibrant, and mouthwatering. I highly recommend both.

I’ve long been a fan of Georgian wine, but not too many bottles end up arriving at my door. I did get one recently, however, from Vazisubani Estate, a storied Georgian wine estate with a history going back to the late 1800s. They sent me their classic skin-contact, Qvevri-fermented blend of three top Georgian white grapes, Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, and Kisi. It offered all the pleasures of a well-made orange wine, plus a mysterious vanilla top note that I normally associated with oak aging, but in this case must come from the grapes.

Alma Rosa Winery was founded in 2005 by one of Santa Barbara County’s winemaking pioneers, Richard Sanford. The winery produces both Rhône and Burgundian varieties, but this week I’m highlighting their Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir. It’s a ripe, expressive interpretation of the grape that I think will make a lot of people happy.

Lastly, I’m happy to recommend a recent release from Raymond Vineyards in Napa Valley that they sell directly to consumers in their tasting room. It’s really quite well done: balanced, restrained in its use of oak, and delicious. It might not be that easy to find, but at $50, it represents an outstanding value from Napa, in an age where finding wine of any quality at that price point can be tricky.

That’s all for this week. Notes on all these wines below.

Tasting Notes

2024 Tasca d’Almerita “Tenuta Sallier de la Tour” Inzolia, Sicily, Italy
Palest gold in the glass, approaching colorless, this wine smells of citrus pith, wet chalkboard, and a hint of lemon cucumber. In the mouth, lemon cucumber, pomelo flesh, and lemon pith have a nice zip thanks to very good acidity. Clean and bright with a hint of green apple and cucumber in the finish. 12% alcohol. Certified B Corp. Sostain.it certified sustainable. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $20. click to buy.

2023 Quinta da Fonte Souto White Blend, Alentejo, Portugal
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine smells of candied lemon peel, white flowers, and honey. In the mouth, crisp and bright lemon curd and lemon zest flavors mix with a touch of lime leaf and dried herbs. Faintly saline and quite bright with excellent acidity. A blend of Arinto and Voisinho. 13% alcohol. Certified B Corp. Score: around 9. Cost: $37. click to buy.

2023 Nicolas Jay “Spirit Hill” Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Pale gold in color, this wine smells of pine resin and lemon oil and conifer boughs. In the mouth, saline flavors of lemon oil, green herbs, pink grapefruit, and white flowers vibrate with a wonderful intensity and crystalline purity. Very good acidity and length with an appealing hint of struck flint in the finish. Fermented with ambient yeasts and then aged for 15 months in French oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13% alcohol. 200 cases made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $89. click to buy.

2023 Vazisubani Estate “3 Qvevri” White Blend, Kakheti, Georgia
Light amber-gold in the glass, this wine smells of wet leaves, licorice root, dried orange peels, and apricot. In the mouth, apricot, licorice root, wet leaves, and notes of vanilla have a light grip to them and excellent acidity. Not sure where the vanilla is coming from, as this is a qvevri-fermented and aged wine, but there’s definitely a shot of that bright high note in the finish. A blend of 15% Rikatsiteli, 40% Mtsvane, and 45% Kisi. 13% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $25

2023 Nicolas Jay “Nysa” Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium garnet in the glass with a faint haze, this wine smells of candied raspberries, green herbs, and wildflowers. In the mouth, bright raspberry and green herb notes have a fantastic brightness thanks to excellent acidity. Hints of sour cherry and dried herbs emerge in the finish as gauzy tannins coat the mouth and stiffen slightly. Fermented with ambient yeasts and then aged for 15 months in French oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13.5% alcohol. 300 cases made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $172. click to buy.

2023 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Barbara, California
Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of ripe cherries and raspberries. In the mouth, ripe cherry, raspberry, and plum fruit have a supple texture and barely perceptible tannins. Plush, ripe, and crowd-pleasing, but missing a little edge of acidity that would make it more dynamic. 14.6% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $44. click to buy.

2020 Quinta da Fonte Souto Red Blend, Alentejo, Portugal
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of struck match, blueberries, baking spices, and sandalwood. In the mouth, fresh flavors of blackberries, black cherry, sawdust, and chopped herbs have a nice juiciness thanks to excellent acidity and a cardamom-inflected finish that is very compelling. A blend of Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Alfrocheiro. 14.5% alcohol. Certified B Corp. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $29. click to buy.

2022 Tasca d’Almerita “Tenuta Sallier de la Tour” Nero d’Avola, Sicily, Italy
Medium ruby in the glass with hints of garnet, this wine smells of cherries, underbrush, and licorice root. In the mouth, cherry and rootbeer notes mix with dried fennel seeds and dried cooking herbs, as a brisk acidity keeps things fresh and lively on the palate. Faint tannins. 13% alcohol. Certified B Corp. Sostain.it certified sustainable. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $20. click to buy.

2021 Tasca d’Almerita “Tenuta Sallier de la Tour – La Monaca” Syrah, Sicily, Italy
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberry pie, mocha, and chocolate. In the mouth, mocha and sweet oak flavors surround a core of blackberry and black cherry fruit that has a nice stony and earthy quality to it. The tannins are quite svelte and supple, but the wood has slightly compressed the wine and made the fruit less expressive. Notes of oak linger in the finish. Very little sign of the prodigious 15% alcohol. Certified B Corp. Sostain.it certified sustainable. But despite being “sustainable,” the wine is packaged in a bottle that weighs more than the wine inside, at a total weight of 1.52 kg when full. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $41. click to buy.

2022 Tasca d’Almerita “Tenuta Sallier de la Tour” Syrah, Sicily, Italy
Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of blackberries and green herbs. In the mouth, fresh green herbs and blackberry flavors have a nice, juicy brightness thanks to very good acidity. The tannins are muscular and toned, and stiffen only slightly over time, as green herbs and berries linger in the finish. Uncomplicated. 13.5% alcohol. Certified B Corp. Sostain.it certified sustainable. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $50. click to buy.

2023 Raymond Vineyards “Reserve Selection” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in color, this wine smells of mocha and black cherry fruit. In the mouth, bright and juicy black cherry and black plum fruit is juicy with excellent acidity and shot through with mocha and dark chocolate notes. There’s an aromatic sweetness that emerges in the finish. Refined and poised, with beautifully integrated wood that gives textural support and just a hint of flavor. Contains 10% Petit Verdot, and 7% Merlot. Ages for 18 months in 31% new French oak. Bottled unfiltered. 14.5% alcohol. Comes in a nasty, heavy bottle weighing 1.65 kg when full. Score: around 9. Cost: $50. click to buy.