Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up on my doorstep 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 arrived recently.

This past week included a few new releases from the Raventos family in the Penedès region of Spain. Their Raventos i Blanc brand produces some of the region’s top sparkling wines (which would ordinarily be called Cava if the Raventos family hadn’t withdrawn from the appellation). This week I tasted their latest Blanc de Blancs and their rosé, both of which are delicious and excellent values. Their Mas de Serral brand is a wine from a single site, aged for an extraordinary length of time on its lees, and one for people who enjoy (and can afford) older vintage Champagnes.

I received a couple more German Rieslings worth looking at this week from both the venerable Scholls Vollrads in the Rheingau and Eugen Müller in the Pfalz. The Müller wine, in particular, is an excellent value for those interested in an everyday, easy-drinking Riesling.

Two more wines from Two Shepherds got tasted this week. Their Grenache Gris is a wonderful stone-fruit-inflected aromatic white wine that I recommend to anyone who simply wants to taste something different for a change. And if you’re looking for your next glou-glou crunchy red chillable wine, you’d be hard pressed to party better than with their Wiley Carbonic Carignan, which tastes like liquid purple SweetTarts®.

Shifting to slightly more serious wines, I enjoyed the latest vintage of Rosemary Cakebread’s Gallica Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville Ranch, which is made with admirable restraint and a good deal of refinement.

Lastly, it’s always an excellent tasting week when I get a preview of new releases from Cathy Corison at Corison Winery. She sent along three of her fall releases from the stellar 2023 vintage, and boy, are they fantastic. In particular, her Helios Cabernet Franc from the Sunbasket Vineyard is simply the best version of that wine I’ve ever tasted, I believe, and I was basically forced to give it 10 out of 10 points. It’s got a level of poise, grace, and effortlessness that took my breath away. Best Napa Cabernet Franc ever? You be the judge. Not to be dismissed, her “normal” Cabernet Sauvignon was also excellent.

Interestingly, I also received a very unexpected bottle of wine from Cathy this past week, which was a Rutherford Cabernet. In 2023, and someone made Cathy an offer she couldn’t refuse: the chance to make some wine from the famed Bella Oaks Vineyard in Rutherford before it got torn out this year. So now there’s going to be a one-off Rutherford Cab in her portfolio, and it’s just as phenomenal as you would expect. These new wines from Corison should hit the market in September and October, so watch for them then.

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

Tasting Notes

2024 Raventos i Blanc “Blanc de Blancs” Cava Blend, Spain
Pale gold in the glass with medium-fine bubbles, this wine smells of unripe apples, lemon oil, lemon pith, and dried herbs. In the mouth, a subdued mousse delivers crisp and stony flavors of lemon peel, unripe apple, wet chalkboard, and kumquat with zingy acidity and a hint of toasted sesame. Crisp, bright, and delicious. Organically farmed. A blend of 50% Xarel·lo, 35% Macabeu, 10% Parellada, and 5% Malvasia de Sitges. Fermented with ambient yeasts. Aged for 18 months on the lees in the bottle after secondary fermentation. 4 g/L dosage.12% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $27. click to buy.

2023 Raventos i Blanc “de Nit” Cava Rosé Blend, Spain
Pale peachy-pink in color with medium-fine bubbles, this wine smells of rhubarb, strawberries, and sour cherries. In the mouth, a voluminous mousse delivers flavors of grapefruit, rhubarb, and orange peel as zingy acidity keeps the salivary glands flowing. Crisp and dry with a hint of stony austerity. Organically farmed. A blend of 49% Xarel·lo, 34% Macabeu, 9% Parellada, and
7% Monastrell for color. Fermented with ambient yeasts. Aged for 18 months on the lees in the bottle after secondary fermentation. 4 g/L dosage. 12% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $31. click to buy.

2015 Pepe Raventos “Mas de Serral” Cava Blend, Spain
Light to medium bronze-gold with fine bubbles, this wine smells of marzipan, baked apples, vanilla, and crushed nuts. In the mouth, a robust mousse delivers flavors of crushed nuts, marzipan, butterscotch, blood orange, and dried citrus rind. There’s a nice savoriness here with a touch of bitter herbs, and a long, stony finish. This is a field blend, from a single co-planted field of Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre. It spends a remarkable 116 months on the lees before disgorgement and release. Zero dosage. 1995 bottles made. Score: around 9. Cost: $177. click to buy.

2023 Schloss Vollrads Riesling, Rheingau, Germany
Pale gold in the glass with a hint of green, this wine smells of honeysuckle, green apples, and mandarin orange juice. In the mouth, faintly sweet flavors of Asian pear, mandarin oranges, and honeysuckle have a nice brightness thanks to very good acidity. 9.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $30. click to buy.

2022 Eugen Müller “Vom Basalt” Riesling, Pfalz, Germany
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of mandarin orange zest, Asian pears, and lychee. In the mouth, mandarin orange zest, honeysuckle, and a touch of dried cooking herbs all have a faint sweetness and a stony underbelly that has a faint grip. Decent acidity, with green apple and Asian pear lingering in the finish with a hint of herbal bitterness. 10.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Vegan. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $16. click to buy.

2024 Two Shepherds Grenache Gris, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California
Light to medium bronze with some amber highlights, this wine smells of peaches, melon, and a hint of orange peel. In the mouth, silky flavors of orange peel, fresh apricot, dried herbs, and flowers have a delicate and bright acidity. There’s a floral and vanilla note that lingers in the finish along with a dusty tannic texture. Organically and regeneratively farmed. Fermented with ambient yeasts, and then aged for 10 months in neutral oka. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 12.4% alcohol. 30 cases made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $30. click to buy.

2025 Two Shepherds “Wiley Carbonic – Trimble Vineyard” Carignan, Mendocino County, California
Hazy medium-to-dark purple in the glass, this wine smells of wet earth, smashed purple SweetTarts, sour cherries, and citrus peel. In the mouth, that purple SweetTart thing just goes on and on as notes of dried herbs and earth emerge under the electric purple acidity on the tongue. Tangy, sour-ish, and a lot of fun. 10.6% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $28. click to buy.

2023 Gallica “Oakville Ranch Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa County, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, tobacco, sweet oak, and flowers. In the mouth, sweet oak and black cherry flavors mix with a touch of black currant and dried flowers as supple, powdery tannins coat the mouth, and stiffen considerably with time. The oak lingers strongly in the finish. Excellent acidity. 14.2% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $175. click to buy.

2023 Corison Winery “Helios – Sunbasket Vineyard” Cabernet Franc, St. Helena, Napa County, California
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherries, flowers, aromatic green herbs, and plums. In the mouth, plum, plum skin, crushed nuts, cocoa powder, and flower petals are seamlessly welded in a beautifully balanced and harmonious package, wrapped in suede-supple tannins and brimming with gorgeous acidity. A stunner of a wine that comes across as totally effortless in the mouth. It’s unbelievably good now, I can’t imagine the heights to which it will ascend in a decade. Without a doubt, the best version of this wine I’ve ever had from Cathy. 14% alcohol. Score: a perfect 10. Cost: $195. click to buy.

2023 Corison Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa County, California
Dark garnet in the glass, with purple highlights, this wine smells of blackcurrants, sweet oak, violets, and black plum. In the mouth, blackcurrant, black plum, and dried flowers are wrapped in fleecy, supple tannins and shot through with a heavy dose of sweet oak, its vanilla scents lingering in the finish. Gorgeous acidity and balance round out a very young wine that needs to settle in the bottle and subsume some of that oak. In five years, though, watch out.13.7% alcohol. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $140. click to buy.

2023 Corison Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa County, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackcurrant, chopped green herbs, graphite, and dried flowers. In the mouth, blackcurrant and black cherry flavors mix with some black pepper, chopped green herbs, and a hint of sweet oak. Gorgeous, supple tannins wrap around the core of fruit, as excellent acidity makes for a juicy, fresh impression on the palate. Wonderfully balanced. 13.8% alcohol. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $??