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 week included a new sparkling wine from the folks at Jackson Family Wines, who have been investing heavily in Oregon in recent years. This new project, Banke Wines, is named after the company’s CEO, Barbara Banke, who swears that she didn’t choose the name for this new line of sparkling wines. The Blanc de Blancs they sent me recently was impeccably made and offered a wonderfully brilliant lemony zing in the glass with just the right balance between fruity freshness and the patina you can get with long lees aging in the bottle. I highly recommend it.

Erica Orr worked as a lab tech at UCSF Hospital in San Francisco, but then a chance meeting with winemaker Aaron Pott at a bar in San Francisco led her down the rabbit hole of winemaking. A bunch of internships, a master’s degree, and years as a consulting enologist later, Erica is making her own wines in Washington State. Her old-vine Chenin Blanc and Salumeria Blend red wines are both very drinkable and tasty, not to mention affordable.

Girard Winery is a brand brought back to life in Napa. Originally a family-owned winery based in Oakville, the physical winery and brand were sold in 1996 to Leslie Rudd, who turned it into Rudd Estate. The Girard brand was purchased from Rudd by Pat Roney in 2000, who made wine under that name even as Roney combined it with Windsor Vineyards to create the company Vintage Wine Estates, which went on to acquire a number of other brands. VWE went bankrupt in 2024, and a number of its brands, including Girard and Clos Pegase, were purchased by Jay Adair, who has pulled them together under the banner of Adair Family Wines. I’m recommending three Girard wines this week: their bright Sauvignon Blanc and their rich and dark Charbono and Mixed Blacks red blend.

Hensel West is a new wine project by Will and Amanda Phelps. Will, of course, is the third generation of the Phelps Family making wine in Napa, after his pioneering grandfather Joseph Phelps established his namesake winery in 1973. To make their wines, Will and Amanda have hired winemaker Ashley Hepworth, who spent 15 years making the wines at Joseph Phelps. They sent through their inaugural bottlings of Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, and a Bordeaux-style blend for me to try this week. They’re all solid, but the red blend is a standout, offering a refined texture and a nicely restrained expression of fruit. The winery is aiming for a luxury positioning, and all the wines are allocated straight out of the gate, apparently. I wasn’t given any info along with the wines, so I don’t know if these wines are reasonably priced or not. Assuming they’re not outrageously expensive, this will be an interesting brand to watch.

Notes on all these below.

Tasting Notes

NV Banke “Blanc de Blancs” Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Pale gold in the glass with medium-fine bubbles, this wine smells of freshly cut apples, sea air, and lemon peel. In the mouth, a soft mousse delivers flavors of lemon peel, lemon oil, pomelo, and oyster shells as fantastic acidity makes the mouth water. There’s a hint of salinity here that adds to the overall very delicious package. A whisper of vanilla and crushed nuts lingers in the finish. Barrel-fermented. Spent 47 months on the lees in the bottle before disgorgement in August 2026. 6.5 g/L dosage. 12.5% alcohol. LIVE-certified sustainable. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $70.

2025 Orr “Old Vine” Chenin Blanc, Columbia Valley, Washington
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of pear and candied ginger. In the mouth, pear and ginger flavors mix with white flowers and a hint of citrus pith. There’s a faint lanolin note that also lingers in the finish. Decent acidity, but I would like more. Fermented with ambient yeasts in old oak barrels and steel drums. Bentonite-fined and sterile-filtered before bottling. 12% alcohol. 386 cases made. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $28. click to buy.

2025 Girard Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Palest gold in the glass, near colorless, this wine smells of green apples and passionfruit. In the mouth, green apple, passionfruit, and a hint of green bell pepper have a nice brightness thanks to decent acidity. Fermented with ambient yeasts in stainless steel. Malolactic inhibited. 14.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $21. click to buy.

2025 Hensel West “Riverbound Vineyard” Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Palest greenish-gold in the glass, this wine smells of white flowers, oak, and apples. In the mouth, bright, juicy acidity makes flavors of lemon pith, unripe apple, and crushed nuts quite mouthwatering. The oak is a definite presence here and has the effect of compressing the wine at this point in its evolution, giving an overall impression of narrowness. 14% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $??

2024 Orr “Salumeria Blend” Red Blend, Columbia Valley, Washington
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherries, sour cherries, and a hint of cocoa powder. In the mouth, cherry, cocoa powder, sawdust, and a touch of dried herbs are wrapped in faint gauzy tannins. Decent acidity. A blend of 58% Sangiovese, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot. Aged in old French oak for 10 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 14.1% alcohol. 190 cases made. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $30. click to buy.

2022 Girard Charbono, Calistoga, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blueberries, woodsmoke, espresso, and licorice. In the mouth, blueberries, licorice, and a smoky blackberry flavor are all wrapped in fine tannins. Decent acidity. Notes of oak and dark berries linger in the finish.13.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $75.

2022 Girard “Mixed Blacks” Red Blend, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberries, earth, licorice, and espresso. In the mouth, sweet oak and espresso notes mix with blackberry and black cherry flavors as fleecy tannins coat the mouth. Heavily oak-inflected, but with enough acidity to keep things fresh. 14.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $70.

2024 Hensel West “Hyde Vineyard” Syrah, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blueberries, black cherries, and licorice. In the mouth, black cherry and blueberry flavors are smooth and taut across the palate with fine powdery tannins and decent acidity. There’s a faint stoniness to the wine, but I would love some more acidity. 14.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $??

2024 Hensel West “HWX” Red Blend, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in color, this wine smells of black cherry, tobacco, and espresso. In the mouth, fine-grained micro-fleece tannins surround a core of black cherry, blackberry, and espresso notes. Very good acidity. Hold for 3-7 years for best results. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot aged in 80% new French oak for 19 months.14% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $??