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 wines from the X Novo project in Oregon’s Eola-Amity Hills, so named because it represents something of a new start for proprietor and winemaker Craig Williams, who spent more than three decades making wine at Joseph Phelps in Napa Valley before acquiring a vineyard in Oregon and launching his own brand. Williams’ X Omni vineyard has been the source of a number of top Oregon Chardonnays, but this is the first opportunity for me to taste what he does with it himself. The Chardonnay is excellent, and the Pinot Noir is very good, though not as much of a clear standout as the Chardonnay. I do recommend them both, however.
It’s been some time since I tasted the wines of Papapietro Perry, a project of two friends and their families based in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley that got its start in a garage in San Francisco. This week they sent through their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and their Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, both of which are well made and balanced. I thought the Pinot Noir was slightly more compelling than the Zinfandel.
I was pleased to see a bottle of Wölffer Estate wine in the samples pile this week, as I’ve enjoyed their wines in the past, and that proved true of this, their latest release of their “Caya” Cabernet Franc. It’s got the lean, herbal-and-slightly-vegetal note that Cabernet Franc from cool climates can offer. Some people find that note unappealing, but when backed by bright fruit, as in this wine, it comes across as a grace note of freshness.
Santa Rita is one of Chile’s oldest and largest wine producers. While the brand owns thousands of acres of vineyards and produces a wide range of wines, its Pewen Apalta brand represents the company’s flagship bottling of Carménère, sourced from vines planted in 1938 in the granitic soils of the Apalta sub-region of the Colchagua Valley. This week I tasted both the 2021 and 2024 vintages of this wine, both of which are made in a restrained style, picked early enough to preserve the herbal and bell-pepper notes that often characterize this grape. I thought both were tasty, but the 2021 seems like it needs some more time to develop, whereas the 2024 seems friendlier and more accessible at this point. I wish the winery would adopt lighter-weight bottles, as the glass they are using is heavier than the wine it contains.
There’s nothing particularly rapid about the process of growing and making wine. That said, Donnachadh Estate wasn’t wasting much time when, after only a few years, they decided to pull out a block of Grenache they had planted on the estate. So while you’ll be able to taste this wine they sent me, and two more vintages of the fruit in future releases, the vines that produced this 2023 Grenache are no more. Unfortunately, they just didn’t yield enough fruit to make them economically viable, despite offering an interesting, even compelling flavor profile. This very savory, earthy side of Grenache is intriguing, and I look forward to the next incarnation of the wine from the estate, when they find a more suitable location to plant the grape.
Finally, I’ve got a few more wines from the Adair Family Wines portfolio to share with you, starting with the 2022 vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon from Clos Pegase, which has the ripeness you would expect from a warmer vintage, though perhaps more oak influence than I would like. From Girard Winery, their 2021 Girard Cabernet from Calistoga is also ripe and muscular, not to mention being stuffed into a gratuitously heavy bottle that hurts the environment. It will appeal to those who like big, brawny wines from Napa, as will its sibling, the Girard Petite Sirah, which delivers the dark, black fruit that Petite Sirah lovers have come to expect from Napa.
Notes on all these below.
Tasting Notes
2023 X Novo “X Omni Vineyard” Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of struck match, lemon oil, and lemon peel. In the mouth, salty lemon peel, lemon pith, and wet pavement flavors are shot through with white flowers and a whiff of chopped green herbs. Etched with fantastic acidity, this is a cracker of a wine.13.6% alcohol. 290 cases made. LIVE certified sustainable. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $100. click to buy.
2023 X Novo “X Omni Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cranberries and cherries. In the mouth, black cherry and cranberry flavors are wrapped in micro-fleece tannins and shot through with sweet mocha-like oak flavors. Excellent acidity. Comes across as fairly ripe for an Oregon Pinot Noir. 14.1% alcohol. 275 cases made. LIVE certified sustainable. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $90. click to buy.
2023 Papapietro Perry Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma, California
Light to medium garnet in the glass with ruby highlights, this wine smells of cherries and raspberries. In the mouth, cherry and raspberry fruit flavors are wrapped in a fleecy blanket of tannins, as notes of dried herbs and sawdust linger in the finish. Very good acidity. Fermented with commercial yeasts and hand punch-downs. Aged for 11 months in 30% new French oak, with the balance being second- and third-year barrels. 13.8% alcohol. 885 cases made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $66. click to buy.
2022 Wolffer Estate “Caya” Cabernet Franc, Long Island, New York
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherries, plums, and mocha. In the mouth, cherries, chopped green herbs, and a touch of mocha are wrapped in gauzy tannins. Very good acidity. A pretty and fairly elegant wine that has a nice freshness thanks to the herbal notes. 13.4% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $39. click to buy.
2023 Papapietro Perry Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, California
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberries, black pepper, and a touch of licorice. In the mouth, blackberries and licorice flavors lean earthy and oaky as notes of mocha and espresso emerge in the finish. Very good acidity. Spends 15 months in a combination of second- and third-use Pinot Noir barrels. 14.6% alcohol. 629 cases made. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $61. click to buy.
2021 Santa Rita “Pewen de Apalta” Carménère, Apalta, Colchagua Valley, Chile
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, a hint of woodsmoke, green bell pepper, and dried herbs. In the mouth, cherry, dried herbs, and dusty earth flavors are wrapped in equally powdery tannins as very good acidity keeps things moving across the palate. Notes of green bell pepper linger in the finish. Still somewhat closed and needs a bit more time.13.5% alcohol. Overly heavy bottle weighs 1.54 kg when full. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $58. click to buy.
2024 Santa Rita “Pewen de Apalta” Carménère, Apalta, Colchagua Valley, Chile
Dark garnet in the glass with purple highlights, this wine smells of struck match, black cherries, and a hint of green bell pepper. In the mouth, fleecy tannins wrap around a core of black cherry, herbs, green bell pepper, and a touch of earth. Very good acidity. 13.5% alcohol. Overly heavy bottle weighs 1.54 kg when full. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $58.
2023 Donnachadh Grenache, Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Barbara, California
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of dried herbs, strawberries, and baking spices. In the mouth, bright, juicy acidity makes flavors of dried herbs, dried strawberries, and earth bouncy on the palate, even as the wine leans decidedly savory in its complexion. Faint, fleecy tannins coat the mouth. An intriguing wine, one that I’d like to see develop over time. Own-rooted vines, and this was the first year of fruit from this new planting, which the winery recently decided isn’t viable, and has subsequently ripped out. Aged 16 months in neutral French oak. 14% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $150.
2022 Clos Pegase Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine smells of cherries, tobacco, and mocha. In the mouth, muscular tannins wrap around a core of mocha, cherry, and sweet oak, and then the tannins stiffen with time. Sweet oak dominates the finish as the tannins begin to dry the mouth. Decent acidity. 14.9% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $50. click to buy.
2021 Girard Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, mocha, and sweet oak. In the mouth, fleecy tannins wrap around a core of black cherry, mocha, and a touch of cola. Sweet oak notes linger in the finish as the tannins stiffen. Decent acidity keeps this very big wine from feeling too jammy, but there’s no mistaking this one for anything other than big and ripe.15% alcohol. Unusually heavy bottle weighs 1.64 kg when full. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $120.
2023 Girard Petite Sirah, Napa Valley, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in color, this wine smells of black cherry, licorice, and a hint of snuffed candle. In the mouth, fleecy tannins wrap around a core of blackberry, blueberry, and black licorice flavors shot through with cocoa powder and sweet oak. Big and brawny, but with enough acidity to keep it from feeling flabby. 11% of the grapes are a mixed-black field blend from old vineyards. Spends 16 months in 45% new barrels that contain a mix of wood from France, America, and Hungary. 14.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $40.
