The weather (unlike last year) dawned perfectly for what had to be my best of my 8 experiences at this very special event. Every year for me, the beacon of FallTacular and the power that comes out of wine lovers coming together in this unique way for this unique cause just grows brighter. How much everyone looked forward to seeing each other. Jodi’s compelling story. How much the winemakers (thank you all for coming) look forward to talking with all of us here. I think this year, I enjoyed the most the effect this event had on first-time attendees—highlighted by one of the winemakers exponentially raising the stakes on her donated auction item after hearing Jodi speak.
This was extra special for me as my close friend Heather decided to accompany me down and experience this for the first time. I think I’ve made a convert
Almost as important—to give big hugs to Dana and Mike Stoneking and see their smiling faces in the face of what’s happened to their house. To hear Mike speak was almost as inspirational as Jodi’s talk----these are the people I hope I can be every once in a while.
OK, enough gushing. I got to about 41 wines with a couple more to try today. The notes:
2014 Boheme English Hill Pinot Noir
I went after these first because there were only single bottles of each. Potpourri and some cinnamon swirls, plenty of red fruit. Adds some coffee notes in the mouth, fairly lush. Strawberry, with a nice feel. Good way to start.
2014 Boheme Stuller Pinot Noir
Leans more towards the spicy, racy side in nostrils. Tighter—kinetic with raspberry and currant, needs time, quite different from the English Hill
2014 Boheme Taylor Ridge Pinot Noir
Bits of cola and root beer in the nostrils. A little coffee around dark cherry. Dans la bouche, tight but expressive fruit. Also needs time, but might be the best of the 3 in that time.
2013 Boheme Old Mancini Ranch Zin
Blue & black fruit and plenty of roasted herbs. Very suave, showing the worth of a bit of ageing. Quite balanced and just-right sweet plum and cherry. Not over-authoritative, but a nice zin.
2016 Kutch Sonoma Chard
Plenty of nut and lemon and aromatic drive here. Some toast, but it fits. I found this lighter than the last 2 years, but quite clear and with a nice middle lemon-based palate. I would have liked to come back to this without some chill, as I think it would have benefitted the wine, but the purity is plain to see.
2016 Rivers-Marie Thieriot Chard
Rich nose with some cream and melon notes around citrus & pear, and Heather makes a good catch of sweet corn. Has good body and yellow plum and tropical fruit, but plenty of backing and balancing carry. A good one of these. #13
2016 Rivers-Marie Bearwallow Chard
Quite composed bouquet, lilting floral and pear. Just getting started–salinity and minerality are present with lime and some toast. This should evolve very well.
2014 Boheme English Hill Chard
Lemon candy, some star fruit to sniff at, very “sunny”. Now that’s good. It has some force to it with a mustardy side to apple and citrus. A very interesting drink and a great surprise. #10
2015 Liquid Farm Bien Bien Chard
Fine scents of butter tart and apple here. Focused and good feel in the mouth with some lime add to aromatic replays. Not sure if it will be an ager though.
2015 Ladd Sonoma Chard
Alluring perfume and presence in the nuzzie, hints of lilac and pear. But this makes it on the tongue where it has such great flow from front to back. Acid and sugar are lovely and balanced with great, fresh fruit. Bravo, Eric–#7 and second-best of the whites today.
2014 Ladd Cuvee Voile Chard
He did this Jura-style, and the aroma has touches of banana and toffee around yellow fruit. This is a very different style to taste, leans to nutty and a bit oxidative, but plenty of interest and again good carry here. Very good.
2015 Cabot Humboldt County Pinot Noir
/;These are John’s first PNs and he made an impression with everyone today. Elevated cherry and bits of nutmeg for me here. On palate, it’s not shy but it is controlled with some cedar and sarsaparilla beside cherry fruit. Solid.
2015 Cabot Lost Coast Pinot Noir
I like the bouquet a bit more here–strawberry, cherry and mocha-woodsy all combining. I like the taste a little less, kind of striated and on the lean side, though raspberry and strawberry are in play.
2015 Cabot Elk Prairie Pinot Noir
Very evocative, both in the bouquet and on the taste. So much perfume and pure red fruit. Has some zip and shows its youth but promises a long life with plenty of verve and carry. Give 4 years, this has a ton of potential.
2016 Rivers-Marie Bearwallow Pinot Noir
Nice, pure red and black cherry with earth and cocoa tones. And to taste, this is smooth as silk already, really complete wine. Great texture combined with lively berry and hints of a lot more. This is a terrific bottle that stays in my memory bank and was my WOTD. #1
2015 Rhys Bearwallow Pinot Noir
Snappy red berry and crabapple scents waft up the glass. This was surprisingly approachable for my experience with Rhys, a good combo of bright red fruit and some minerals, but still has lots of room to grow.
2017 Tercero Mourvedre Rose
Larry saved the last pour of this for me—it’s to be bottled in a few weeks, I believe. This has what I’d want in terms of structure and bracing tart red fruit already. It should benefit greatly from its year in bottle but is promising already.
2016 Tercero Mourvedre Rose
Raspberries with tinges of watermelon on the aromatics. To taste, racy yet light. Very refreshing stuff, with framing crispness. Wonderful for a warm summer’s day.
A quick note that I only had a very small taste of Larry’s first Pinot, a barrel sample, but even this early it seems to show warm, sunny red fruit and yet with a promised focus. I look forward to its evolution.
2015 Sojourn Beckstoffer Georges III Cab
I wasn’t going to miss this one this year. Only a little broody on the bouquet. A lot of stuff going on underneath, with really voluptuous spiced black cherry and plum. Ohhhh, how I love this. Tremendous but appropriate richness of red and black plum pie, the whole is so very harmonious and yet grabs your attention at the same time. #2
2015 Ladd Musick Primitivo
Neat aromatics of coffee, sour cherry and a touch of barnyard—kinda reminds me of a pinotage, funny enough. Narrow, lean and focused right now with lots of acid and length. Give time, a very different wine to try.
2016 Halcon Bearwallow Pinot Noir
Breath of fresh air, strawberry blossoms if there were such a thing. Cinnamon glints as well. On palate, still young but graceful lines of sweet raspberry fruit with light cherry and cocoa accents. Quite yummy.
2015 Betwixt Pinot Noir
Some wild strawberry, the nose finds some leafiness too. Good, sinewy presentation. I like the rootiness here with plenty of red fruit. One to age for a bit.
2016 Kutch Bohan Pinot Noir
Plenty of forest scents to buttress black cherry and light backside strawberry. Very, very young, this is–has much to come into and may always be a bit on the burly and rugged side, but good components.
2016 Kutch McDougall Pinot Noir
Bones–lots of good bones in the schnozz—red fruit, citrus and baking spices all have their say. Yum in mouth–tickly small berry, just a little bramble and a small citrus backhit. Curl of smooth strawberry at the end. A wine with a lot to say and future development is certain. #11
2016 Kutch Falstaff Pinot Noir
Fragrant bright berry, plum and cherry. Alternates between forceful and graceful dans la bouche, always stays very tasty and has red fruit replays. Will be a long-lived Falstaff and a very good example of the vineyard. Good work! #12
2014 Big Basin Coastview Syrah
Bits of sweetmeat and chocolate around cherry pie. Lush but certainly not overboard, has fine presence with cassis leading the way and some meaty behind. Quietly open, if that makes sense
2015 Big Basin Alfaro Pinot Noir
Bit of smoke (though that could have been from the tri-tip on the BBQ too!) but plenty of vibrant cherry. Very Cali to me, quite sweet and forthright cherry with sugarplum.
2015 Campesino Las Madres Syrah
Tart blueberry and blackcurrant scents on the aroma. To taste, much on the meat side, plenty of smoky add but acid carries this too. Some time in bottle will be all to the good.
2013 Tercero Mourvedre
It is a blessing/curse of this day that you just can’t get to everything. This was the only one of Larry’s non-pinot reds I was able to get to, but wasn’t going to miss it. Touches of motor oil add interest to red plum and whiffs of cumin and nutmeg as well. This is round and delicious to taste–so nice to have this expressive plum and boysenberry-filled delight. It does have structure and fine length as well. One of Larry’s best Mourvedres, #3 today. Lovely.
2014 DV8 Eau Rouge GSM
Quite bouncy bouquet with lots of plum and a sidebar of pomegranate. Yes, there’s the sweetness of Grenache, but it fits very smoothly into the palate blend of cherry, plum and a trace of licorice. Good, even with the Grenache
2015 Calluna Merlot Aux Raynauds
Melted chocolate and baked plum are what seem to come up the nose. Replays on this with decent feel and a blackberry twist at the end.
2016 Loring Chard
Lifted lilac and some neat citrus tint here in the aroma. Tight but tasty with pink grapefruit and a bit of orange poking through.
2016 Fogline Flora RRV
A cross between Gewurtz and Sem, yeah, this is difficult—does it want to be lychee, or lemon? Swatches of both in the bouquet. Has some crispness and business to it, but identity crisis is still in play here. I’d like to try it again with a couple years’ age.
2016 Fogline Zephyr’s Block Chard
Honeydew and some green kiwi sniffs. Tarter on taste, interesting contrast, lime joins the kiwi. I do like this for its verve.
2016 Loring Clos Pepe Pinot Noir
Spice merchant stuff does thread through cherry and strawberry base. Open and plenty of happy here, though with a slightly hot and bitter end note. But a bundle of fruit and very food-friendly stuff.
2016 Loring Rosellas Pinot Noir
Sweet berries and bits of cocoa and baking spice. Open and forthright, not complicated but talky red fruit and kind of sneaks up on you with the tasty. Sneakily good, #9
2014 Model Farm Syrah
Another year has seen some further refinement to this, almost toasted nuts added to dark but likeable fruit bouquet. Boy, still a youngster on the tongue–lots of structure and red and black fruit balance, but with carrying acid. You want cool climate Syrah? This is your baby, then. #8
2016 Betwixt Chard
The aroma is really something–lemon zest and tons of mineral. Man. this is good-plus on the palate. Pear and key lime but with a kiwi slash and more than a little mineral. It has a great conversation in the mouth and that is something I’m looking for from a wine always. #4 and best of the whites.
2016 Sandler Boer Pinot Noir
Cherries jubilee with mocha and twist of citrus. Tangy, tasty cherry and a bit of blackberry compote. Lots of interest here and I like the promised additional complexity.
2011 Cabot Kimberly’s Syrah
Touch of motor oil, aniseed, wealth of meat and black fruit. And tons of replay action dans la bouche, full of black fruit. All in balance and lasts a long, long time. Exemplary Syrah, #5 for me today.
2016 Tablas Creek Clairette Blanc
Certainly a different nose–custard a bit, swatch of maltiness about it. Neat orange blossom too. In the mouth, hard to put my finger on where to be with this–it has some creamy and zip at the same time and good body, but missing a definable flavour component. To be fair, this was open for the day.
I’ll try to post on the remaining wines I grabbed later. So much thanks to Frank and Jill and to everyone for making this a day to remember!
EDITED I missed commenting on the William & Mary cab which was super juice, marrying a powerful black-fruit-based nose and palate with bridled control and fitting tannins, possibly the biggest surprise and my #6 overall wine.
2015 Grimm’s Bluff Sauv Blanc
A quick note on this one, genuine grassy and herbal notes with decent freshness. To taste, a bit limpid, though not too sweet, with some sweet corn. Note it’s a day later and no vacuum-seal or anything on the bottle.
2015 Model Farm Syrah
The nose is of cassis and some mincemeat. Boy oh boy—a day later, this is still raw and racy stuff. It does spark all through the mouth with plum and bits of currant, lingonberry and rhubarb fruit. Don’t touch it for 5 years.
2015 Foursight Charles Vineyard Zero Pinot Noir
Some AV dirt here, with blackberry, currant and even some smoked meat in aromatics. Palate a day later is still kinda tight, but there’s a real character here. Sort of hard to pin down descriptors, but it’s impressively different as a whole.
2013 Matthiasson Red Hen Merlot
Almost peanut/almondy thing, with rhubarb and black plum nuzzie. Good, punchy merlot on the tongue, brazil-nut-tinged red and black fruit. Has a nice snap at the back.