Penfolds Bin 600 From Penfolds to the World Cabernet Shiraz
Murphy Goode California Pinot Noir
Murphy-Goode Pinot Noir comes from vineyards up and down the coast of California, including Arroyo Seco, Santa Maria Valley, and Monterey. Cool conditions in these prime growing spots keep grapes at a perfect balance between vibrant dark fruit character and bright acidity. Notes of vanilla from aging in French and American oak add complexity to the intense black cherry aromas and flavours.
Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir
Kendall-Jackson from the Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco, make a delicious Pinot Noir that has iIntense strawberry/black cherry/smoky/herb garden aromas and flavours with soft fleshy textures and underlying savoury/toasty oak.
Beau Rivage Chenin Blanc
William Kelley is better known as the Wine Advocate's mould-breaking wine critic. Yet he is also a very gifted winemaker and now, winegrower. Kelley’s micro-Burgundy project released its first wines from the 2019 vintage, and the ambitious pricing has not dampened the fervour—the wines are as remarkable as they are rare. Yet Kelley’s first foray into winemaking did not start in Beaune, Pommard or Gevrey-Chambertin but in the quiet, pastoral AVA of Clarksburg on the outskirts of Sacramento. Rolling back to 2016, Kelley recalls that he and friend-slash-business partner Frank Ingriselli were looking for organically farmed old vines in Californian sub-regions where variety aligned with climate, which led them to Chenin in Clarksburg. “We then applied artisanal French winemaking techniques and sort of waited to see what happened,” he recalls. What happened is that Beau Rivage promptly reset the conversation around the potential to craft world-class Chenin Blanc from Californian soils. Made in Calistoga, this increasingly impressive Chenin Blanc is drawn from some of Clarksburg’s oldest vines, planted in the 1960s and sourced from a long-term organic grower. The grapes are picked in two lots: those from the sunny side of the vine were crushed to release extract, while fruit from the shadier side was pressed as whole clusters using a very long, firm cycle. The musts are fermented with indigenous yeasts and were raised in eight-year-old, low-toast Burgundy barrels. William Kelley uses more and more solids each year, with the wine building texture and drive from its time on lees. Expect a tension-filled and chalky white marrying the engaging texture of well-ripened Chenin Blanc with lovely clarity, fine-boned texture and impressive length. It doesn’t seem too early to call this out as a new Californian benchmark for the variety.
Fat Bastard Chardonnay
Soft, appealing stone fruit along with tempting touches of hazelnut and lemon blossom with a sweet hint of almond praline. Plum & black fruits with hints of cherry chocolate.
Wente Southern Hills Cabernet Sauvignon
This is a cabernet from California. Has a pure varietal fruit-driven quality on the nose. Dusty blackcurrant. The palate shows more sweet fruit characters with a slightly confectionary sweetness on the middle palate...Eminently drinkable red wine for current quaffing.
Kautz Family Paddleboard Chardonnay
The Paddleboard Chardonnay is supple with flavors of tropical fruits, like guava, apple, and passionfruit that leads into vanilla beans and a creamy medium finish.