Welcome to my weekly wine sample hunt. Vinography Unboxed is back! Here are some of my favorite bottles.
The latest releases from Argyle Winery, a long-standing sparkling wine producer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, were featured this week. They have a long history of producing bubbly, so they can offer exceptional wines that have spent a lot of time on the lees. The latest is the 2012 Extended Tirage Brut. It was aged for ten years in the bottle. This wine is my favorite, thanks to its salty, bready goodness.
La Follette Wines is a winery started by Greg La Follette, but it is no longer associated with him. They sent me a couple of their latest wines to taste: a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, both excellent value at $25 per bottle, and one of their more complex single-vineyard Chardonnays. Although it seems strange and confusing that La Follette Winery keeps its name, the owners may be trying to capitalize on this confusion.
For the moment, Sonoma Pinot Noir is my favorite. Kathleen Inman of Inman Family Wines sent me a bottle of her latest release. Kathleen has been making Russian River Pinot Noir in her Olivet Grange Vineyard for almost two decades. This is a lush, bright, and vibrant effort.
Another Terrazas de los Andes bottle was discovered by me. It was one of their top-selling single-site Malbecs, which I had yet to taste. This wine is full of earth and stony blueberries. However, I couldn’t find any place to purchase it online.
Finally, I tried a few new releases from Linne Calodo – a boutique winery in Paso Robles. All three wines are rich and sturdy, but my favorite was The Problem Child, an ‘SGM’ blend. It had excellent acidity and carried its alcohol well.
Below are some notes on each of these.
Taste Notes
2018 Argyle “Brut” Champagne Blend, Willamette Valley, Oregon
This wine is light gold with medium bubbles. It smells like apples, white flowers, and a hint of toasted bread. The mouth is a mediumly coarse mousse that delivers apple and pear flavors. It finishes with a touch of citrus peel and a pleasant chalkboard minerality. Blend 52% Chardonnay and 43% Pinot Noir with 5% Pinot Meunier. Three g/l dosages. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $30.
2019 Argyle “Blanc de Blancs” Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon
This wine is pale gold in the glass and has medium-fine bubbles. It smells like lemon pith and unripe apples and is very well made. A soft mousse with bright lemon pith flavors and lemon peel aromas is what you will feel in the mouth. It has a stony, savory flavor. The orange peel, pomelo pith, and apple flavors are finished. 1.5 g/l dosage. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $30.
2012 Argyle “Extended Tirage Brut” Champagne Blend, Willamette Valley, Oregon
This wine is pale gold in the glass and has medium-fine bubbles. It smells like warm bread and lemon zest. The soft mousse delivers the salty, mouthwatering flavors of dashi and lemon pith. The finish is saline with a lovely lemon flavor. It is a blend of 40% Pinot Noir and 60% Chardonnay. 2.5 g/l dosage. 12.5% alcohol. A score between 8.5 to 9. Cost: $85.
2021 La Follette “Los Primeros” Chardonnay, Sonoma County, California
This wine is pale gold and smells like lemon pith and white flowers. The mouth is full of honeysuckle and lemon flavors. There’s also a hint of wet chalkboard and golden apple. Excellent acidity. 13.5% alcohol. It closed with a screwcap. Scores: 8.5 to 9. Cost: $25.
2020 La Follette “Zephyr Farms” Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma, California
This wine is pale gold. It smells like vanilla, lemon pith, lemon curd, and a touch of toasted oak. Bright lemon curd flavors are highlighted by vanilla and toasted oak aromas. The palate is scented with hazelnuts, vanilla, toasted oak, and a hint of toasted nuts. Great acidity and friendly underlying minerals. 13.4% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $60.
2020 La Follette “Los Primeros” Pinot Noir, Sonoma County, California
This wine is medium garnet in color. It smells like cherry and raspberry with dried herbs and raspberry leaf. The mouth is filled with raspberry, raspberry leaf, mixed cranberry flavors, and hints of toasted sesame. The wine has a woody, stemmy taste but was 100% destemmed. 13.5% alcohol. Screwcap. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $25.
2019 Inman Family, “OGV Estate,” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley Sonoma, California
This wine is medium garnet in color and smells like cranberry and cherry pie compote. The ripe cherry-compote aroma is bright and has citrus peel acidity—soft tannins. Pinot Noir is more affluent and grown than the other side, but it’s still delicious. 14.1% alcohol. Screwcap. Scores: 8.5 to 9. Cost: $75.
2018 Terrazas de los Andes “Parcel No. 1E – El Espinillo – Parcel Collection” Malbec, Gualtallary, Mendoza, Argentina
This wine is dark garnet and smells faintly of blueberry pie and earth. Stony blueberry flavors struck a match, and soil dominated the mouth. A pleasant black cherry aroma lingers throughout the finish, along with hints of toasted oak. The stony fruits are given the spotlight by the fine tannins that sit on the edges of your palate. However, the oak sometimes overshadows the fruit at specific points in the finish. At 5413 feet elevation. 13.5% alcohol. The score is between 8.5 to 9. Cost: $99.
2020 LinneCalodo “Problem Child,” Red Blend, Willow Creek District. Paso Robles. Central Coast, California
This wine is medium to dark garnet in color. It smells like blackberry and licorice. The wine’s rich blackberry, licorice, and black cherry flavors are encapsulated in a thick layer of tannins, which stiffens as it reaches the finish. The finish has a distinct alcoholic heat and notes of black pepper. It was a little too ripe for me, but the flavors were great. This blend contains 79% Zinfandel and 14% Syrah. 15.7% alcohol. It comes in a heavy, unneeded bottle weighing 1.59kg once it is complete. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $105.
2020 LinneCalodo “Sticks and Stones,” Red Blend, Willow Creek District. Paso Robles. Central Coast, California
This wine is medium garnet in color and smells like strawberry jam and flowers. The mouth is filled with surprisingly firm tannins that wrap around the sweet strawberry jam, boysenberry, and floral aromas. The finish is big, bold, and spicy. It’s a nice blend of flavors but too sweet for my liking. This blend contains 77% Grenache and 20% Syrah with 3% Mourvedre. 15.7% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $105.
2019 LinneCalodo “Overthinker” Red Blend, Willow Creek District. Paso Robles. Central Coast, California
This wine is dark garnet in color and smells richly of cherry and blackberry aromas. The mouth is full of strawberry jam, cherry, and blackberry flavors. It’s also slightly sweet. It has good acidity and very little alcohol at 15.4%. Blend of 51% Syrah and 39% Grenache with 10% Mourvedre. Score: around 9. Cost: $150.