Country: | United States |
Regions: | California California (Central Coast) |
Winery: | Oceano Wines |
Grape Type: | Chardonnay |
Organic: | Yes |
Vintage: | 2016 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Mt Monster Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Gentle pressing and free run juices create the base of this wine.
Traditionally Mt Monster Chardonnay is 100% fermented and matured in stainless steel, this receives some lees contact to add texture and complexity to the palate, but essentially this wine is pure Chardonnay fruit.
Review & Tasting notes:
Bright straw color, with hints of lime green. Fresh figs and melon, with vibrant lemon citrus fruit. The nose also shows some yeast complexity from extended lees contact. Fresh tangy melon fruit flavors, & a clean acid finish. Although it may benefit from up to 2 years maturation in bottle, this wine is best consumed when young and fresh.
- Australian Wine Showcase (December 2016), 94 pts
Inglenook Rubicon is made from 93% Cabernet Sauvignon 7% Cabernet Franc.
Since its inaugural vintage in 1978, Rubicon has been the Estate's premier red wine, reflecting the soul of the property and expressing Francis Coppola's wish to create a Bordeaux-styled grand wine, that is, "a wine that can please contemporary taste, but with a historical aspect [that defines] our vineyards at their zenith."
Rubicon was named after the small river crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 B.C., declaring his intention to gain control of Rome, thereby launching a civil war among opposing factions. Over time the phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has come to signify any irreversible action with revolutionary intent or the outcome of which holds great risk. True to its uncommon depth, Inglenook's Rubicon continues to be a testament to the finely tuned rendering of a risk well-taken.
2016:
After four years of drought, a winter with average rainfall was welcome, as it provided ample soil moisture for a strong start to the 2016 growing season. Average late-spring temperatures and limited precipitation minimized the risk of frost during mid-May bloom, ensuring average yields. June closed with a heat spell, slowing vine canopy growth at the ideal time. Harvest of the blocks contributing to the 2016 Inglenook Rubicon blend occurred under optimum conditions from September 6th through September 27th.
Ideal harvest conditions endowed the 2016 Rubicon with the three elements associated with a truly great wine from the Rutherford appellation: complexity, balance, and elegance. The aromas are intense and focused with top notes of creamy, sweet vanilla, and black licorice wound around a core of exquisitely ripe black cherry and crème de cassis. This refinement extends directly to the palate, where the wine is both broad and deep with sensuous, silky tannins. Supremely balanced in terms of both opulence and complexity, ripe black fruits and an ultra-smooth texture provide an impressive crescendo to a very long finish.
Review:
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Rubicon is a wine of total precision and class. Translucent and energetic, with distinctly mid-weight structure, the 2016 is a wine of reserve, tension and breeding. Shy at first, the 2016 has a lot to offer, but it needs a number of years in bottle to be at its most expressive. Cedar, tobacco, licorice and wild cherry add the closing nuances.
- Antonio Galloni 97 Points
Jip Jip Rocks Chardonnay 2014 is made from 100 percent unoaked Chardonnay.
Light yellow with a pale straw hue. A classic nose of lemon, fresh stonefruit and melon. The palate is clean and fresh with mineral characters underpinning ripe pineapple and lime flavours. This wine will age beautifully over the next 4-5 years.
Winemaking report: Gentle pressing and free run juices create the base of this wine. Traditionally Jip Jip Rocks Chardonnay is a 2/3 blend fermented and matured in stainless steel and 1/3 fermented in stainless steel, which receives extended lees contact to add texture and complexity to the palate.
Sunset Hills Shenandoah Springs Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This is our first release of a clone-specific wine for Sunset Hills. The goal is to show you a specific terroir, one that year after year delivers excellent fruit quality. I chose clone 96 for its complexity both in ripening and barrel aging. During ripening, the fruit has notes of pineapple and pear with great acidity. I saw this wine as a chance to highlight not only the vineyard, but how detailed we can get in growing and making wine.
100% Chardonnay:
75% Clone 96
20% Clone 76
5% Clone 17
Notes of light honeysuckle, Asian pear, raw almond, and lemon custard. Medium body and medium acid.
This Chardonnay features bright, concentrated citrus, pear, green apple and nectarine fruit, with just a touch of oak to add richness to the palate. The wine lingers on the palate, and has the structure and acidity to provide for good longevity.
fter whole-cluster pressing, the Chardonnay juice was barrel-fermented in French oak barrels and aged sur lie for 8 months. During this period, the barrels were routinely stirred to increase yeast contact and add richness; 30% of the wine underwent secondary malo-lactic fermentation. One- and two-year-old French oak barrels were used. Prior to bottling, the wine received minimal filtration and fining to preserve the fresh fruit flavors.
Oceano is 100% chardonnay hand-picked at Spanish Springs. This SIP certified sustainable vineyard is nestled in the slopes of Price Canyon on the southern edge of the Edna Valley. Separated by a small mountain range it is the closest vineyard to the Pacific in California.
A chardonnay for the serious wine lover. Fermented and aged in French oak barrels, this wine is elegant and textural. Citrus fruit and flowers dominate the nose. The palate is accessible, but with tension, something very rarely found in Chardonnay wines from California.
Tasting notes: A rich nose of grapefruit, white peach, lemon verbena, and hints of geranium. A zesty orange attack leads to a juicy mouth of pear, green mango, tangerine, and guava. The lemon/lime finish is long and clean.
Vinification: Cold barrel fermentation
Barrels Type: 228-L Burgundy/French oak barrels
Barrel Forest: Allier, Vosges, Tronçais
Barrel Toasts: M, M+
Cooperages: Francois Ferres, Cadus
Primary Fermentation: 100% inoculated with saccharomyces cerevisiae (X-16, Montrachet)
Secondary Fermentation: 15% inoculated with MBR 31 ML-bacteria
Vineyard information:
Spanish Springs Vineyard is the sole source of fruit for the chardonnay (and soon pinot noir) made by Oceano Wines. Located nearly at the southern end of the sprawling Central Coast AVA, yet within the San Luis Obispo County AVA (American Viticultural Area), Spanish Springs is perfectly situated to grow chardonnay – the vineyard also produces a number of other grapes, both white and red – that epitomizes balance and elegance. While the Central Coast designation is among the largest AVAs in all of North America, stretching practically from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, and from the coast to inland nearly 50 miles, Spanish Springs is a rarity within it because it is closer to the Pacific Ocean than any other vineyard in this “coastal” appellation, not to mention the Golden State itself.
Perched on the slopes of Price Canyon, a mere one-and-a-half miles from the ocean, the vineyard is ideally situated so it can be enrobed by the cool marine layer that rolls in reliably each morning from the ocean before the mid-day sun gradually melts it away. The chardonnay is allowed to gently warm up. Then, as afternoon turns to evening, cooling Pacific breezes pick up to ensure that the grapes never over ripen to the point where sugar levels translate into high-alcohol wine. A complex mix of sandstone, shale and limestone at the base, with soils reflective of these same sedimentary rocks, results in the lithe, fresh style of chardonnay that Oceano is intent on making.
Not surprisingly, given the unspoiled nature of the place, the vineyard is SIP Certified. This Sustainable In Practice designation is arguably more stringent than what is mandated by the USDA’s Organic program as well as biodynamic practices because it touches on every part of the grape-growing and winemaking process, from planting to the way the finished wine is packaged and shipped. So, while there are about 100,000 acres of planted vineyards in the Central Coast AVA, the San Luis Obispo Coast designated for Oceano Wines’ chardonnay are truly special.
Pairs well with fish, shellfish, bird, pig
Review:
"Oceano is the project of Rachel Martin, executive vice president of Boxwood Estate Winery in Middleburg, Va., and her fiance, Grammy Award-winning music producer Kurt Deutsch. It’s an impressive debut wine, sourced from a vineyard just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean near San Luis Obispo. There’s a lot going on in the glass, as waves of citrus and tropical fruit flavors compete for attention. Just sit back and enjoy each sip. - Dave McIntyre"
- Washington Post (February 2018) - EXCEPTIONAL * - "5 wines perfect for Valentine’s Day"
The winery gets its name from the vineyard proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the historic name of the area. The Oceano Dunes are thought to be the center of an energy vortex much like Sedona.
A unique combination of education and experience brought co-owners Rachel Martin and Kurt Deutsch to launch Oceano Wines in 2016 in San Luis Obispo, California.
Rachel Martin and her family founded Boxwood Winery in 2005. After 11 years running all aspects of viticulture, winemaking, distribution and branding, she started her own wine project with Kurt Deutsch, Oceano Wines. Kurt, a former actor on stage and screen, current film and theater, is a three time grammy award wining music producer. The two met in her hometown during Kurt's movie premier, "Last Five Years", at the Middleburg Film Festival. Rachel exposed Kurt to the delight of wine and vine.
The debut release of the Oceano Wines 2016 Spanish Springs Vineyard Chardonnay (a Pinot Noir is to follow) is the happy result of any number of coincidences and fortuitous happenings.
The backstory of how this came to be reads like a romance novel. Co-proprietors Rachel Martin and Kurt Deutsch were seated at the same table at the Middleburg Film Festival’s screening of “The Last Five Years” in October 2014. While it wasn’t a set up, it was the first step in what would become a romance first and then a business partnership. Both of these relationships evolved out of the seemingly unlikely intersection of their careers.
That they ended up at the table together happened because Martin is a founding board member of the film festival (she is intimately involved with the food and drink aspect – no surprise given her position as Executive Vice President of Winery Operations at nearby Boxwood Estate Winery). For Deutsch’s part, he was there because his company Sh-K-Boom is a producer of the film that was being screened. As the relationship progressed, Deutsch became more and more intrigued by Martin’s world, which soon led to another made-to-order coincidence.
It occurred to Deutsch that his father’s longtime friend and neighbor owned a vineyard in California. Deutsch suggested that Martin buy some grapes to make a wine. They made the trip to Henry Warshaw’s Spanish Springs Vineyard located about 10 miles south of the sleepy town of San Luis Obispo more as wine country tourists than aspiring vintners. While Warshaw sought Martin’s input on the wine side of ANZA Vineyard Estates at Spanish Springs, a 16-home wine country community that includes this vineyard, neither of them were looking to make a wine. But at the same time Martin was impressed by what she saw. And after meeting with the vineyard manager, George Donati of Pacific Vineyard Company, she was even more so.
After returning to the East Coast, they decided that they couldn’t let this opportunity pass. Particularly because the vineyard was becoming known for the quality of its fruit and they feared that if they didn’t jump in now, they wouldn’t have the chance later. Jump they did.
"Spanish Springs is a rarity within the sprawling Central Coast AVA because it is closer to the Pacific Ocean than any other vineyard in this appellation, not to mention the Golden State itself."
Spanish Springs Vineyard is the sole source of fruit for the chardonnay (and soon pinot noir) made by Oceano Wines. Located nearly at the southern end of the sprawling Central Coast AVA (American Viticultural Area), Spanish Springs is perfectly situated to grow chardonnay – the vineyard also produces a number of other grapes, both white and red – that epitomizes balance and elegance. While the Central Coast designation is among the largest AVAs in all of North America, stretching practically from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, and from the coast to inland nearly 50 miles, Spanish Springs is a rarity within it because it is closer to the Pacific Ocean than any other vineyard in this “coastal” appellation, not to mention the Golden State itself.
Perched on the slopes of Price Canyon, a mere one-and-a-half miles from the ocean, the vineyard is ideally situated so it can be enrobed by the cool marine layer that rolls in reliably each morning from the ocean before the mid-day sun gradually melts it away. The chardonnay is allowed to gently warm up. Then, as afternoon turns to evening, cooling Pacific breezes pick up to ensure that the grapes never over ripen to the point where sugar levels translate into high-alcohol wine. A complex mix of sandstone, shale and limestone at the base, with soils reflective of these same sedimentary rocks, results in the lithe, fresh style of chardonnay that Oceano is intent on making.
The vineyard, about 10 miles south of San Luis Obispo, was originally conceived as a part of a wine country community of 16 home sites nestled in 300 pristine acres of rolling hills and meadows called ANZA Vineyard Estates at Spanish Springs. The development, abutting Pismo Reserve State Park, offers residents the opportunity to make wine using fruit from its namesake vineyard. But when it became apparent that the quality of the fruit was world class in all respects, winemakers came calling.
Not surprisingly, given the unspoiled nature of the place, the vineyard is SIP Certified. This Sustainable In Practice designation is arguably more stringent than what is mandated by the USDA’s Organic program as well as biodynamic practices because it touches on every part of the grape-growing and winemaking process, from planting to the way the finished wine is packaged and shipped. So, while there are about 100,000 acres of planted vineyards in the Central Coast AVA, the San Luis Obispo Coast designated for Oceano Wines’ chardonnay are truly special.
The 2017 was a very different year to 2016 in terms of the viticultural conditions and it was interesting to watch the progression of the wine and scrutinize its quality as it developed over its first two winters. Whereas 2016 had a very mild winter and exceptionally hot summer, this was compensated by abundant winter and spring rainfall. Conversely, 2017 was warm and drythroughout, although summer temperatures were closer to average, whichproved to be a very significant factor allowing for complete, balancedripening.
It is rare to see such tremendous depth and intensity in color as this winedisplays. The freshness of the floral aromas is very attractive with adominance of rockrose, a flower that grows wild around the hills of Senhorada Ribeira. On the palate, it is exceptionally full-bodied, rich andpowerful with black fruit coming to the fore. Gorgeous, ripe fruit isbalanced by the fine tannin structure. On the finish, it is typically Dow,austere and somewhat drier than many other ports. The intense fruit flavors linger long on the palate.
Dow’s Vintage Ports are only produced in years of exceptional quality and represent only a very small part of the total company’s production in that year. On average only two or three times every ten years are the weather conditions sufficiently good to allow for the making of Dow’s Vintage Port.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Dow’s Vintage Ports have been landmark wines in virtually every great year, consistently setting the standards amongst all Port houses. Vintage Ports such as the remarkable Dow 1896, the 1927, 1945, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1980 and the Dow 1994 are all legends in the history of this great wine. These Ports are still magnificent today, even when 50 or over 100 years old. Few wines can claim this quality and this pedigree.
Dow's Vintage Ports are drawn from the companies' finest vineyards; Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta de Senhora da Ribeira. Each property contributes to the Dow’s unique and distinctive style. When young, Dow’s Vintage Ports are purple-black, austere, complex and intensely concentrated, full-bodied and balanced with very fine peppery tannins.
Over the centuries, the Dow winemakers have evolved a style that suits the house’s key vineyards; fermentations are a little longer, resulting in a drier Port Wine that has become the hallmark of Dow’s. Abundant fruit flavours with hints of ripe blackberries, give elegance and poise to Dow’s. The nose is deep and powerful with strong overtones of violets when young, these mature into fine cinnamon and rose-tea aromas with age. The very high percentage of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional planted on the vineyards result in the powerful structure and aging potential of Dow’s Vintage Ports
Dow’s Ports avoid an over-rich style and requires a very high degree of skill in wine making and great experience in selecting the finest wines of each year and each vineyard. These wines are aged in seasoned oak casks for some 18 months and are bottled without any filtration or fining whatsoever.
Dow Vintage Ports can be enjoyed when vibrant and young or they can be allowed to age for many years in bottle into a soft and delicate wine of velvet-like elegance.
In the 1920’s, the celebrated Oxford Professor George Saintsbury underlined Dow’s outstanding reputation when he wrote in his famous ‘Notes on a Cellarbook’ (first published in 1920), “There is no shipper’s wine that I have found better than the best of Dow’s 1878 and 1890 especially.”
James Suckling, one of today’s leading authorities on Vintage Port was equally impressed by another legendary wine - the Dow’s 1896 - “The ancient {1896} Port still had an amazing ruby colour with a garnet edge, and it smelled of raisins, black pepper and berries. It was full-bodied, with masses of fruit intertwined with layers of velvety tannins. It was superb.” In 1998, when this wine was 102 years old, he awarded this Port an exceptional 98 points.
Review:
Based on fruit from the predominantly south-facing Quinta do Bomfim in the Cima Corgo and Quinta Senhora da Ribeira in the Douro Superior, with Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca making up 80% of the blend. This is opaque and closed in but powerfully ripe with underlying pure berry fruit. It's seemingly quite introverted compared to some of its peers at this stage, but it's still full, rich and opulent on the palate. It also shows the latent power of the vintage, made as it is in a slightly drier style (3.4 Baumé), with lovely minty fruit and full, ripe sinewy tannins all the way through the finish. Long and lithe, and very fine.
-Decanter 97 Points
A dense, thickly textured version, dripping with warm salted licorice, tar and açaí paste notes, while plum and blueberry pâte de fruit, chai spice and chocolate elements fill in behind. Lots of brambly grip flows underneath. Shows a very sappy feel on the finish. Best from 2035 through 2055. 5,250 cases made, 1,092 cases imported
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
This is a dry while also floral wine, perfumed and enticing with its juicy acidity. At the same time, the structure is very present, showing power and dark black fruits. The balance is coming together with the rich fruits and tannins melding into one. Drink from 2028. ROGER VOSS
-Wine Enthusiast 96 Points
Deep dark ruby garnet, opaque core, violet reflections, delicate brightening of the edges. Black wildberry jam underlaid with delicate herbs and spices, tobacco nuances, hints of blueberry jam and elderberries, schisty notes. Powerful, full-bodied, sweetness present, carrying tannins, dark nougat in the finish, very good length, an imperious style, built for a long life.
Falstaff 98 Points
Charles Smith Sixto Uncovered Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Not from here, this wine is otherworldly. Apricot, stone, pippin apple, sea breeze, and wildflowers mingle to create this compelling beauty. Sit down and take your time with this wine, to savor the incredible structure, with a long and lingering presence of toasted almonds, apple blossom, and flint. A wonderful journey!.
Review:
What a pretty nose. Lemon peel, fresh white flowers, lavender, crushed sage and wet stone. Medium-to full-bodied with carrying acidity. Extremely articulate and graceful on the palate with bright citrus and a dried-floral note. Impressive depth and length. Salty and tangy on the finish with vibrancy. Drink or hold.
-James Suckling 96 Points