Country: | United States |
Regions: | California California (Napa) |
Winery: | Pahlmeyer |
Grape Type: | Chardonnay |
Organic: | Yes |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Hoopes Chardonnay Napa Valley is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Serendipity was in the morning air when Maya and Sophie took Lindsay for a walk down a Yountville country lane. Maya, the feisty one, spied a jackrabbit and bounded off in hot pursuit. When Lindsay caught up with her, she found herself surrounded by some fine looking Chardonnay vines. Always on the look-out for the best fruit for Hoopla, with some neighborhood super-sleuthing, Lindsay tracked down the vineyard owner and kept talking until she got his handshake. That chance discovery gave us really great Chardonnay that we offer at a really great price. In fact, chasing rabbits is exactly what we’re talking about. This cheeky Chardonnay will make you want to get into some mischief too.
Our goal with the Hoopla Chardonnay is a fresh juicy wine showcasing flavors and aromas of the grape. A long cool fermentation and aging in stainless steel shines helps preserve the luscious aromas and fruit characters in the wine. Classic notes of fresh pineapple, ripe pear and Fuji apple greet the nose with a lovely warmth and creaminess in the mouth from aging sur-lie in tank without the introduction of oak. This mid-palate breadth yields to an open, clean and refreshing finish. We find ourselves reaching for this crowd-pleasing wine time and time again without fail.
This wine is delicious with roast chicken and buttery mashed potatoes, fish tacos, Chinese chicken salad, lobster mac and cheese, triple crème Brie slathered on French baguette and salt & pepper flavored kettle-cooked potato chips.
Review:
"I was blown away by the 2020 Chardonnay, a clean, crisp, vibrant expression of Chardonnay that has medium to full-bodied richness, wonderfully integrated acidity, and a distinct sense of minerality in its citrus, stone fruit, and white flower-driven aromatics. It's shockingly good and tastes like it cost 3-4 times its price."
- Jeb Dunnuck (February 2023), 96 pts
Hoopes Chardonnay Napa Valley is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Serendipity was in the morning air when Maya and Sophie took Lindsay for a walk down a Yountville country lane. Maya, the feisty one, spied a jackrabbit and bounded off in hot pursuit. When Lindsay caught up with her, she found herself surrounded by some fine looking Chardonnay vines. Always on the look-out for the best fruit for Hoopla, with some neighborhood super-sleuthing, Lindsay tracked down the vineyard owner and kept talking until she got his handshake. That chance discovery gave us really great Chardonnay that we offer at a really great price. In fact, chasing rabbits is exactly what we’re talking about. This cheeky Chardonnay will make you want to get into some mischief too.
Our goal with the Hoopla Chardonnay is a fresh juicy wine showcasing flavors and aromas of the grape. A long cool fermentation and aging in stainless steel shines helps preserve the luscious aromas and fruit characters in the wine. Classic notes of fresh pineapple, ripe pear and Fuji apple greet the nose with a lovely warmth and creaminess in the mouth from aging sur-lie in tank without the introduction of oak. This mid-palate breadth yields to an open, clean and refreshing finish. We find ourselves reaching for this crowd-pleasing wine time and time again without fail.
This wine is delicious with roast chicken and buttery mashed potatoes, fish tacos, Chinese chicken salad, lobster mac and cheese, triple crème Brie slathered on French baguette and salt & pepper flavored kettle-cooked potato chips.
Review:
"I was blown away by the 2020 Chardonnay, a clean, crisp, vibrant expression of Chardonnay that has medium to full-bodied richness, wonderfully integrated acidity, and a distinct sense of minerality in its citrus, stone fruit, and white flower-driven aromatics. It's shockingly good and tastes like it cost 3-4 times its price."
- Jeb Dunnuck (February 2023), 96 pts
Ziata Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc is made from 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc.
The small, concentrated berries of the 2021 vintage created a riper, rounder expression of our Sauvignon Blanc. Fruit and floral notes of ripe, fleshy peach, cantaloupe and white flowers drive the flavor profile, with lemon and wet copper adding brightness and dimension.
Review:
Fragrant, with pretty honeysuckle, orange blossom water and candied ginger notes that add elegance to the light, fresh frame of citrus, pear and pineapple flavors. Packs crisp acidity.
-Wine Spectator 91 Points
This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon offers an incredible aroma of big black, rich fruit, spring flowers, graphite and toast. Full-bodied with stunning concentration and flavors of dark cherries, black plum, melted milk chocolate. Well integrated French oak, this well balanced wine has supple, but ripe tannins and a lengthy finish. From a single vineyard in Oakville. 14 months in 60% new French oak, Excellent value for Oakville-Napa Valley. Just 350 cases produced.
Duckhorn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 2 % Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot.
Napa Bench Cabernet Sauvigon Napa Valley is made from 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 2% Petite Verdot.
The wine is aged in French oak barrels for 16 months.
The Bench lands of Napa Valley are where we find Cabernet Sauvignon with Power and Strength. Elegant and supple tannins complete the structure. Bench lands are the geological middle ground that connect the Valley Floor with the Mountain rises, perfectly drained soils!
NAPA BENCH Cabernet Sauvignon is a sophisticated blend of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. We start with Cabernet Sauvignon 95%, blend Merlot 3%, and finish with Petite Verdot 2%. The wine is aged in French oak barrels for 16 months.
Tasting Notes
NAPA BENCH is rich and flavorful. Red and dark fruits are apparent in the nose with Plum, Currant and Blackberry tones. The aroma is layered and shows the power of Cabernet and of oak nuance. The pallet is fine grained tannin, long and refined with a high degree of Deliciosity! The finish lingers and invites a second glass. Share with your favorite friends, and always with your hottest date.
Pahlmeyer Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Our 2021 Chardonnay is a thrilling, age-worthy wine, ultra-rich and concentrated yet beautifully balanced with lively fresh-style. Intense aromas of ripe gooseberry, lemongrass, and sweet clover bound from the glass with lingering notes of orange blossom honey. The wine has a brilliant juxtaposition of opulence and bright acidity on the palate, with pure, focused fruit at its core. A surge of tarte citron and toasted almond rides an edge of lifting acidity as polished oak tannins frame the fruit beautifully and seamlessly, captivating notes of salted caramel and baked spiced pear echoing on the finish.
Review:
Sliced cooked apples with biscuit and pie crust undertones, as well as hints of spices with some salted caramel. Hints of apricot. Full-bodied with a firmness and depth. Creamy-textured phenolics and great length. One of the best I have tasted. It is rich and flavorful, yet it shows great depth and length. Drinkable, but better in two or three years.
-James Suckling 98 Points
Jason Pahlmeyer understood that making wines with exceptional concentration, complexity, and ageability required venturing to extremes. That’s what drew him to the rugged parcel of vines on the ridgeline of Atlas Peak that would become his iconic estate vineyard. That is why, more than 35 years later, Pahlmeyer remains defined by mountain fruit, possessing the soulful character born of demanding terroir and exacting fieldwork.
More hours of sunlight lead to greater ripeness and complexity.
Cooler temperatures result in more complete phenolic ripeness and greater fruit intensity.
Low-Fertility, low-vigor soils yield smaller berries with greater concentration.
We farm responsively for balance and depth.
We vinify gently for honest and vivid expression.
Vineyards above 1,400 feet—such as our Water’s Ranch, Stagecoach, and Antica parcels—typically benefit from three more hours of sunshine per day compared to lower altitudes that are often cloaked in morning fog. This additional sunlight ensures the berries achieve a deep, rich color and complex flavor compounds.
With daytime temperatures averaging 5-10 F cooler, our mountain vines respire less acidity to produce energy; the acidity retained in the grapes results in greater freshness and balance in the wines. Cooler temperatures also prolong the growing season, allowing the clusters to hang longer on the vine and achieve optimal flavor development. Our Rancho Chimiles parcel, while slightly lower in elevation, sits close to the San Pablo Bay and enjoys cooling afternoon breezes that moderate temperature.
Thinner, rockier, poorer, and better-drained high-elevation soils naturally stress the vines, reducing yields by generating fewer shoots with limited clusters and smaller, thicker-skinned berries. The higher skin-to-juice ratio brings higher acidity, more tannin, and greater flavor concentration.
Farming our mountain parcels vine-by-vine, we can achieve a careful balance between broad structure and phenolic maturity. Dramatic mountain terrain challenges us with various slope grades, sun aspects, and microclimates. Through meticulous fieldwork, we optimize hang time and reach optimal ripeness, moderating Brix levels (e.g., 26.7 Brix for Cab and 24.5 for Chardonnay) so that our wines possess focused fruit and tremendous finesse.
From vine to barrel, we handle the fruit with extreme care. We hand harvest, block by block only when each vine has reached optimal ripeness. The fruit, picked before sunup when skins are cool and firm, are gravity-fed to tank. Throughout the fermentation process, we employ little to no pumping, extracting juice gently with a basket press and bottling unfined and unfiltered to retain the purist, most eloquent expression of the wine.
Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge is made from 30% each Grenache and Mourvèdre, with 10% each Counoise and Syrah, plus 20% other permitted varieties, including a healthy proportion of white grapes.
The story :
Château de Beaucastel has long been considered one of the great wines of France. It is unanimously renowned for its balance, elegance and ageing potential. Beaucastel has an extraordinary terroir at the Northern end of the appellation with heavy exposure to the Mistral. All 13 varieties of the appellation have been organically grown here since the sixties.
Location :
Châteauneuf du Pape, between Orange and Avignon, Château de Beaucastel red is a 70-hectare vineyard.
Terroir :
Château de Beaucastel is 110 hectares, with one single plot at the north of the appellation. The terroir is archetypal of the best terroirs in Châteauneuf: rolled pebbles on the surface, sand, clay and limestone deeper down. The vines are old and have been organically grown for 50 years, which has allowed the roots to grow exceptionally deep.
Beaucastel grows all thirteen grape varieties authorised by the appellation.
Ageing :
Each variety is harvested manually and separately. Vinification is completed in truncated oak barrels for the reductive grapes (Mourvèdre and Syrah) and in traditional tiled cement tanks for the oxidative grapes (such as Grenache). After the malolactic fermentations, the family blends the different varieties and then the wine ages in oak Foudres for a year before bottling.
Review:
Very dense black-fruit aromas, but also licorice, an entire microcosm of spice and a whiff of smoked bacon. Very dense and meaty with an incredible tannin structure that enables this to be simultaneously very big and elegant. Super-long finish with enormous mineral freshness.
-James Suckling 97 Points
This limited release wine is created from the fusion of two exceptional parcels of 55% Shiraz and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon. This classic blend is matured in the finest oak crafting an intriguing unison that captures the essence of the vineyard and highlights its unique varietal expression.
Vintage Overview
2013 was a very good season with predominantly mild, dry days. Yields were generally low and this did result in some excellent parcels of fruit being harvested. Vine-balance was carefully monitored, resulting in fruit that demonstrates the vibrancy and fruit-derived characters that we strive for in our wines. By all accounts it was a textbook vintage.
Tasting Notes
Deep inky purple in color. Aromas of blackberry, mocha, mint and spices. Lush, ripe palate dominated by black fruits, cherry and chocolate. An expansive palate with black fruits and nicely balanced by oak.
Made with the greatest dedication and care, select parcels were matured in new and seasoned French and American oak for up to 20 months prior to being selected for this blend. Individual barrels from our family estate that best demonstrate the intensity of our fruit, balanced by integrated oak were selected for the final blend, which was then bottled with minimal filtration.
Pairs well with venison, ribeye steak, lamb.
Review:
A magnificent blend of two classic grapes; the hugely appealing bouquet shows blackberry, sweet cherry, anise, chocolatey oak and cake spice aromas, followed by a concentrated palate that displays awesome depth and intensity. It’s opulent and substantial, wonderfully framed by velvety tannins, making it totally delicious. At its best: now to 2026. AU$55.00. Dec 2019.
-Wine Orbit 96 Points