Ancien Pinot Noir Fiddlestix is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
The Fiddlestix Vineyard is located in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, which straddle the Santa Ynez River as it makes its way to the Pacific Ocean. As an East-West oriented valley, opening its mouth to the cool Pacific breezes, the consistent and cooling marine influence is significant. The vineyard is managed and owned in partnership by Kathy Joseph, who has planted an array of clones and rootstocks on several, varied soils to create a staggering level of diversity from this single vineyard. The remarkably consistent weather, characterized by lower highs and higher lows than our North Coast vineyards, conspires with silica-laden, marine sedimentary soils to make wines of power and exceptional structure.
Fiddlestix always presents a bold Pinot Noir with notes of fruit and exotic spice. As the vines have aged, we noticed more and more underlying depth (they now are approaching their 25th vintage). The nose greets with notes of cassis, Indian spice, and hints of incense. Fresh dark fruits lead the palate, and the focus settles on ripe flavors of blackberry and currants spiced with peppercorn/allspice. Velvety and softly chewy tannins emphasize structure, while ever-present acidity balances and brightens. The spicy aromatics and flavors continue through the long finish.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir Dundee Hills is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Archery Summit Dundee Hills Pinot Noir touts all the hallmarks of this storied appellation. It begins with hints of ripe plum skin, ocean air, baking spices, and cocoa powder dustiness on the nose. The palate is just as expressive, with fresh, juicy red fruit backed by graceful tannins, a complex brininess, and a mouth-watering acidity. Finishing with spiced oak and a mouth-coating basalt minerality, this wine is great now and will be for years to come.
The Dundee Hills Pinot Noir touts all the hallmarks of Archery Summit's storied appellation. It begins with brambleberry, ripe rainier cherry, blackberry blossoms, cocoa powder, and spice on the nose. The palate is just as lively, with fresh, juicy red fruit backed by graceful tannins and acid. Finishing with spiced oak and a mouth-coating minerality, this wine is a case study in the magic of the Dundee Hills.
Yet, thanks to water reserves in the soil itself and some timely viticultural movements, the vineyards persevered through the heat and water limitations. The dryer season accelerated picking times, making the fruit ripen a bit earlier than normal. September rewarded us with cool nights and the lower-than average yields set us up to make wines with abundant character, intensity and balance. The winery is so grateful for the moisture-abundant, microbially-rich and chemical-free soils that lovingly nudged the vines towards the finish line.
Review:
Expressive and sleekly built, with floral raspberry and cherry flavors laced with cinnamon and dusky spices. Finishes with medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2032.
-Wine Spectator 92 Points
Arzuaga Ribera del Duero La Planta 2023 is 100% Tempranillo.
The wine has been crafted from grapes cultivated at La Planta estate, owned by Arzuaga Navarro’s family in Quintanilla de Onésimo, the heart of Ribera del Duero. The soil is clay-calcareous and the subsoil is pure limestone at one meter under the surface. The vineyard altitude is 911 meters above sea level. These specific conditions provide distinct features of the wine.
The wine boasts a deep violet red color. Clean and bright with a range of red fruits (raspberry and cherry) that dominate with a high aromatic intensity, joined by balsamic, cacao, coffee, and roasted tones. Fresh, elegant, easy, and balanced in the mouth with a lightly sweet, toasted, and pleasant aftertaste.
Pairs best with fried fish, sausage, and white meats such as roasted poultry.
Review:
The 2023 La Planta is 100% Tempranillo and was aged for six months in oak. Floral in character, it offers rosewood and candy, followed by candied cherry. Dry and slightly indulgent, with grippy tannins and a juicy core, the 2023 vintage brings extra charm and palate energy compared to 2022. - Joaquín HIDALGO"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (June 25th 2025), 90 pts
Arzuaga Ribera del Duero Reserva is made from 95% Tempranillo, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Merlot.
Clean and bright ruby red with purple reflections. Great aromatic intensity, complex and elegant, where the compote of red fruits dominates. The palate is structured with silky, sweet tannins and a lingering finish.
The harvest was done manually at the optimum point of maturity, and carried out separately for each of the more than 20 different plots used to make this wine. After the selection tables, a pre-fermentation maceration at low temperature and subsequent alcoholic fermentation at 28º is carried out, giving way to malolactic fermentation and aging in new French oak barrels for 26 months.
Ideal with red meats (big game), roasted white meat, and blue cheese.
Avignonesi Desiderio Merlot Toscana IGT is made from Merlot.
Avignonesi Desiderio Merlot has an explosive olfactory impact. The wide aromatic bouquet ranges from cherry and plum jam to notes of black tea, rhubarb and graphite, with small final notes of fermented tobacco. The entrance is bursting. The palate is invested by the imposing and typical structure of Tuscan Merlot, enveloping and warm. Tastefully in symbiosis with the olfactory notes, the dense and linear tannin accompanies hints of coconut and black pepper in retrolfaction.
Review:
James Suckling 94 Points
Chavy-Chouet Bourgogne Rouge La Taupe is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Chavy-Chouet's Pinot Noir is classified as humble Bourgogne Rouge, but the fruit for it comes from an excellent single-vineyard site near Pommard. La Taupe's parcel was once part of the Pommard AOC.
The wine is juicy with a great mouthfeel. It has classic Bourgogne Rouge aromas, with a candied cherry character as well as strawberry, raspberry and spice, yet the structure and length of finish reminds one of a Pommard - ripe & rich with a bigger body.
Average age of the vines: 70 years old.
Density of planting: 10,000 vines per hectare.
Soil: clay
100% distemmed.
Very little intervention. Less pigeage (punch down of the cap) but some remontage (pump-over)
Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta Liebres is made from 100% Tinto Fino. The plot is located on a terraced hillside located at 900 m above sea level with slopes that range between inclines of 30% and 40%. Red cherry color with purple hues. Ripe fruit aromas, vanilla notes. Suave and unctuous in the mouth. A strong and noble character.
The harvest is carried out by hand using small crates and after passing through a refrigerated container it is transferred into tanks via gravity. The alcoholic and malolatic fermentation is carried out in small French “Haute Futaie” Oak casks with unique and original local yeasts and fermenting bacteria from the vineyard itself, to bring out the very best of the terroir, respecting the uniqueness of each and every vintage. Clarified with egg whites and bottled by gravity with natural cork stoppers.
Review:
"From the vineyard of the same name, the 2021 Cuesta De Las Liebres is a knockout, from a hillside vineyard of terraced vines. Aged 24 months in French oak, the first year in new, the second in second-use, all fine-grained, and bottled in June 2024, the tannins are well-integrated and dusty, nearly chalky. It’s truly a beautiful expression of variety, vintage, and site, reaching perfection in its fine-tuned, full-bodied layers of rich cassis, oak spice, and even a touch of garrigue. There’s lovely acidity throughout that brightens the palate, with beguiling notes of violet that never fade away. It’s a seamless, polished, gorgeous wine that will be hard to resist, though aging will continue to see it melt into one over the next 15-18 years. - Virginie BOONE"
- Jeb DUNNUCK (August 2025), 100 pts