Vinopolis Newsletter 1-31-25

 

 
 

We at Vinopolis try not to play favorites but wineries like Donnhoff, our beloved jewel of the Nahe, make that a challenging endeavor. When customers come in looking to “get into Riesling,” this is usually the first winery that comes to mind. Yes, the world is a capricious place but year after year you can be sure that a Donnhoff wine will be as close to perfection as the vintage allows.
 
These Grosses Gewachs selections represent the best of the best wineries. These wines are so focused, so flavorful and complex, that they would be a bargain at twice the price.
 
Lucky for you, we are offering these magnum (and larger!) wines at the lowest listed prices on the West Coast!
 
Donnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Nahe, Germany 2023 1.5L $219 special, 3 magnums available
James Suckling 100 Points “This dry riesling has a hypnotic beauty that leaves no doubt how this wine redefines what peachy means in the context of this grape variety. As it aerates, a wealth of wild berry and flower nuances develop and expand. Given the mind-bending concentration of this wine, it is staggeringly fresh and absolutely precise. Then comes the finish, which is like a prima ballerina dancing on pointe off into the distance. Drink from release.”
 
Donnhoff Felsenberg Grosses Gewachs, Nahe, Germany 2023 1.5L $179 special, 3 magnums available
Anne Krebiehl Mw- Vinous 96-98 Points “The 2022 Riesling Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Felsentürmchen Grosses Gewächs is from a steep site of volcanic origin with porphyry and melaphyr. A touch of yeastiness still plays on the shy, tentative nose. The palate comes in with stony saltiness, a tingling sense of juicy lemon intensifying the salty impression even more. Great concentration aligns with lightness and energetic linearity. The bright acidity has a serene luminosity and ripe yet crystal clear smoothness that seems to stretch away into eternity, lighting the way, gliding along, dynamic, optimistic, promising and full of light. (Bone-dry)”
 
Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Grosses Gewachs, Nahe, Germany 2023 6L $1,099 special, 1 Methuselah available
James Suckling 100 Points “Incredibly refined and precise, yet with Grand Canyon-like depths and layers, this incredible dry riesling has a horizon-to-horizon spectrum of stone fruit, citrus and wild berry aromas, plus a touch of dusty hot soil as rain starts to fall on it. On the compact, medium-bodied palate, this side of the wine builds and builds to a giant crescendo in the almost endless finish. Drink or hold.”

 

 

 
California

Turley Wine Cellars Old Vines Zinfandel, California 2022 750ml $34.90 special, 12 bottles available
Erin Brooks 92 Points “…the 2022 Zinfandel Old Vines punches above its weight in this vintage. The nose is considerably deeper, fuller and more polished, opening with aromas of crushed plums, wild berry preserves, tobacco leaves and similar autumnal accents to its younger sibling. The palate is light- to medium-bodied, carrying through the polished quality of the nose and melds it with a subtly dusty tannin structure and bright acidity. The finish is straightforward and easy to drink, offering generous layers of fruit, spice and floral notes.”
 
Turley Wine Cellars Steacy Ranch Zinfandel, Lodi 2022 750ml $31.90 special, 12 bottles available
Wine Advocate 93 Points “From vines planted in 1907, the 2022 Zinfandel Steacy Ranch is medium ruby in color and takes time to reveal a pure, complex nose of crushed berries, candied stone fruit, autumn leaves, dusty earth and subtle meaty, savory tones. The palate is dense and concentrated yet bound with a youthfully firm, dusty frame and fireworks of mouthwatering acidity on the long, gently coiled finish. While fans of a forward, fleshy style will enjoy this on the young side, this should improve beautifully in the cellar over the coming decade.”
Vinous 92-94 Points “The 2022 Zinfandel Steacey Ranch is a powerful, savory wine. Dried flowers, menthol, gravel, herbs and crushed leaves give the Steacey its distinctive, earthy profile. Dark and quite brooding in feel, the 2022 packs quite the punch.”
 
Italy

A rarity! This complex stunner is aged to perfection!
Calabretta Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie Sicilia IGT, Sicily 2015 750ml $34.50 special, 19 bottles available
Antonio Galloni-Vinous 93 Points “The 2015 Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie is simply stunning, erupting from the glass with a burst of crushed black cherries, cloves, blood orange and hints of dusty earth. This is soft-textured, nearly fleshy in feel, with a core of tart red berry fruits offset by sour citrus as rosy inner orals form toward the close. It finishes with staining length and concentration, just lightly structured, leaving a sensation of hard red candies to fade. This is a vibrant vintage of Vigne Vecchie, but it possesses the balance for further evolution.”
 
Damn the weather! Drink like it’s summer again with this thirst quenching pool-side classic.
Pieropan Soave, Veneto 2023 750ml $19 special, 36 bottles available
Jeff Porter-Wine Enthusiast 93 Points “Every year Pieropan captures the soul of Soave, Garganega and the vintage in such a pristine way that it keeps us in awe. This vintage shines with aromas of Fuji pears, Anjou apples, lemon blossom and flint. The palate is crisp with green apple skin and lemon zest flavors that give way to toasted almonds, acacia honey and a minerality so deep that you might as well be in a quarry. Drink now to 2040.”

 

 
 

 

Brad McLeroy had a dream but he also had a problem. While he and his wife owned a popular wine shop, what he really wanted was to be a winemaker. Unfortunately, their wine shop was in Kansas City… far from any wine regions of note. So they sold their business and moved west and moved out to the Willamette Valley. Brad got a job at working with Veronique Drouhin, one of the greatest winemakers in the world, and six years later opened his own winery.
 
While they may not receive the level of attention that some Oregon wineries get, they are beloved by industry vets and wine geeks alike. Coupled with their pure and transportative style, these wines are delicious and are truly fantastic values
 
Ayres Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2023 750ml $24 special, 35 bottles available
CS-12 Ayres Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023 750ml $259 special, 3 cases available
Winemaker’s Note “The Ayres Willamette Valley Pinot is sourced from the Ayres Estate in Ribbon Ridge at 474 feet elevation, and the Oliver Vineyard in Yamhill Carlton at 600 feet elevation. Wines are fermented in open top, 2 ton fermenters using all indigenous yeasts for both primary and secondary fermentations. A small amount of whole clusters were used.”
 
Ayres Lewis Rogers Lane Pinot Noir, Ribbon Ridge, Oregon 2022 750ml $39 special, 20 bottles available
Winemaker’s Note “Lewis Rogers Lane Pinot Noir. If our vineyard could speak, this bottle is what it would say! Every producing estate clone is represented here: 667, 777, 115, 113, and Pommard. Discover blueberry overtones, baking spices, cedar, tobacco, and a hint of oak.”
 
Ayres Perspective Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir 2023 750ml $29 special, 36+ bottles available
Winemaker’s Note “A true snapshot of the Ribbon Ridge AVA! Our estate vines pair perfectly with neighboring vines from Armstrong and Lichtenwalter vineyards. Enjoy notes of boysenberry, cinnamon, and dried tobacco.”
 
Ayres Pioneer Pinot Noir 2022 750ml $41.90 special, 20 bottles available
Winemaker’s Note “Single clone 667. Bold and beautiful – the darkest of our Pinot Noirs! Fans of Pioneer know it from the first taste. Appreciate dark blackberry fruit, forest floor, clove, and leather.”
 
Ayres Chehalem Mountains Gamay Noir 2023 750ml $21.90 special, 36+ bottles available
 

 
One of the earliest adopters of biodynamic farming in the Willamette Valley, Brick House is one of the most consistently excellent wineries in the region. Founded by Doug Tunnell and Melissa Mills (then working as broadcast journalists) in 1990, the winery has always followed nature first, letting climate and terroir be their guide and sustainability their goal.
 
Brick House Pinot Noir Select 2023 750ml $41.90 special, 11 bottles available
(not reviewed yet, 2022 vintage provided for reference)
Grapelive 93 Points “This 2022 Select is fresh and lively in the glass with loads of charm, character and a delicate earthiness, it shows off a vibrant array of black cherry, cranberry, wild berry, plum and tart red currant fruits, plus a light dusting of spices, sandalwood, mineral tones, crushed flowers, loamy underbrush, a touch of toasty vanilla, snappy herbs and blood orange tea. This vintage is silken and has fine grained ripe tannins that melt into this pretty medium bodied Pinot Noir, sourced from all organic grapes coming from the Ribbon Ridge’s ancient Willakenzie soils.”
Brick House Les Dijonnais Pinot Noir 2022 750ml $59 special, 19 bottles available
Eric Guido-Vinous 94 Points “Sweetly spiced, the 2022 Pinot Noir Les Dijonnais opens with an intoxicating bouquet of cedar spice box, incense, clove and black cherry. This is juicy in character, silky-smooth and complex, with vividly ripe red berry fruits and rosy inner florals accelerated by brilliant acidity. It finishes with admirable length, subtly tannic yet focused, leaving a tart cranberry concentration and a flourish of minerality that keeps the mouth-watering for more. Fantastic.”

Brick House Vineyards ‘Evelyn’s’ Pinot Noir 2022 750ml $79 special, 10 bottles available
Audrey Frick-Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points “A best barrel selection, the 2022 Pinot Noir Evelyn’s is a reflective red hue and offers up notes of rosemary, black raspberries, cherries, dark stones, and pressed flowers. It has a refined and polished feel, with a seamless texture, ripe, velvety tannins, refreshing acidity, and a lovely flourish of iron-rich salty earth. Long on the palate, it’s a pleasure to taste now, and it’s going to age gracefully over the next 15 or so years. 175 cases were produced.”
 
Brick House Gamay Noir 2023 750ml $36 special, 8 bottles available
Winery Note “Harvested on a beautiful fall day, this mix of Gamay Noir clones was fully destemmed into stainless steel fermenters. After a post-fermentation maceration we racked the wine into 100% neutral French oak barrels where it aged for ten months.”
 
Brick House Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge 2023 750ml $31.90 special, 35 bottles available
Winery Note “2023 was a truly exceptional vintage. From the finish of fermentation to bottling day almost a year later our Brick House Pinot Noir offered freshness and verve, tempered by a rich presence on the palate thanks to a warm, largely dry ripening season. The 2023 Ribbon Ridge bottling comes from vines planted in 2015.”

 

 

Sometimes you want Bordeaux on a budget. Sometimes you want a bottle of Bordeaux that blows the budget.
 

 
Incredible value!
Carmes C Des Carmes Haut-Brion Pessac-Leognan 2019 750ml $39 special, 14 bottles available
Decanter 96 Points “Beautiful fragrance to the nose, perfumed and delicate yet so expressive, nothing out of balance with cherries and violets bursting out of the glass. Gorgeous smooth mouthfeel with some milk chocolate dusting on the fruit, tannins are delicate and softly mouth filling with a lovely salinity to the palate – creamy and unctuous but at the same time there’s lots of acidity. This has a verticality to it, layered but with an aerial quality too, the flavours just glide across the palate with lift on the finish – so satisfying and drinkable. Just a glorious, shining, bright, velvety, succulent glass of wine. Pure elegance. A blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, 3.55pH. Drinking Window 2022 – 2046”
 
Delicious! Buy this by the case!
L’Hetre Castillon 2016 750ml $29.50 special, 36+ bottles available
Julia Harding MW-Jancis Robinson “L’Hêtre 2016 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux is the first release of this wine from the organically farmed estate perched at 100 m on the end of the St-Philippe d’Aiguilhe limestone plateau, the highest point in Bordeaux…‘Rich in blackcurrant fruit with a savoury dark glow to make it more than just fruit. Just a touch of smoky char even though the oak is well in the background, a seductive fruit sweetness. On the palate, this is beautifully balanced, the alcohol perfectly integrated in the tannic structure and fruit core with a fresh tang that runs through the middle. There’s a cool fluidity to it even with its depth and length. Fine, dry, lingering and savoury aftertaste. Impressive first vintage with a promising future in the bottle. I opened this on a Sunday evening and it was still tasting fresh and vibrant four days later. This is a very classy wine, and the tannins tell you everything: fine, definite, building in the mouth but in perfect balance with the fruit and freshness. Blue-blooded Castillon. Catch it while you can.'”
 
The aromatics are all-enveloping, powerful and nuanced and totally delicious, drawing you in and refusing to let go.” -Jane Anson-Inside Bordeaux
Pichon Baron Pauillac 2019 750ml $199 special, 11 bottles available
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate 97-100 Points “The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Baron is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot, harvested from the 18th of September to the 11th of October. It is being aged in French oak barrels, 80% new, for 18 months. This grand vin represents 49% of the harvest. Very deep purple-black in color, the nose skyrockets from the glass with vibrant scents of freshly crushed blackberries, black raspberries and blackcurrant pastilles followed by perfumed sparks of fragrant earth, clove oil, lilacs, crushed rocks, molten chocolate and cinnamon toast. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with layer upon layer of black fruit, mineral and exotic spices, framed by beautifully ripe, finely-grained tannins and tons of freshness, finishing with a lingering soft-spoken whisper of floral and earth notions. This is an absolutely beguiling expression that is classic Pauillac, and yet it is Pauillac like no other.”
 
#2 WINE SPECTATOR – WINE OF THE YEAR IN 2021
Pichon Lalande Pauillac 2018 750ml $279 special, 25 bottles available
Pichon Lalande Pauillac 2018 1.5L $499 special, 2 magnums available
Jeb Dunnuck 98+ Points “The 2018 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande is a monster of a wine with an almost Château Latour-like stature and structure, offering deep, backward, slightly reductive notes of blackcurrants, crushed stone, scorched earth, lead pencil shavings, and tobacco leaf. Based largely on Cabernet Sauvignon mixed with 23% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, it’s full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful on the palate, with masses of tannins, beautiful mid-palate density, and a great finish. As I’ve commented previously, the up-front, sexy style of the past (due to the larger Merlot content, I believe) has been replaced by a more regal, at times austere profile. Nevertheless, it’s still its own wine and very Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in style. This 2018 is going to need 5-7 years of bottle age and will evolve for 40+ years.”
 
“Wonderfully Hedonistic” –Lisa Perotti-Brown
Chateau Belair Monange Saint-Emilion 2018 750ml $249 special, 10 bottles available
James Suckling 99 Points “Very intense blackberries, black olives, blueberries and dried flowers. Stony minerality. Even some pine. Full-bodied with superb depth of fruit and ultra fine tannins that are intense and polished. The finish is so long and delivers so much flavor, from wet earth to blackberry again. Seamless palate. Try after 2026.”
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate 98 Points “Made from 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2018 Belair Monange rolls effortlessly out of the glass with gregarious scents of black cherry preserves, stewed plums and boysenberries, plus suggestions of Indian spices, rose oil, Ceylon tea and garrigue, with a waft of tilled soil. The rich, seductive, full-bodied palate is laden with black fruit preserves and exotic spice layers, framed by velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and fragrant. Wonderfully hedonic and conceivably drinkable now, give it 4-5 years in the cellar to allow the earthy/savory nuances to fully emerge from within the fruit and drink it over the next 25 years or more.”