Wines

The spice is harder to pin down, but you think Green Cardamom perhaps, & even a whiff of earthy, seductive Musk…oh my. After several more swirls of the glass you proceed to taste. At the front of your tongue, the citrus notes, Blood Orange, Meyer Lemon & honey laced with Egyptian vanilla powder demand your attention.    BLEND | 67% Viognier + 33% Roussanne

...draped with the appealing scent of well-oiled leather jingling in a noon-day horse paddock that’s been scattered about with fresh straw bedding & sprinkled here & there with cracked white pepper, sweet anise & citrus zest; & there you are, holding the warmth of crushed wild rosemary sprigs in your hand... spicy layers of cinnamon & mulled ripe raspberry with chunks of fresh strawberry & ruby-red Tartarian cherry, & surely you will soon find yourself bouncing along in a horse-drawn caravan during the annual Romani pilgrimage...

....a sprinkle of maroon-hued rose petals comingled with the juice of tart black cherries & red Hinnomaki gooseberry. The mouth fully compliments the nose in every way, save for the addition of freshly shelled walnut, dusty strawberry & cedar. And, oh yes, there’s that bit of dark chocolate sprinkled with a pinch of cayenne on the tongue!                BLEND | 53% Malbec + 41% Cabernet Sauvignon + 6% Cabernet Franc

The mouth is perfectly filled with luscious sun wrinkled cassis clotting at the core, & there are lashings of thick, voluptuous blackberry, smoke-roasted coffee bean & a fine whiff of forest humous from which a treasure of autumn’s black truffles have just been harvested. Waggle your tongue around the dainty chew of licorice & mint, & you will find all elements reposing quaintly within an exquisitely dovetailed box of cedar & sweet yew. The total experience!!       BLEND | a multi-vintage, solera style Bordeaux blend

Inky & totally opaque, with its body dressed in a racy cardinal’s dark purple skirt & layered with maroon velvet sleeves, but dark as it is there are brilliant shafts of sunlight bursting through to dapple your glass, a glass filled with bitter-sweet chocolate & smoked chipotle chili peppers gently ground to fine smoothness in a basalt mortar, a silky jaguar glimmering in the jungle at evenfall...

...in other words, this is a wine that’s altogether briery to the core. But then the earthy nose explodes into the mouth with lush candied fruit, blueberry jam, sun-shriveled Jubilee plum, black licorice dancing with star anise, plus there’s that seductive smear of cherry & raspberry treacle dotted here & there with hoisin, all of which coalesce into a memorable finish. Since we started with a wild boar, consider inviting one to dinner nicely roasted & studded with slivers of garlic & garnished with rosemary. That would indeed be a memorable combination to tickle the tonsils!                                     

• Chrysos 2016 XLB 
• Grenache 2017 
• nv Pentimento '20 bottling (x2)
• Petite Sirah 
• Zinfandel 2017 

• Grenache 2017 
• Littoral 2017
• nv Pentimento '20 bottling (x2)
• Petite Sirah 
• Zinfandel 2017 

The sun slowly starts its set above the painted desert, splashing multitudinous colors as if from a giant brush, stroked in a sinuous motion across the raw and dangerous American West.

This brooding suit of lights will beguile you with a swaying muleta of dark garnet, ruby and blue-hued mahogany scented with Parma violets dipped in chocolate, blood orange peel, iodine rubbed leather, musk, and all fully integrated within a panoply of sun-herbs laced with pungent black pepper.

Silver light reflects off rain-slicked cobbles, smooth as sea serpent scales seen through the thick grey-blue fog, opaque and mysterious, winding down sinuous streets and alleys, ultimately opening onto the rough-hewn beams of wooden docks jutting out into the bay.

As wick and intense as Lala Palooza pressed from ultra-ripe Kordia cherries, darker than fresh ink made from smashed black pluots, and as brightly jammy as vanilla scented blackberries topped with green and pink peppercorns.