The Tasting Panel magazine

January / February 2017

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74  /  the tasting panel  /  january/february 2017 90 Estancia 2015 Sauvignon Blanc, Monterey County ($8) Silky and smooth with fresh, clean flavors of citrus and bright fruit; tangy and balanced. Superb value. CONSTELLATION WINE U.S. 88 Olema 2014 Chardonnay, Sonoma ($15) Clean and creamy with ripe pear fruit and suave texture; fresh, bright and balanced; long and dense on the finish. 88 Renzo Masi 2015 Il Bastardo Sangiovese, Rosso di Toscana IGT, Italy ($9) Food-friendly and quaffable, with bright berry fruit and tangy acidity; made in the Chianti Rúfina area from 100 percent Sangiovese. HB WINE MERCHANTS 88 Original House Wine 2014 Mountain Merlot, American ($11) Herbal nose; smooth, ripe and fresh; clean and simple but rich and nicely balanced. 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. PRECEPT WINES 90 Noble Vines 2015 446 Chardonnay, San Bernabe, Monterey ($13) Tangy citrus, pear and racy acidity; lush, ripe and showing toasty oak and remarkably complex flavors. Quite a good value. DFV WINES 90 Granza 2014 Tempranillo, Ribera del Duero, Spain ($15) Dusky and delicious, with juicy plum and berry fruit; racy and fresh with a long finish; an organic "natural" wine from Bodegas Matarromera. NATURAL MERCHANTS BLUE REVIEWS THE CALIFORNIA WINE INDUSTRY GOT A late start because of Prohibition. So, in order to catch up to well-established Old World winemaking, experimentation became the driving force around the Golden State. Vintners experimented with varieties, clones, micro-climates, yeasts, barrels and all manner of techniques. The tradition of experimentation is still alive and well with the Central Coast Group Project as a dramatic case in point. Scott Sampler has focused on clonal selection as well as the time the developing wine spends on the skins during fermentation. Explains Sampler, "Each 'Opus' represents a single Syrah clone from White Hawk Vineyard that went into the 'Names' cuvée. Each clone was picked on the same day from different blocks of the vineyard and vinified in exactly the same way—a rare opportunity to taste the differences among Syrah clonal selections from the same vineyard in a controlled sampling. The fun is in experiencing each of the single expressions and seeing how and what they sing when they marry." "Variations on a Clone" THE CENTRAL COAST GROUP PROJECT PUTS EXPERIMENTATION TO THE TASTE TEST 93 Central Coast Group Project 2012 Variations on a Clone Syrah, Op. 1, White Hawk Vineyard, Santa Barbara County ($90) Deep and lush with ripe black raspberry and floral notes; smooth, seamless and richly evolved flavors; silky and showing a bit of animale and earth; the most flavorful of the three. 93 Central Coast Group Project 2012 Variations on a Clone Syrah, Op. 174, White Hawk Vineyard, Santa Barbara County ($90) Dense, dark and earthy; fleshy and mature with balance and complexity; deep and intense; rich and long; the most elegant of the three. 94 Central Coast Group Project 2012 Variations on a Clone Syrah, Op. 877, White Hawk Vineyard, Santa Barbara County ($90) Rich and dense with velvety texture and balanced, ripe blackberry fruit; earthy, intense and luscious; the most structured of the three. 94 Central Coast Group Project 2012 Names Syrah, White Hawk Vineyard, Santa Barbara County ($75) The blend of all three is smoothly aromatic with lovely black-raspberry fruit; a period of 43 days on the skins has developed rich, mature flavors and great depth; intense and complex with great complexity and finesse. 90 Monterey County ($8) and smooth with fresh, clean flavors of citrus and bright

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