Reviews

A fluid, easygoing style, offering apple, peach and grapefruit flavors. Just lacks a little stuffing. Drink now through 2018. 145 cases made.

This attractively priced Gigondas is a solid example, boasting traditional notes of leather and spiced meat. It's supple and slifhtly warm, with modest cherry fruit coated with a dusting of dry red earth. Clove and mettalic notes on the finish suggest early consumption is the prudent option.

A sleek, focused red, with cherry and caramel aromas that follow through to balanced flavors of crisp raspberry, cola and spice. Drink now through 2017.

This Pinot is appealing for its focused savory herb and dried berry flavors, which gain depth and complexity. A cedarly, loamy earth aftertaste marks the finish. Drink now through 2017.

A hint of reduction along with noticeable oak influence frames the otherwise pretty floral and citrus aromas. There is reasonably good richness to the suave, round and nicely energetic flavors that display a light citrus character to the attractively dry and clean finish that delivers moderate persistence. In short, this offers solid but not special quality.

Toast, pastry and peach flavors predominate, with hints of lemon and mineral. This is vibrant and lightweight, showing intensity and persistence. Leesy aftertaste. Drink now through 2015. 407 cases made. –BS

This Cabernet is soft and herbal, good for drinking now. It’s gentle in the mouth, with rich waves of blackberries, cherries, sage and oak that finish in a flourish of spices.

Here the wood is much better integrated and only a background element on the pretty and reasonably complex nose of floral, stone, pear and floral suffused aromas. There is good richness but also better acid support to the nicely detailed, intense and balanced flavors that offer fine persistence. There is a touch of oak on the sappy and ever-so-slightly warm finish but not enough to really detract from the overall appeal. This should drink well almost immediately.

A ripe but attractively layered and perfumed nose of dark cherry and violet aromas leads to round and nicely rich middle weight flavors that possess good vibrancy on the attractively persistent finish. This is not an especially elegant Chambolle, but then Chardannes rarely is, and the tannins and mouth feel are consistent with that touch of toughness the vineyard typically displays.

Even by De Loach’s standards of enormously ripe Zinfandels, this one stands out. It’s a hydrogen bomb of a wine, fantastically rich in berries and fruits that have a slightly dried quality to them. The tannins are thick, and the alcohol seems higher and hotter than the stated 14.5% by volume. — S.H. (6/1/2012)