For each San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, longtime wine writer Mike Dunne tastes and jots notes on best-of-class wines. For the competition in 2024, Mike first tasted best-of-class wines and then trimmed this wide field to the 70 wines that went into the concluding sweepstakes round, plus a few others that he found to represent exceptional character, quality, value, back stories and trends within the wine scene, especially the rise in grape varieties and wine styles beyond California.
Given the breadth of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition – drawing 5500 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico – the whittling of the 172 best-of-class winners to some 100 selections can be daunting. Mike, however, is familiar with such challenges. He is the author of “The Signature Wines of Superior California: 50 Wines that Define the Sierra Foothills, the Delta, Yolo and Lodi,” his deep and personal dive into the evolution of the wine trade in appellations about Sacramento over the past 50 years, a stretch during which he chronicled the area’s viticultural and enological development for several publications and platforms, especially The Sacramento Bee.
| Category Name | Mike Dunne’s Tasting Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Blanc de Blancs | Ferrante Grand River Valley "Star Seeker" Bubbly Blanc: If the Cleveland Browns had as much cohesion, attack and stamina as this sparkling wine, the NFL playoffs would be running a different script these days. Cleveland comes into play because the Grand River Valley is an American Viticultural Area just east of Cleveland. From there, Ferrante's "Star Seeker" is an aptly named sparkler. It has the thrust and flow of a successful launch into orbit. Its spritz is enduring, its acidity forthright, its sweetness delicate, and its flavor running to suggestions of peach and lime. | |
| Blanc de Noirs |  | Domaine Chandon California Blanc de Pinot Noir: With precision, presence and persistence, Domaine Chandon's non-vintage California Blanc de Pinot Noir showed again why it is one of the state's more consistently reliable sparkling wines. At the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, it topped 15 other contenders in its group to be declared best of class, qualifying it for the sweepstakes round, which it won over six other finalist sparklers. In all, 198 sparkling wines from throughout North America were in the competition. This is the second straight year that the Domaine Chandon California Blanc de Pinot Noir has been elected the competition's top sparkling wine. The wine packs richness without weight, brio without intimidation, dryness without parchness, and both delicate fruit and delicate minerality. |
| Brut | Nfinity North Coast Brut: Sparkling wine is one of the few bright sales niches in the wine trade, and this intricate and assured Nfinity Brut shows why. It's not from France, but it is made in the traditional "methode champenoise" style, assuring both finesse and moxie, directness and complexity, suggestions of both bakery and vineyard, all set off against a refined and resolute effervesence. | |
| Rosé Sparkling (Pinot Noir Varietal) |  | Naidu Wines North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine: You walk into a party and get handed a flute of the Naidu, immediately followed by a tray of circulating hors d'oeuvres. Advice: Don't be quick to gobble an hors d'oeuvres. Take time to savor the Naidu. It has the spine, mass, fruit and acid to complement hors d'oeuvres, all right, but on its own it is one exceptionally complex and complete sparkling wine. Take time to savor its brassy color, its gloriously fresh aroma, its resonating fruit and its long-lingering finish. |
| Rosé Sparkling (Non-Pinot Noir Varietal) | Hawk and Horse Vineyards 2021 Lake County Red Hills Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon: The hawk and horse that constitute this sparkling wine's label art are fittingly symbolic, telegraphing the strong strides and soaring fruit that the wine delivers. The color is deeply pink, the effervesence stirring, and the flavor stitched with minerality characteristic of the Red Hills. A flute in one hand, a raw oyster in the other is all you need for a party. | |
| Fruit Sparkling | Lakeshore Farms Trading Company Natural Peach Sparkling Moscato: Lakeshore Farms Trading Company is a brand of Leelanau Cellars in northern Michigan. Working with fruit concentrates from all over the globe, Lakeshore Farms produces an extensive portfolio of fruit wines, still and sparkling - raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, blueberry and so forth. The Peach Sparkling Moscato stood out at the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition for capturing sleekly all the essence of a peach orchard at prime ripeness. It is sweet, but refreshing, not cloying. | |
| Other Sparkling | Barefoot Bubbly California Moscato Spumante: No need to wait until March for spring when your glass is filled with this vibrant, floral, sweet, balanced and enduring sparkler, a take on Italy's Spumante so faithful that Barefoot must have to pay a tariff to have it distributed in the U.S. | |
| Sauvignon Blanc/Fume: $22.00 - $27.99 | Aurora Cellars 2022 Michigan Leelanau Peninsula Sauvignon Blanc: Sauvignon Blanc customarily is a fairly straight-forward wine, bringing to the table suggestions of grass or grapefruit, reinvigorating acidity, and an amiable adaptability that makes it a cordial companion with all sorts of foods. This Aurora has all that, but also a complexity rare to the varietal, with minerality and smoke coursing through its grapefruit, peach and lime fruit. It's a fully ripe and abidingly insistent Sauvignon Blanc, almost feral in its attack and grip. | |
| Sauvignon Blanc/Fume: $28.00 - $30.99 | Di Arie 2023 Sierra Foothills Estate Sauvignon Blanc: A lyrical Sauvignon Blanc with lift and length, crispy acidity, transparent fruit, and layering that becomes more and more compelling with each sip. The jury still is out when it comes to declaring a signature white wine for the Sierra Foothills, but the assurance, complexity and equilibrium of the Di Arie makes a persuasive argument on behalf of Sauvignon Blanc. | |
| Chardonnay: Up to $13.99 | Line 39 2022 California Chardonnay: Subtlety is the watchword here - enough aroma and flavor to say Chardonnay, enough sweetness to amplify the fruit without being sticky, enough oak to provide body and texture without overwhelming inherent character, enough acidity to refresh, and enough consideration for the buyer's pocketbook to assure that he or she can feel confident in putting on the midweek table a Chardonnay of character and pleasure. | |
| Chardonnay: $14.00 - $17.99 | Cannonball 2022 California Chardonnay: Whether art opening, tailgate party or backyard soiree, Cannonball's 2022 California Chardonnay will make a splash on the basis of its floral scent, frisky fruit, angular build and vital acidity. | |
| Chardonnay: $23.00 - $27.99 |  | Cache Creek Vineyards & Winery 2022 Lake County Cache Creek Vineyards Chardonnay: The tule elk inspired first the purchase of land and then the creation of winery, and that inspiration and aspiration are represented in this forthright and noble Chardonnay. While the tule elk is the smallest of North America's elk species, this is no lightweight tribute, given its voluminous and inviting aroma, animated fruit and loping persistence. If you like spice in your Chardonnay, this is loaded. |
| Chardonnay: $28.00 - $31.99 | Darcie Kent Vineyards 2022 Livermore Valley Triska Vineyard Chardonnay: Chardonnay is so popular that the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition groups entries into nine classes. The largest single class had 59 entries priced between $28 and $31.99, the sweet spot in upscale wine sales today. The best of class from that highly competitive field was this Darcie Kent, from an appellation with historic if underappreciated ties to the variety, Livermore Valley. There, in 2022, the valley and the winery produced a Chardonnay of exceptional vitality, its bright fruit running from tangerine to pear, with a note of mint for contrasting bounce. Here's a Chardonnay as high-strung, perfectly pitched and forceful as the string section of the San Francisco Symphony performing Beethoven's Fifth. | |
| Chardonnay: $32.00 - $35.99 | Roche Winery & Vineyards 2022 Carneros Chardonnay: Carneros is where Chardonnay enthusiasts head when they want a take vital, honest and entertaining. That pretty much sums up this Roche, a Chardonnay that stands out from the crowd for its floral perfume, vivid citric and tropical fruit, and shimmering assurance. If this Roche were a presenter at the Oscars, it would create buzz the next day for its electricity, glamor and poise. | |
| Chardonnay: $36.00 - $39.99 |  | Sonoma-Cutrer 2021 Russian River Valley Estate "The Cutrer" Chardonnay: Vintage after vintage, "The Cutrer" strives to be the Big Man on the Russian River campus, and with the 2021 it delivers again. This Chardonnay isn't all about brashness and mass, though there is that in its complicated tropical fruit, creamy texture, insinuating oak and tingling acidity, but there's also civility and grace. |
| Chardonnay: $40.00: $45.99 | Davis Family Vineyard 2021 Russian River Valley Chardonnay: While slim and fleeting, this Davis Family Chardonnay speaks clearly to the transparency of the variety when it is grown in such a receptively cool setting. | |
| Chardonnay: $46.00 and Over |  | Annadel 2022 Sonoma Coast Gap's Crown Vineyard Reserve Chardonnay: Winemaker Drew Damskey, scion of Sonoma County winemaking royalty - his father Kerry Damskey has been instrumental in developing vineyards and wineries in California and far beyond from India to Israel - has taken advantage of the young, rugged, isolated, late-yielding Gap's Crown Vineyard to seize a Chardonnay brilliant in color, varied in its expression of tropical and citric fruit, and astonishingly long in its finish. It is one elegant and exquisitely lively and balanced Chardonnay. At the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, it tied with the Las Positas Vineyard 2023 Livermore Valley Verdelho for white sweepstakes honors. |
| Viognier: Up to $29.99 | Jefferson Vineyards 2022 Virginia Viognier: Out of nearly 100 Viogniers entered in two classes of the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, both best-of-class winners not only were from Virginia, both were from the same winery, Jefferson Vineyards of Charlottesville. Jefferson Vineyards has been banking on Viognier - Virginia's official state grape - since the 1980s, perfecting a style clean, lilting and incessant. This version is their first to be made solely in stainless steel, testifying through its transparency to the appropriateness of variety and place. | |
| Viognier: $30.00 and Over |  | Jefferson Vineyards 2021 Virginia "Th. Jefferson" Viognier: Virginia's long attempt to secure Viognier as the state's signature wine got a resounding endorsement at the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition when Virginian takes on the varietal won best-of-class in both classes devoted to the variety. Competition was stiff - a total 96 entries from throughout North America. "Th. Jefferson" seized Viognier's acclaimed honeysuckle, peach and spice attributes with uncommon drive and grace. On top of that, it trails off reluctantly, perfume and flavor lingering resolutely. |
| Pinot Gris/Grigio: $18.00 and Over | Verterra Winery 2022 Michigan Leelanau Peninsula Pinot Grigio: The sandy soils and cool temperatures of Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula merge in this tight and frisky Pinot Grigio. It delivers a beckoning balance of mature fruit and peppy acidity, earning it an invitation to any table where grilled shrimp or baked cod is the centerpiece. | |
| Semillon | Spicewood Vineyards 2022 Texas Dell Valley Vineyards "Louisa" Semillon: In Spicewood's patch of Texas, Semillon's traditional restraint is unbridled, releasing an interpretation rich with ripe peach and fig flavors, all framed with a horseshoe of honeysuckle. Acidity is zinging and mouth-watering, begging for roast chicken or roast cod, lightly seasoned. | |
| Vignoles |  | The Vineyards at Pine Lake 2022 Ohio Vignoles: "Vignoles" is French for "fun." Not really, though that Is apt to be the thought by anyone who takes a sip of this interpretation of the grape by The Vineyards at Pine Lake. It is one frolicking wine - brassy yellow color, floral bouquet, melodic sweetness, punctuating spice, and in flavor happy suggestions of sponge cake - lemon or peach, take your pick. Thanks to its cleansing acidity, it bounds across the palate, yet also lingers so long in the mouth that the only reason someone wouldn't gulp the wine is to continue to relish the previous sip. White wines aren't expected to be this complex and long, but here it is. |
| Muscat | Husch 2022 Mendocino Muscat Canelli: Each spring, thousands of Californians drive hundreds of miles to appreciate vast spreads of bright wildflowers. Those without a car - or adequate fuel allowance - know that they can get the same thrill by pulling the cork from a bottle of Husch's consistently floral, spicy, rich and sweet Muscat Canelli, a perennial favorite on the wine-competition circuit. its peach and apricot flavor also help it rack up gold medals and best-of-class awards with virtually every outing. | |
| Albarino |  | Cru Winery 2022 San Luis Obispo Coast Albarino: Not to make light of climate change, but it does point to a convenient and timely evolution within the California wine scene - a promising turn to grape varieties that long have thrived in warm climates, such as the Iberian peninsula's Albarino. And now, Albarino has found a receptive home at San Luis Obispo, where the Cru gathers its concentrated and spirited fruit and zippy acidity by being cultivated both close to the Pacific Ocean and on soils of sand, shale and fossilized sea shells. The wine is all grapefruit and lime, ideal for pairing with oysters. |
| Chenin Blanc | Clarksburg Wine Company 2022 Yolo County Chenin Blanc/Viognier: Anything can be grown in Yolo County, from wheat to heirloom tomatoes. It also has a long if unrecognized history of growing wine grapes, today realized most successfully in the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta and the Dunnigan Hills. Wherever Clarksburg Wine Company draws its Chenin Blanc and Viognier, the combo adds up to a solid white wine whose pungent aroma runs to pears and moss, echoed in the richness and layering of its exotic, complex and long flavor. | |
| Grenache Blanc | Double Bond 2021 Ballard Canyon Grenache Blanc: So light in yellow color it never would work as an eye-catching post-it note, but that's not its role. Its task is to deliver suggestions of apricot, melon and peach, which the Double Bond does by the bushel, all that fruit packed in a medium-bodied basket soundly woven with spice and acidity, built to last, which it does long after a sip. | |
| Vermentino | Fleur de California 2022 Carneros Select Las Brisas Vineyard Vermentino: Carnereos, once upon a time sheep country, has been reinvented into wine-grape territory, though the friskiness, lovability and verve of spring lambs gives this vivid Vermentino sunshine and kick. | |
| Pinot Blanc | Amoritas Vineyards 2020 Leelanau Peninsula Pinot Blanc: Wait a minute, isn't the nation's pineapple plantations pretty much limited to Hawaii? What's one doing in northern Michigan? That, at least, is the thought that may pop into mind at the first sip of this Amoritas Vineyards Pinot Blanc, all zingy pineapple on a limber frame, underscored with the kind of electric and grippy acidity that comes only from a cool climate like the Leelanau Peninsula. | |
| Roussanne | Meadowcroft 2022 Dry Creek Valley Wyldvin Vineyard Roussanne: An overachiever of a Roussanne, delivering bushels of peach and mango against a creamy texture, reliable frame, and mouth-watering acidity. Crab, anyone? | |
| Marsanne | Starfield 2022 El Dorado Marsanne: Out of California's Gold Country, the Starfield represents place and pedigree with transparency and chutzpah, from its brilliant golden sheen through its forthright aroma, suggestions of peach orchard about to be harvested, and reviving acidity. Marsanne only occasionally shows this much brass, or, if you will, gold. | |
| Gruner Veltliner |  | Weis Vineyards 2022 Finger Lakes Gruner Veltliner: Gruner Veltliner is customarily overly polite in its expected expression of peach, citrus and white pepper, but the Weis will have none of that, showcasing its refreshing fruit and sprightly spice with the vigor anticipated when its grapes are grown in a receptively cool region like Finger Lakes. The wine's dryness, lean build and prickly acidity make it ideal for pairing with all sorts of simply prepared seafood. |
| Verdelho |  | Los Positas Vineyards 2023 Livermore Valley Verdelho: Livermore Valley's reputation for white wines chiseled and solid is reinforced with this angular, aromatic and biting take on Verdelho, a staple of the Iberian peninsula but also clearly at home in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, it ended in a dead heat with the Annadel Estate Winery 2022 Sonoma Coast Gap's Crown Vineyard Chardonnay for white sweepstakes winner. |
| Malvasia Bianca | Callaghan Vineyards 2022 Arizona Willcox "Love Muffin White" Malvasia Bianca: Gutsy experimentation and quick and savvy readjustment have characterized Callaghan Vineyards since its founding in 1990. The upshot today is a reliable portfolio of bold varietal wines and imaginative blends fitting for the arid, windy and sun-blasted terrain of southern Arizona. Here's a delicious testimonial to that determination, a fully ripe, floral, spicy and medium-bodied Malvasia Bianca, given refreshing acidity with 20 percent Picpoul Blanc and shored up with a trace of Hungarian oak. | |
| Gewürztraminer | Haak Vineyards & Winery 2022 Texas High Plains Gewurztraminer: From Texas comes a Gewurztraminer as expansive and daunting as the High Plains, home to the grapes that went into this strongly representative take on the variety. It has everything most anyone would expect or want in a Gewurztraminer - a lattice of roses, a basket of lychee, grapefruit, peach and lime, a generous dash of spice, and no bitterness whatever, just embracing and billowing pleasure. | |
| Riesling: Medium Dry RS 1.0 - 2.00 | Weis Vineyards 2022 Finger Lakes Semi Dry Riesling: With a chiming sweetness and offsetting acidity, the Weis is a Riesling made for lounging in hot tub or hammock, but also possessed of a framework sturdy enough to stand up to all the expressions of Cantonese cooking likely to be spread across the table at a holiday banquet. Its peachy fruit, balance, clarity, spice and stinging acidity reaffirm the standing of Finger Lakes as the country's most respected apopellation for noble Rieslings. | |
| Riesling: Sweet RS >4.1 | Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery 2022 Old Mission Peninsula Estate Riesling: Old Mission Peninsula is an American Viticultural Area at the northern reaches of Michigan, neither large nor prominent, yet it is rising in stature for the purity and intensity of its wines, including this exceptionally luxurious Riesling, saturated with fruit redolent of various strains of the peach and apple families, especially after they have been baked in pies artfully seasoned with brown spices. | |
| White Native American/Hybrid |  | Haak Wines 2023 Texas Dry Blanc du Bois: Trivia answer: Blanc du Bois is the most extensively cultivated white-wine grape in Texas. So what is it? It's a young American hybrid grape, developed in 1968 in Florida by crossing vitis-vinifera varieties such as Golden Muscat with assorted Floridian native varieties. The intent was to come up with a grape that could endure Florida's heat and humidity, but Texas is where its fruit has yielded the most captivating wines. The Haak is a refreshingly zesty take on the variety. Think lemonade, but without all the usual sugar. It delivers floral and fruity suggestions of Muscat, but with a structure lean and snappy. |
| Other White Varietals | Lemon CreekWinery 2022 Lake Michigan Shore Kerner: Wine as "poetry in a bottle" may be a cliché, but with the Lemon Creek Kerner it is apt, not only for the lilting, delicately sweet fruit it puts into a glass but for the grape's history. Kerner is a relatively young grape variety, created in Germany about a century ago by crossing the black grape Trollinger with the green grape Riesling, customarily yielding a wine floral and fruity, running largely to suggestions of apples, mangos and grapefruit. The Lemon Creek delivers all of that, plus notes of diverting and enticing spice. What's more, "Kerner" gets its name from German poet Justinus Kerner. Sweepstakes contender. | |
| White Blends: $22.00 - $29.99 | Duchman Family Winery Grape Growers Texas BBQ White: The composition of BBQ White is a mystery, the winery saying only that the wine draws from various growers, and that the blend is meant to be a tribute to their acumen and aspiration. There could be Vermentino, Albarino, Trebbiano and Roussanne in there, all varieties that are drawing attention to Texas. The upshot is a stimulating white wine floral in aroma, fruity in flavor, and spicy and sweet, perfect at a barbecue party for sipping during the opening chitchat or pairing with grilled chicken with chimichurri. | |
| Dry Rosé (One Varietal): RS 0 |  | Thackery & Co. 2022 California "Pleiades" Rosé Wine: Intense and sinewy, here is a rosé that goes direct to that portion of the brain where pleasure is triggered. It is made with Sangiovese, which has a track record for blush wines of unusual character and gratification. Here, the fruit evokes spring's first fresh strawberries, the build is lean yet strapping, the acidity alert. Order an assortment of sushi. |
| Dry Rosé (One Varietal G;S;M): RS 0 - .099 | Eberle 2023 Paso Robles Grenache Côtes-du-Rôbles Rosé: From its neon cranberry pink color to its sweetly trailing finish, this is one exceptionally robust pink wine, its lusty aroma exceeding the measure that a wine first must say "come hither." Its flavor is a rich and detailed update of a medieval tapestry, capturing regional pride and power in a manner addictive in its bounty and bliss. | |
| Dry Rosé (One Varietal): RS .001 - .099 | Ferrari-Carano 2022 Sonoma County Dry Sangiovese Rosé: More and more, vintners are coming to recognize that Italy's Sangiovese performs most consistently and rewardingly as a pink wine along the west coast of the United States. This Ferrari-Carano is the latest evidence that Sangiovese has the grounding and muscle to produce a rosé beckoning in its deep and bright color, red-fruit perfume, sweet fruity flavor, tantalizing spice and refreshing acidity. | |
| Dry Rosé (Blend): RS 0 - .099 |  | Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County Estate Rosé: Grenache and Mourvedre, black grapes that can be counted on to produce wines resonating with suggestions of earth, team up here for a rosé that while structured with that foundation also skips across the palate with a floral scent, fruity flavor and a thread of smokiness in its abiding finish. A truly dry pink wine, yet pleasurable on its own as well as when paired with assorted dim sum. |
| Dry Rosé (One Varietal): RS .1 - .299 | Amok Cellars Urban Winery 2022 Templeton Gap District Grenache Rosé: Templeton Gap is the Paso Robles grape-growing district where vineyards can rely on cooling breezes off the nearby Pacific Ocean, which helps explain the upbeat acidity in this Amok. Aroma and flavor run to delicate and bright red fruits springing from soils sturdy and varied. | |
| Dry Rosé (Blend): RS 1 -.299 | The Four Graces 2022 Willamette Valley Rosé Wine: Though the label gives no hint of grape variety or varieties that constitutes this bracing rosé, the wine's deep orange/pink hue, forward fruity and herbal aroma, broad build, peppery spice and edgy acidity all suggest Pinot Noir, perhaps with a dollop of another grape or two. And it does originate in Oregon's Willamette Valley, where Pinot Noir is firmly ensconced. Regardless of its composition, its sunny fruit got it declared the rosé sweepstakes winner a the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. | |
| Dry Rosé (One Varietal): RS .3 - .99 | Trevor Grace 2023 Alta Mesa Touriga: Trevor Grace practices his craft atop a high ridge in California's El Dorado County. Alta Mesa is an appellation within the Lodi American Viticultural Area in California's central flatlands. Together, they combined to produce this charged and beefy rosé based on the Portuguese grape variety Touriga. This is one driven rosé, assertive in both aroma and flavor, solid as granite, and as muscularly rhythmic as snowboarder or skateboarder, zipping and twisting across the palate with assurance and glee. | |
| Dry Rosé (Blend): RS .3 - .99 | V. Sattui Winery 2022 Santa Barbara County Rosato di Pinot Noir: The bounce house for adults at the kid's birthday party, a rosé that speaks joyously to the strawberry side of Pinot Noir, shows inexhaustible energy in its delivery, and keeps its balance of fruit and acidity no matter how long the exercise. | |
| Pinot Noir: $29.00 - $34.99 |  | Soquel Vineyards 2022 Santa Cruz Mountains Partners Reserve Pinot Noir: Beyond its medium-light color is a Pinot Noir of astounding probity, a swinging combination of French nobility and California cockiness, lush cherry/berry fruit, ticklish spice, polite oak, retreating tannins. It may be as light in color as a rosé, but beyond that it's all muscle and resolve. |
| Pinot Noir: $47.00 - $49.99 | Wrath 2021 Monterey San Saba Vineyard Pinot Noir: Monterey is a source of steady, pleasant, telltale Pinot Noirs, and once in awhile one will stand out from the crowd for its assertiveness and monumental build. This Wrath is one of those. Despite its light color, it delivers sweeter than usual strawberry fruit, and more than typical spice. It is one rollicking Pinot Noir, jubilant in its sassiness, steely in its athleticism. | |
| Zinfandel: Up to - $22.99 | Black Sheep 2019 Amador County Zinfandel: One juicy Zinfandel, its raspberry/blackberry fruit lush and sweet, with a rare thread of cherry snaking through the patch. Smoke and an herbal note add complexity and intrigue. The texture is all silk. Bring on the grilled lamb. | |
| Zinfandel: $23.00 - $28.99 | Victor Hugo 2021 Paso Robles Templeton Gap District Estate Zinfandel: Deep and brilliantly colored, tempting in aroma, and brash with suggestions of blackberry and pepper spice, this Victor Hugo represents both the cowboy heritage of Paso Robles in its frankness and earnestness and the flamboyance that Zinfandel can yield when grown in a cool spot like Templeton Gap. | |
| Zinfandel: $29.00 - $34.99 |  | Milliaire 2020 Mokelumne River Rous Vineyard Heritage Old Vine Zinfandel: From vines planted in 1909 in what now is the Mokelumne River American Viticultural Area of Lodi, Steve Millier has sculpted a Zinfandel of uncommon finesse, brilliantly colored, with abiding fresh berry fruit and pinpoint acidity, all draped on a frame svelte and sturdy. |
| Zinfandel: $35.00 - $39.99 | Pezzi King 2021 Dry Creek Valley "Elevation 1040" Estate Zinfandel: "Come here," says this jovial Zinfandel, "and let me tell you why Dry Creek Valley is so respected for me and my brethern." Bottom line: This wine is all about an accessible yet traditional and confident expression of what Zinfandel is supposed to say - grapes grown on sunny slopes of just barely adequate nutritional soil, resulting in a wine densely colored, clear and proud in berry fruit, and tannins that while firm on their own will yield with either a few years' time in the cellar or paired with a succulent ribeye. | |
| Zinfandel: $40.00 - $44.99 |  | Carol Shelton 2021 Rockpile Florence Vineyard Rockpile Reserve Zinfandel: Carol Shelton wines are celebrated mostly for their brass and balance, with aroma almost an afterthought. This is an exception, a Zinfandel of clear and forward floral aroma, followed quickly with fresh raspberry and boysenberry flavor. Tannins are sturdy but receding, the oak well integrated, the alcohol restrained. |
| Zinfandel: $45.00 - $54.99 | Wilson 2021 Sonoma County "Coyote" Zinfandel: "Wilson" is synonymous with Sonoma County Zinfandels husky, sweet and high in alcohol (15.8 percent in this instance). On the other hand, "Coyote" represents an agile, alert and fast-footed take on the variety, intimidating in its dark countenance yet yippy in its acidity. | |
| Zinfandel: $55.00 and Over | Wilson 2021 Dry Creek Valley "Snake Patch" Reserve Zinfandel: "Snake Patch" suggests a Zinfandel even more audacious than Wilson's usual interpretation of Zinfandel, yet this take couples nerve with elegance, resulting in a representative of the variety true to its berry backbone while maintaining equilibrium with respect to oak, alcohol and tannin. | |
| Primitivo | Wine Without Borders 2022 San Francisco Bay Primitivo: No need to pull off the highway and risk scratches and spider bites to get into that roadside patch of perfectly ripe raspberries. It's all here, from scent to finish. Zinfandel's cousin can speak up just as clearly if not quite as brazenly. | |
| Sangiovese: Up to - $39.99 | McNab 2021 Mendocino County Family Reserve Sangiovese: By its unpretentious freshness and seductive harmony, the McNab is a lilting, undemanding Sangiovese best savored with slices of Pecorino and Parmesan in front of the fireplace, logs burning quietly, a book of poems by Ted Kooser in hand. | |
| Sangiovese: $40.00 and Over | Imagery Estate Winery 2021 Sonoma County Sangiovese: Sonoma County stalwart Imagery captures in this taut and lithe Sangiovese all the summer sunshine for which the area is known, but tames it in the cellar, yielding a take focused and firm, suggestive of a field of tiny wildflowers in aroma and strawberries and cherries in flavor, with threads of cocoa and cinnamon. Tannins are grippy but easily tolerable when the wine sits on the table alongside a platter of pasta with a tomato and beef ragu. | |
| Barbera: Up to $34.99 |  | Cooper Vineyards 2021 Shenandoah Valley of California Estate Barbera: The late Dick Cooper was one enthusiastic, inventive and giving guy, the grape grower most responsible for establishing Barbera as a signature wine in the Sierra Foothills, and his generosity is captured in the clout of this 2021 Barbera from his family's estate. In weight, sweet fruit, sound oak and resonating warmth (15 percent alcohol), it evokes nothing so much as morning sunshine starting to light up a Dick Cooper vineyard heavy with affectionately and smartly cultivated grapes - Barbera, naturally. The red sweepstakes winner at the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. |
| Barbera: $35.00 and Over | J. Rickards Winery 2021 North Coast Barbera: At its best, Barbera combines heft with grace. The J. Rickards is Barbera at its best - lilting red fruit, lean structure, calmed tannins and the grape's acclaimed acidity, resulting in a savory Barbera flexible enough to accompany weekday spaghetti as well as weekend beef Bourguignon. | |
| Dolcetto | Montoliva 2020 Chicago Park Dolcetto: If Enzo Ferrari hadn't named his sensuous and authoritative car after himself, he could have named it Dolcetto for this gripping take on one of Piedmont's more enduring if underappreciated grape varieties. Montoliva's brilliant-red interpretation could be mistaken for Italy - either grape or car - for its zip, agility and complexity. There's cranberry here, persimmon there and watch out for the figs in the middle of the road. | |
| Sagrantino | Monserate Vineyards & Winery 2021 South Coast Sagrantino: Monserate has staked out a veritable province of Italy at Fallbrook in southern California, where it is producing bracing wines based on traditional Italian grape varieties, including this piquant, juicy and spicy Sagrantino. Suggestions of walnuts and drying tobacco leaves bring both welcome diversion and complementary flavors and textures to the wine's lush red-berry fruit. Tannins are firm; give the wine a few years in the cellar, or pair it with ribeye. | |
| Nebbiolo | Soquel Vineyards 2022 Santa Cruz Mountains Lago Lomita Vineyard Partners' Reserve Nebbiolo: Where or where will Nebbiolo find a fitting home in California, if ever, the state's most adventurous and determined winemakers ask themselves. How about Lago Lomita Vinyard high in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Elevation, exposure, temperature and all the other elements key to profound wine come together there and here - a Nebbiolo of extraordinary cherry/berry fruit, silken texture, peppery spice and regal bearing. | |
| Graciano | Lewis Grace Winery 2021 El Dorado Estate Graciano: Graciano is one of those warm-climate Spanish grape varieties that California farmers are exploring as a way to cope with climate change. Here, it yields a deeply colored red wine sweet with uplifting cherry/berry fruit flavors, but it also carries a stream of smoke from the Caldor Fire that roared through El Dorado County in 2021. Think bourbon barrel, where charred wood adds dimension and interest. A wine that honestly represents vintage. | |
| Aglianico |  | Vino Noceto 2018 Shenandoah Valley of California "Fumo e Terra" Aglianico: Vino Noceto, long recognized for its adventurous ways with grape varieties traditionally associated with northern Italy, most notably Sangiovese, turned to southern Italy for guidance with that region's Aglianico. The result is a red wine of purity, complication and persistence. The engaging aroma carries all the excitement and variety of a fine-furniture showroom. The red-fruit flavor is fresh and high-toned, veined with tar and smoke, the acidity crisp. Lamb stew comes to mind. |
| Touriga Nacional | Milliaire Cellars 2020 Calaveras County Touriga: By long experience and a steadfast dedication to precise craftsmanship, Steve Millier shows with his 2020 Touriga Nacional just why this Portuguese staple is gathering traction in California. Millier practices his trade in Murphys in California's Sierra Foothills, a small and cordial old gold camp where as you walk about town you expect to come across a backyard arbor laden with brilliant summer roses, which is the image evoked by this deeply colored, rosy rimmed, invitingly perfumed, balanced and caressing Touriga. It is all of a piece, its dry and cascading plummy fruit punctuated with suggestions of pipe tobacco and cinnamon. | |
| Montepulciano | Rambouillet 2020 Texas High Plains Christoval Vineyards Montepulciano: Climatically, the Texas High Plains is one challenging place to grow wine grapes - high, dry, windy, stingy, and don't even bring up winter's brutality. Yet, from all that struggle emerges the occasional classicly built wine. Meet the Rambouillet 2020 Montepulciano, wiry yet intense, dry yet fruity, compact yet expressive. This is a refined wine, more fitting for dishes of finesse than chili or brisket. Try it with salmon; you won't be disappointed. | |
| Carignan/Carignane | Écluse 2021 Paso Robles Red Door Ranch Carignane: The heat and sun of Paso Robles has yielded here a Carignane muscular and complex, its dark fruit shot through with suggestions of tar, smoke and green herbs, all heightening the appeal of its lusty fruit. | |
| Alicante Bouschet |  | Sunce Winery & Vineyard 2021 Lodi Alicante Bouschet: Long exploited for the vivid color it brings to blended red wines, Alicante Bouschet on its own can be a varietal wine of alluring if elusive aroma and flavor, pliable tannins, and backing acidity. The Sunce stands out for its suggestions of deli case - a good thing - as well as pipe tobacco, dark fruit and wispy smoke. |
| Syrah/Shiraz: Up to $34.99 | College Cellars of Walla Walla 2021 Walla Walla Valley Stoney Vine Vineyard Syrah: The University of Michigan may have won this year's national football title, but students of College Cellars of Walla Walla win the trophy for campus winemaking on the strength of this luscious and spicy Syrah. At once robust yet polite, the wine is loaded with blueberry fruit and generously laced with black pepper, all conveyed with restrained tannins. To win best of class, it beat out 49 commercially made entries. | |
| Petite Sirah: $33.00 - $38.99 | J. Lohr 2021 Paso Robles "Tower Road" Petite Sirah: From first sip to final swallow, this J. Lohr take on one of California's foundational grape varieties is all pretty and transparent cranberry and plum fruit, small wildflowers in aroma, and a dash of pepper. It pounces on the palate with authority and grace, its tannins chewy but nothing that would get in the way of the cast-iron-skillet Kurobuta pork chops recommended by the winery. | |
| Mourvedre | Sunce Winery & Vineyard 2020 San Francisco Bay Sandy Lane Vineyards Mourvedre: A walk in a forest on a damp but warm summer day, the duff, mushrooms, and wild anise all coming into play. Lean, clear, dry and balanced, a Mourvedre more graceful and polished than usual. | |
| Grenache: $35.00 and Over | Séka Hills 2021 Capay Valley Grenache: Seka Hills is the brand of the Native American Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which has been industriously developing agriculture in Yolo County's historic but isolated Capay Valley. Its 2021 Grenach is a brilliant medium-deep ruby in color, suggestive of cherries in aroma and flavor, dry and medium-bodied on the palate, and with enough acidity to help it keep the conversation going at dinner. | |
| Merlot: $40.00 and Over |  | Forthright 2019 Napa Valley Oak Knoll District Merlot: A veritable archaeological dig of a Merlot, with a multitude of captivating layers - plums, berries, persimmon, a vein of mint, all packaged with just enough tannin and oak to add complexity without distraction. |
| Cabernet Sauvignon: $16.00 - $19.99 | Sobon Estate 2020 California Cabernet Sauvignon: Proof that Cabernet Sauvignon from California need not be pretentious or pricy. This is an everyday Cabernet Sauvignon that nevertheless speaks to why the variety is king of the state's vineyards - true cherry and olive flavors, freshness, balance, sturdiness, aporoachability and brisk acidity | |
| Cabernet Sauvignon: $40.00 - $44.99 |  | L'Ecole 2021 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: This is why Washington state, and Walla Walla Valley in particular, is recognized for wines of carefully considered modulation, all clarity, balance and grace. The complexity of the valley's soil profile helps, along with a temperate climate, all of which add up to a Cabernet Sauvignon svelte and serene, speaking eloquently of fresh cherry fruit threaded with minerality. Tannins are sturdy, but nothing that a little time or a succulent steak won't happily resolve. |
| Cabernet Sauvignon: $100.00 and Over | Eagles Nest Winery 2020 American "Sayre" Cabernet Sauvignon: Eagles Nest is in North Carolina, where business apparently is so dependent on entertainment and events that nothing about its wines is on its website. As a consequence, the provenance of this best-of-class Cabernet Sauvignon is a mystery. The small print on the back of the label says "American," an indication that the wine's grapes were grown someplace other than North Carolina, and that someplace could be California, likely Napa Valley, to judge by the wine's concentrated cherry aroma and flavor, the vanillin of high-grade oak barrels, and the hefty weight of the bottle. | |
| Cabernet Franc: Up to $34.99 |  | Almost Famous Wine Company 2021 Livermore Valley "The Strong Silent Type" Cabernet Franc: Strong, for sure, this Cabernet Franc's lean build hiding steely verve, but silent? No, it fairly shouts about berries, cherries and peppermint. What's more, it is a wine of uncommon movement, shape shifting from fruity to dry, earthborne to airborne, relaxed to rigid, but consistently inviting and satisfying. |
| Cabernet Franc: $35.00 - $49.99 | Urban Legend 2021 Sonoma Coast Cabernet Franc: The Sonoma Coast American Viticultural Area is identified most closely with cool-climate grape varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, not Cabernet Franc, where the appellation's fog and chill could intensify the herbal nature that often distinguishes the variety. Nonetheless, this Urban Legend take on Cabernet Franc speaks lucidly to the bright cherry flavors that Cabernet Franc also can manifest. The wine is lean, dry and sharp, spilling more and more cherries onto the palate as it opens up. Thin threads of chocolate, licorice, smoke - and, yes, a tantalizing suggestion of mint - also course through the wine. | |
| Malbec: $39.00 and Over | Picchetti Winery 2021 Paso Robles Estrella District Red Tail Vineyard Malbec: In brightness and projection, Californian takes on Malbec rarely come close to the drive and elaboration of Malbec in the region where it has reached its highest calling, France's Cahors. This Picchetti is the exception, a Malbec that seizes not only the grape's inky color but its focused and juicy dark fruit, searing minerality, and pitched acidity. Flexible enough to pair with dishes ranging from veal to venison. | |
| Petit Verdot: $46.00 and Over | Barrister 2019 White Bluffs Dionysus Vineyard Petit Verdot: Sanctioned in 2021 as an American Viticultural Area, White Bluffs is a plateau with complicated and ancient soils in Washington state's Columbia Valley. A wide variety of grape varieties long have been grown in the area, however. This Petit Verdot, dense in color and voluminous in aroma, shows off the sort of saturating and lifting dark fruit flavors that in the long run likely will establish the appellation's standing for fine wine. As a measure of the wine's authority, don't hesitate to pour it alongside Chateaubriand. | |
| Tannat | Left of Ordinary 2022 California Tannat: Tannat can be imposing, but not here. The Left of Ordinary is just that, a Tannat of both heft and melody, inky in color, substantial in body, concentrated in flavor, yet it carries all that freight across the palate with dance-like moves. | |
| Carmenere |  | Texas Heritage Vineyard 2019 Texas High Plains Narra Vineyards Carmenere: One exhilarating Carmenere, wild with cherry fruit, slaps of green herbs and a cord or so of oak. A wine both serious and jovial, like a topical stand-up comic with exquisite timing, original material and precise enunciation. Stand up and applaud for this vigorous Carmenere, which also, incidentally, shows that a wine need not pack more than 14 percent alcohol to be robust and long; this comes in at 13.2 percent. |
| Tempranillo: $40.00 and Over | Cinder 2021 Snake River Valley Tempranillo: All Idaho winemakers need to be daring, patient and relentless, but Melanie Krause of Cinder is out in front of the pack in all those respects. This Tempranillo endorses her standing for wines of both might and courtliness. With purity and range, her 2021 Snake River Valley Tempranillo provides a study in precisely matching variety with place. It's inky, fragrant, juicy, balanced and long, with oak carefully modulated and tannins subdued. The dark fruit is saturating and easy to take, showing just why Tempranillo is so revered in Spain, and now, Idaho. | |
| Charbono | Lewis Grace 2021 Amador County Charbono: Swagger and grace meld in this exquisitely balanced Charbono, a challenging grape to wrestle into a wine with this much swelling aroma, lush fruit, ebbing tannins and stimulating acidity. The alcohol is high - 15.2 percent - but no heat is obvious up front or in the tailing. | |
| Teroldego | Peltier 2017 Lodi Estate Schatz Family Reserve Teroldego: Kudos to the Rodney Schatz family not only for a best-of-class designation for one of their Peltier wines but for delaying the release of this big-boy Teroldego until it was ready to drink. Still, its tannins are as imposing as its color is inky and its dark-fruit flavor is rich. But don't let that stop you from pairing it tonight with prime rib. | |
| Red Natives/Hybrid Varietals |  | Hocking Hills Winery Ohio Léon Millot: American wine enthusiasts brought up on wines of Europe and California often get thrown by the quirkiness of wines made from hybrid grapes grown in much of the rest of the United States. This Léon Millot, however, comes across as more traditional vitis vinifera than the French/American hybrid it is. The color is bright and of medium intensity, the aroma falls in the cherry family, the tannins are more velveteen than grating, the acidity spunky, the impression dry, and the finish lasting. You get to Ohio and find this on the wine list, hope you are in a place specialing in pizza and pasta, its ideal match. |
| All Other Red Varietals | Sunce Winery & Vineyard 2021 Lodi Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Dornfelder: Bred in Germany and only released for cultivation in 1979, the black grape Dornfelder is rising in planting and prestige. It was created in large part to bring more color to Germany's customarily lightly hued red wines, and it does that almost to the point of overkill, being a veritable barrel of ink. Don't be intimidated by all that color, however. The Sunce is sunny, juicy and supple, its fruit plummy and figgy, with a note of peppermint. The winery suggests it be paired with Hawaiian pizza, Kung Pao chicken, and fish and chips, showing its adaptability at the table. | |
| Red Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon leading blend - $30.00 - $39.99 |  | Roth Estate 2021 Sonoma County Heritage Red Wine: Aplomb and power in a red wine based largely on Cabernet Sauvignon at this price point is difficult to find, but the Roth Heritage conveys delicate yet clear red-fruit flavor on a willowy frame with only caressing tannins, nothing to get in the way of the herbed mushroom salad with truffled Pecorino that the winery suggests accompany the wine. |
| Red Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon leading blend - $61.00 and Over | St. Francis 2021 Sonoma County Cuvee Lago Red Wine: An unconventional blend of 62 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 38 percent Syrah, Cuvee Lago complicates its dark berry richness with notes of briar and herb. It's a big wine, but with stretched tannins, making it drinkable now, especially when paired with a beef birria. | |
| Red Blend: Merlot leading blend - $40.00 and Over | Scalon Cellars 2019 Coombsville Priority Red Blend: With generous plummy fruit and restrained tannins, Merlot takes the lead in this well-balanced Bordeaux-inspired blend out of Napa Valley's Coombsville district, rising in profile and prestige. | |
| Red Blend: Syrah leading blend - Up to $35.99 | Miraflores 2019 El Dorado Estate Clone: The front and back labels don't tell you much. The wine's makeup is kind of a mystery, though it was entered in a class of blended red blends based principally on Syrah. In this instance, Syrah accounts for 37 percent of the mix. Petite Sirah accounts for another 37 percent, with Grenache and Mourvedre each accounting for 13 percent. The sum is a wine that offers a kaleidoscope of beautifully conceived elements - vibrant berry fruit, peppery spice, a vein of licorice, enduring finish, revitalizing acidity. | |
| Red Blend: Syrah leading blend - $36.00 and Over |  | Écluse 2021 Paso Robles Rendition: If the goal of Rendition is to confirm once and for all that Paso Robles is capable of producing slick and seamless blends based on Syrah, it succeeds with drama and elegance. The flavor runs the gamut of fruits found in the supermarket produce section, including raspberries, cherries and plums. Tannins are stretched thin, oak is reserved, and acids are stimulating, making Rendition an ideal companion for all sorts of refined interpretations of beef and lamb. |
| Red Blend: Zinfandel leading blend - $25.00 and Over | Old 44 Cellars 2020 Manton Valley Blue Ridge Red: The volcanic soils and high temperatures of Manton Valley, perhaps California's most obscure American Viticultural Area - it's in Shasta and Tehama counties east of Redding - produced here an inky, fleshy and vigorous red whose bedrock Zinfandel is evident in its porty fruit and high alcohol (16.6 percent). | |
| Red Blend: Petite Sirah leading blend | DeLacy 2021 "Adeline" Red Wine Blend: DeLacy Wines is in Oakland, a perfect setting for reaching in practically any direction to harvest carefully tended nearby grapes. "Adeline," as a consequence, is a fresh and biting blend of Petite Sirah from the Santa Cruz Mountains, Cabernet Franc from the Hollister area in San Benito County. The upshot is a compellingly fresh fruit-forward red backed by firm tannins and quickened with pointed acidity. When burgers or a rich pizza are on the menu, grab "Adeline" for your dinner date. | |
| Red Blend: Sangiovese leading blend | Denier-Handal Vineyards "Ottant' anni": No appellation, no vintage, and an Italian proprietary name that translates as "80 years," referring to the 80th birthday of the winery's proprietors. Behind that secrecy is a wine that showcases the zippy cherry and strawberry fruit and the acute acidity that helps account for the enduring esteem of Chianti Classico, whic, like "Ottant' anni," is based on Sangiovese. In this case, however, the Sangiovese, from Mendocino County, is paired with Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County, delivering a lean, supple and layered blend which, like Chianti Classico, has the stable structure to stand up to a succulent slab of beef. | |
| Red Blend: Barbera leading blend | Sunce Winery & Vineyard 2020 Amador County Zemlja's Blend: Savvy blending - 56 percent Barbera, 44 percent Dolcetto - provides a wine that steps out on its own for soulful cherry fruit, silken mouthfeel, coral minerality, reinforcing acidity and a spicy finish. The winery website suggests it be poured alongside pasta primavera, beef gnocchi, and split-pea soup with ham hocks, smart choices that show the wine's adaptability at the table. | |
| Red Blend: Red Native/Hybrid | Sovereign Estate 2021 Minnesota Reserve Marquette: Was that fruit fly or mosquito that hovered over the glass when Sovereign's Marquette was poured? In California in January, it had to be fruit fly, always a propitious sign around wine. Marquette, a cold-climate grape variety developed and introduced by the University of Minnesota in 2006, and planted by Sovereign in 2007, yields with the 2021 a dark red wine satiny in texture, fruity and earthy in smell, and rich yet lightly tripping with dark fruit flavors. Acid is revitalizing, tannins are mellow. | |
| White Dessert/Late Harvest: RS >3.5 |  | Arrington Vineyards 2022 American "Honeysuckle" Sweet Gewurztraminer: The proprietary name is "Honeysuckle," not because there is any honeysuckle in the wine but because it is that sweetly scented and nectarish in its rich delivery. The wine actually is Gewurztraminer, just as celebrated as honeysuckle for an evocation of flowers and spice. Though the wine bears an "American" appellation, Arrington Vineyards is in Tennessee, so the grapes could be from most anywhere. In the final round to choose the sweepstakes specialty wine at the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the Arrington tied with the Cinquain Cellars 2013 Paso Robles Nagengast Estate Touriga & Tinto Cào Dessert Wine. |
| Red Dessert: RS >3.5 | Heringer Estates Clarksburg Late Harvest Tannat: The black grape Tannat, celebrated for husky red table wines in France and Uruguay, here yields a seamless and seductive dessert wine - inky purple, high alcohol (18 percent), ample sugar (6.7 percent), shambling tannins, balancing acidity, and layered flavors that evoke both plums and cherries and the rich, soggy soils of Northern Califfornia's Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta. | |
| Orange Wine/Skin Fermented Wine |  | Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County Orange Muscat: The "Orange Blossom Special" of the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Bella Grace's take on Orange Muscat is all about the fruit's peel, flesh, seeds and aroma, assembled with power and rhythm in mind. |
| Sweet Red | Texas SouthWind Vineyard & Winery Purple Rose Sweet Red Table Wine: The cherished and adaptable Concord grape, a staple of soft drink, jelly and pie in much of the United States, is being exploited by Texas SouthWind in the state's far southern reaches to produce a sweet red wine plush with candied fruit and beckoning spice. This is a wine for tailgate parties, art-exhibit openings and late-night poker at the end of the day's cattle drive. | |
| Port: Up to $32.99 | Inner Sanctum Cellars 2015 Ocho: Tawny toned, limber and flashing, Ocho resonates with strawberry fruit, peppery spice, nuttiness and reinforcing acidity. | |
| Port: $33.00 and Over |  | Cinquain Cellars 2013 Paso Robles Nagengast Estate Vineyard Touriga & Tinto Cào Dessert Wine: Be seated, preferably in a plush leather chair next to a languid blaze in the fireplace, with an Ian Rankin thriller in hand. Don't bother with cigar or cheese, this Port-inspired dessert wine has drama and substance enough all on its own. It's nutty, syrupy and unctuously sweet, with smoke curling from the glass and chocolate climbing from its inky depths. Tied for sweepstakes specialty wine at the 2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition with the Arrington Vineyards 2022 American "Honeysuckle" Sweet Gewurztraminer. |
| Distilled/Fortified |  | Quady Winery Vya Sweet Aperitif Vermouth: Andrew Quady, who long has brought distinction to central California with his textbook dessert wines, in more recent years has added to his high standing as a master at blending with a line of daring, outspoken vermouths called Vya. This tawny and sweet version in that lineup includes about 20 herbs and spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, yielding a vermouth nutty, strong, brilliant, pungent and enduring, just the ticket to bring a fresh dimension to your Negroni. |
| Non Alcoholic Wines | One of One California Sparkling White Wine: Maybe health concerns alone don't explain the growing popularity of non-alcohol wines. The improving quality of the wines also could have something to do with their expanding appeal. With this One of One, consumers can expect a gentle bubbly with an abundant floral aroma, a fruitiness running to peach pie, a kiss of sweetness and a bite of acidity, making it both agreeable on its own and flexible at the dinner table. |
