Winery - Bunnell Family Cellar
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The concept here is a southern Rhône blend—47% Syrah, 17% Grenache, 19% Cinsault and 17% Mourvèdre. With the extra dollop of Syrah, it’s got more substance than the usual Châteauneuf wannabes. Spicy and sharp, this benefits from the fact that the grapes all came in at once and were co-fermented, so the blend married early and well. Despite its youth, this is seamless and focused; a complete and very successful wine with berry, cherry and sweet plum fruit flavors annotated with spice and bits of chocolate. Elegant, feminine and supple, this is a lovely bottle.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
50% Syrah, 27% Mourvèdre, 15% Petite Sirah and tiny bits of Cinsault and Grenache go into this lively blend; it’s supple and juicy, loaded with bright berry flavors. The fruit is buttressed with smooth, almost silky tannins, and as with all the Bunnell Family wines, it emphasizes sweet and pretty fruit without ever seeming simple or wimpy.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
From the Northridge vineyard, this soft, peppery, seductive wine is one of the most unique Rhône varieties made in Washington. The intensity of the peppery spice, along with the supple, rose-petal-inflected red fruits, gives the wine unusual depth and length, despite its apparent lightness and softness. It extends gracefully and fully across the palate, leaving a peppery lift to the finish.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Half Syrah, half a Merlot-Petite Sirah blend; this is an aromatic, high-acid red with firm tannins. The fruit leans to darker notes, with a finish of moderate depth and some heat.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A fine effort, without the heavy tannins of Californian Petit Sirah. Pretty purple fruits, soft and tart, with a strong scent and flavor of pickle barrel, dotted with black pepper.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
With the Clifton Hill, Ron Bunnell hits a real high note. The scents are lush and loaded with garrigue, smoked meats, nettles and berries. It’s a three ring circus of smells, and it leads right into a classic Washington Syrah that mixes tangy fruit, earthy compost, soy and balsamic, all lifted with citrusy acids. For all that the wine is forward and smooth, the tannins soft and round, the flavors integrated and supple. Flavors evolve well into the lengthy finish, adding cracker and toast at the very end.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Stainless fermented, finished in neutral barrels. Talcott is a warm site, which produces a completely different expression of the grape from the winery’s other Viognier. In fact, this is more like a ripe, rich Chardonnay, buttery and round, with toast and butterscotch flavors supporting the tight, citrus (lime, grapefruit) edge.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is always a topflight bottling, and winemaker Ron Bunnell gets the same rows and uses the same barrel regimen and winemaking methods. So what is different? Vintage variation. In 2006 the wines are tighter and slower to open, perhaps longer lived, and show less of the immediately seductive fruit flavors of 2005. Boushey-McPherson is naturally sharp and edgy when young anyway, and those characteristics are much in evidence here, so this is a wine to decant if you plan to drink it anytime soon.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This Rhône-style picnic red is a blend of 47% Syrah, 29% Grenache, 12% Cinsault and 12% Mourvèdre. Scented with the spicy authority of the Syrah, the other grapes add meat and muscle and spread the flavors broadly out across the palate. It’s got a good mix of smoke, spicy fruit, meat and sage. The name means “at the moment” and the moment is still a ways away, so air this one out.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This bottling was skipped in 2005, but it’s back, with fruit from McKinley Springs and Alder Creek. It’s all Syrah, and has a flavor profile different from the other Bunnell Syrahs, with soft, lush, polished, silky tannins saturated with earthy, composty flavors. It’s a big wine, loaded with cherry fruit, earth, tar and butter; despite its girth, it’s a lapdog of a wine that could be cellared, but why wait?
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
