Winery - Clos La Chance
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This Santa Cruz winery turns southward in search of ripe Syrah. The grapes certainly achieved high sugars, which winemaker Jeff Ritchey vinified to 14.5%, basically bone dry, leaving behind all sorts of fruity, berry flavors. It’s a sumptuous wine, built along Cabernet’s lines, yet softer and richer, with a sappiness that cries out to be matched food.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
From a winery that names their wines after hummingbirds comes this Merlot. Hard to imagine a red wine getting fruitier and still remaining technically dry. Floods the mouth in melted cherry jam, blackberry marmalade, milk chocolate, blueberry and licorice flavors. Could use greater acidity, though, because it’s a little flat.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Simple and rather hot, with a thick, heavy texture that conveys jammy cherry flavors through a slightly sweet finish. Lacks the breeding you expect from this appellation.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The wine was half cool-fermented in steel, half in neutral barrels, a nice combination that lets the pure fruit flavors star, while juicing them with a tiny boost of smoke. Viognier’s exotic style is emphasized, with rich tropical fruit and honeysuckle flavors, but the finish tastes like there’s some residual sugar.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
I’d like to like this wine more than I do, because the acidity is brilliantly clean and scouring, which is a good thing, and the citrus, gooseberry, fig and wildflower flavors are very Marlborough-like. But the sugary finish is a letdown.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Shows what is becoming the classic profile of unoaked, cool-climate Chard. Clean, crisp and minerally, the wine shows high-toned flavors of ripe kiwis, limes, passionfruit, pineapples, green apples, vanilla and cinnamon-spice. A match for scallops with mango salsa.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This easy-drinking Cab from the southern Salinas Valley comes down on the ripely fruity side, with upfront blackberry, cola and cherry flavors that finish in a swirl of spice. Has a firm grip of sandpapery tannins that calls for roasts, grilled meats and similar fare.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Lemondrop candy, fresh ripe papaya, sun-ripened peach, toasted and sweetened coconut, cinnamon spice—there’s enough flavor to go around a dozen wines. There’s also lots of oak. This flashy, flamboyant wine has all that, but it’s a little soft and one-dimensional.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Ripe and concentrated, in the way of mountain wines, with intense lemondrop, honeydew and papaya flavors. Scads of oak add layers of smoke, vanilla and wood spice notes. At the same time, there’s a thick, heavy quality to the texture that costs a few points.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Cabernet Franc, used in Bordeaux blends and on its own in the Loire, is difficult to make into a complex wine in California. This bottling starts with aromas of black raspberry and spearmint, and drinks soft and fruity. It’s a good wine, but on the simple side.
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