Kyle Davidson

9.3

Tropical and textured — 3 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.2

2018 vintage. Last tasted 8.26.22 (9.3) and 7.21.21 (9.3). Medium/medium-heavy body. Slightly less end palate lift than last two encounters and tasting like it is in that proverbial "state of confusion...er...transition." Would like to taste again and will give it 3-4 years before revisiting to do this justice. Pretty unified now without side projects and ancillary rabbit holes but something tells me this has another third act of mayhem and debauchery up its' sleeve. 07.09.25. — a year ago

Mary H

9.2

A lovely way to round out the tasting - dessert wine that concentrates and projects all of the underlying flavors and aroma to the fore and magnifies them. Honey, hay, prairie grass, and pineapple aromas. Very sweet, tastes like cobbler and sweet syrup. — 5 years ago

with Adrienne and Louis

Ely Cohn

9.3

Huet and Vega Sicilia are two storied producers with quality side projects in Tokaij. Vega Sicilia makes one that is supremely rich with laser acid and oak sturdy, expertly integrated. Sour notes of ripe lemons, the kind about to go black and turn to rock. And spiced ginger and popcorn kernels and vanilla spice. WOW. — 7 years ago

Adam Knoerzer

9.2

South African Nebbiolo that would make some Italians blush. — 8 years ago

Shawn R

9.8

One of the most complex wines I have had. Rich mahogany, cool cellar nose maybe a hint of sweet black fruit. Again, projects this soft texture yet has so many layers on the palate. Madero leaf, toffee and milk chocolate blanket the palate. On the finish I get the return of the black fruits and smoke. Beautiful- — 8 years ago

Lisanne Nijenhuis

9.0

South African tasting — 9 months ago

Aravind A

9.3

Pop and pour yesterday. Wow, so much better than a BB has any right to be. Starting to show the first signs of maturity: more honeyed nose, lemon oil, melon; this projects amazing depth. On the palate: fantastic acidity, silky texture, melon, grapefruit, wet stone, lemon oil. Everything lingers on the finish, which picks up with some soft pepper/spice. Fantastic, and I can't wait to see what my final btl looks like, with hopefully a few more years age. — 4 years ago

leon egozi

9.7

Really nice tasting event with all of Melkas wine projects and Melka himself — 5 years ago

Connor Smith

9.1

Finger. Lakes. Saperavi.

If this ain’t American winemaking in the 21st century we don’t know what is! 🇺🇸🍷🇬🇪🍇

At least, that’s what we were thinking before reading up on Standing Stone and founders Marti & Tom Macinski. They actually first planted this fascinating Georgian grape here in ***1994*** (just 3 years after Georgia left the USSR, for those keeping score at home) intended for blending.

Increasingly impressed by the quality of the grapes, they offered their first varietal Saperavi in 2010 - as “The Dark Red”, since the grape name was as yet unrecognized by the federal government. Once it was, they became the first American winery to release a wine labeled Saperavi.

Fine tuned to the cold, high mountains of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, it makes sense why it would thrive in the Finger Lakes! The name Saperavi literally means “ink”, a sensible name for a grape with pitch-dark skin AND flesh! 🖤

Marti and Tom sold the winery and retired in 2017. But their enduring legacy may just be budding. We’ve heard of Saperavi planting projects underway in New York, Virginia, and Oregon.

Saperavi’s runaway affinity for the Finger Lakes may have been a bit of a happy accident, but the Macinskis deserve every bit of credit for thinking outside the box, putting it in motion, and bringing it to fruition! 🙌🙌🙌 — 7 years ago

Tom Elliot

Founder Northwest Wines

9.3

After a decade of bottle age and an hour of aeration, projects iron minerality, organic-matter earthiness and dark blue fruit, within a fine acid-etched silky texture. — 8 years ago

David Shaw

9.0

Brilliant purple red in color. Red raspberry gummies, floral and mango notes in nose. Gamay like flavors - tutti frutti, cherry and butter - but actually a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Petit Sirah. Light, fruit forward. According to AZ Central, a collaboration between Brent Karlicek of Upward Projects and Eric Glomski of Page Springs Cellars and Arizona Stronghold, Exclusively available at Il Postino wine cafe — 8 years ago

Matt Trader

9.4

The Struie is also a 100% Shiraz, but what makes this one different and quite interesting is that it comes from the quarter of Eden Valley, from old vines growing at high elevation. This gives the wine more powerful fruit, muscular textures, elegant tannins, and juicy dark black and blue fruit character. Umame soy on the nose, along with aromas of blueberry cobbler, crushed rock, red apple skins, milk chocolate, tar, and grilled meat. Fairly muscular texture but the tannins fall off like silk - black plum jam, lavender, vanilla, cocoa nibs, and a less grippy finish than the other Shiraz wines I tried. Outstanding wine for value, considering this one comes in at half the price of the Descendant and The Factor.

What is most amazing in my opinion is that oddly he started us off with one of the most expensive and best wines they make, RunRig, and descended the price spectrum finishing with their $20 Shiraz, and even weirder the $17 Semillon to end the tasting. What is amazing about that is that the wines did not once degrade in quality or complexity. They ALL performed as great as the more expensive RunRig. That truly shows they only make wine that exceeds their standards, and if it doesn't, it is declassified for other projects. — 8 years ago

Ming L

9.2

Aston was one of two Pinot projects by Schrader, Boar’s View being the other. I believe it’s now solely under TRB’s helm.

The winery makes just two bottlings: one mostly from sourced fruit, and this, from 100% estate vines. The nose offers ripe plum, cranberry, black cherry, cedar, a touch of baking spice, and steeped tea. The palate is generous yet lifted by bright acidity, with a hint of sweetness on the long finish. Should have 5–6 more years of prime drinking ahead. — a year ago

MICHAEL COOPER DipWSET

Owner TomeVinos wine shops, WSET Level 3, Blogger www.spanishwinesandmore.com, blog.tomevinos.com

9.0

I did a side by side tasting of all of the Moueix projects in Pomerol and St. Emilion (except Petrus) and this was our favorite and is wonderful for the price. It is smooth and elegant. — 5 years ago

with Rosario

Anders

10

Mycket gott med toner av äpple, vanilj, grapefrukt, mineral och lite kryddighet. — 7 years ago

with Sara

Ming L

8.9

A beautiful blend of Cab Franc and Malbec with dash of Syrah. On the nose it was a interplay between red and black fruits, violet, and hint of barnyard. Entry was smooth, fresh, and elegant, building up an intense mid palate with spice, pepper, chocolate and a long meaty finish. I really like what Marcelo Pelleriti, of 100-point Chateau La Violette and 99-point Chateau Le Guy fame, is doing with all these projects with various artist in Argentina. — 7 years ago

Dario Scimeca

9.3

This is going to be fantastic in 10 years. Pitch black and complex, it projects as a high 90’s wine. — 7 years ago

with Tom

Boxer Briefs

10

The twins. Vince & Cheney Vidrine. These wines are gone, Vince took an assistant winemaker position with Domaine Serene and they made him ditch the brand. Cheney was an assistant winemaker with Union Wine Company.Dont think either is with those companies any longer, last I heard they are in Southern Oregon. Have no idea if it’s true. Damn shame, this was one of the most exciting projects in the valley before it went sideways.

Crazy interesting to see how this has evolved. This is insanely reductive winemaking that opens in front of your eyes to dark red fruit with structure and balance. Popped the bottle and it was stinky as can be! Great stuff, glad I didn’t give up on this out of the gate and saw the opportunity that was coming. Wine is in a really interesting spot. Wish I had another bottle to see where this goes down the road — 8 years ago

Shai Boe

9.2

Sweet for chard- company does cool environmental projects/ donations — 9 years ago