2018 Maison Harbour Gevrey-Chambertin 'La Justice' Red Burgundy

2018 Maison Harbour Gevrey-Chambertin ‘La Justice’ Red Burgundy

with No Comment $80-$90BurgandyKevin VogtPinot NoirUSA

MAISON HARBOUR

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN
‘LA JUSTICE’
2018 RED BURGUNDY

2018 Maison Harbour Gevrey-Chambertin 'La Justice' Red Burgundy
The prestigious appellation Gevrey-Chambertin is located in the Northern part of Burgundy in the Côte de Nuits (North Slope) and produces full-bodied, rich Pinot Noirs with a firm structure, velvety tannins, and delicate texture. Before establishing their small négociant house, Maison Harbour’s Nicholas and Colleen Harbour attended wine school in Beaune, making lifelong friends that connected the couple with small growers with vineyard parcels.
 
Revered for being more age-worthy and fuller-bodied than other parts of Burgundy, Pinot Noirs from Gevrey-Chambertin are great for your cellar, and this one is unbelievable right now. The Harbours age their Pinot Noirs in two to six-year-old barrels, focusing on the fruit’s reflection of the terroir, creating brilliantly defined wines with remarkable freshness.
 
MAISON HARBOUR
GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN
‘LA JUSTICE’
2018 RED BURGUNDY
 
Your Price: $85
 
 
“The 2018 Maison Harbour La Justice Gevrey Chambertin opens with a stunning nose of rich cherries, dried rose petals, gunflint, mixed berries, nutmeg, black tea, and earthy minerals. The complexity of aromas seamlessly continues on the palate with powerful richness and impressive concentration, including lush fruit flavors of splash pluots and red plums, then continuing with cola bean and dried mushrooms. At a mere fraction of the price, this village-level Gevrey drinks better than many Premier Cru and even Grand Cru burgundies I’ve had. It’s simply stunning, and if you like Burgundy, this one will blow you away with the power and richness it has, particularly at this price.”
96 Points
2018 Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Aux Lieux-Dits

2018 Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Aux Lieux-Dits

with No Comment $30-$40Cotes du RhoneFranceKevin VogtRhone ValleyRhone Valley

DOMAINE SANTA DUC

2018 GIGONDAS
AUX LIEUX-DITS

2018 Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Aux Lieux-Dits
Domaine Santa Duc embodies the cumulative knowledge, heart, and experiences of six generations, each contributing to the wine’s signature, becoming a permanent part of their evolving story. Aux Lieux-Dits is a blend of eight unique parcels of Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Cinsault, farmed biodynamically, bringing out the purest essence of Gigondas terroir.
 
Meticulous in every aspect of production, Domaine Santa Duc’s team handpicks and hand-sorts the grapes, feeding them into stainless-steel thermoregulated vats by gravity, ensuring the quality of each berry remains intact. Aging takes place in 3600-liter Stockinger oak foudres and 800-liter terra-cotta amphorae, emphasizing the wine’s fruit and spice characteristics, creating an ethereal mouthfeel and tantalizing finish that’s profoundly memorable, vastly overdelivering at this value price.
 
DOMAINE SANTA DUC
2018 GIGONDAS
AUX LIEUX-DITS
 
Your Price: $39.99
 
 
“….Black-cherry and mulberry flavors are ripe but briskly balanced by a dazzling mineral freshness and salty, chalky finish. Fruity yet shaded by subtle kisses of charcuterie and dried earth, it’s a complex, hedonistic wine that’s at peak now through 2030. Made from organic and biodynamic grapes.”
94 Points
 
“Discreetly floral with blueberry and liquorice – rounded and juicy. A discrete style of wine, but it’s well balanced and has a sense of drinkability. There’s a nice sense of tannic finesse and it has good sense of direction and focus. Firm and well balanced, without excesses. Eight different plots around Gigondas, biodynamically farmed, partly destemmed. Drinking Window 2021 – 2027.”
94 Points
 
“Ripe but understated style, with a mix of Damson plum, black cherry and blackberry fruit flavors mixed with wood spice and black tea notes. Stylish, pure finish. Drink now through 2033…”
93 Points
2019 Silver Ghost Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2019 Silver Ghost Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $30-$40Cabernet SauvignonCalistogaKevin VogtNapaRutherfordUSAYountville

SILVER GHOST 

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2019 NAPA VALLEY

2019 Silver Ghost Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Named after Weston Eidson’s great-grandfather’s love for the legendary automobile of the same name- the 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Silver Ghost Napa Valley Cabernet embodies the same precision, power, and class. Weston’s winemaking parallels in quality, gaining much of his experience from mentors Jason Moore and Russell Bevan.
 
Crafted from a selection of high-quality grapes from Rutherford, Calistoga, and Yountville, Silver Ghost is bold and expressive with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 5% Petite Verdot aged 22 months in 50% new French oak barriques. This value-driven wine compares to other Napa Valley Cabernets that are double and triple the price and thoroughly impressed our tasting panel when it stood out in a lineup of a few dozen respected producers within Napa Valley.
 
SILVER GHOST 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2019 NAPA VALLEY
Retails at $40
 
Your Price: $35
 
 
“I’m always impressed by the quality to value this producer offers in his wines, and this new release is another absolute winner. The 2019 Silver Ghost Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon begins with a nose including black cherries, pink peppercorns, dried sage, bay leaf, and violets. The palate showcases red currants, wild red berries, fresh tobacco leaf, cardamom, delicate mint, and oak spice. While this bottle will certainly benefit from a few extra years of aging, it is drinking beautifully now and will continue to for another decade.”
92 Points
2019 Flowers Chardonnay Sonoma Coast

2019 Flowers Chardonnay Sonoma Coast

with No Comment $30-$40ChardonnayKevin VogtSonomaSonoma CoastUSA

FLOWERS

2019 CHARDONNAY
SONOMA COAST

2019 Flowers Chardonnay Sonoma Coast
The heart of the winemaking philosophy at Flowers is for the wine to express its origin and promote the unique flavors of the rough, rugged, and remote coastal ridges of the Sonoma Coast. Three distinct qualities define the vineyards used to source their Chardonnay: extreme elevation, coastal influence, and sustainable farming practices that together create a haven for growing cool-climate varieties.
 
Winemaker Chantal Forthun believes in low intervention and uses a natural yeast strain from the skin of the grapes for fermentation, giving Flowers wines their particular characteristics. The 2019 vintage saw a cold, wet winter, followed by a mild spring and summer, resulting in moderate to slow ripening for delicate but complex layers of flavor with bright acidity and a pleasantly lingering finish. Our panel was thrilled with the quality of their 2019 Chardonnay, marking one of their best vintages yet, offering a stratospherically high level of quality for its value price.
 
FLOWERS
2019 CHARDONNAY
SONOMA COAST
Retails at: $50
 
Your Price: $39.99
 
 
“I love the Chardonnay from this estate, and their appellation 2019 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is well worth seeking out, revealing a lighter gold hue as well as a crisp, nicely defined bouquet of poached pear, citrus, spice, and hazelnuts. Beautiful on the palate as well, it’s medium-bodied and has nicely integrated acidity, notable balance, and a great finish.”
94 Points
 
“Rich and finely textured, with concentrated white fruit flavors that show buttery hints. The spicy finish lingers with minerally snap and creamy accents. Drink now through 2025.”
92 Points
2016 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Lot C-91

2016 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Lot C-91

with No Comment $90-$100Cabernet SauvignonHowell MountainKevin VogtNapaOakvilleRutherfordSt HelenaUSA

HEITZ CELLAR

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2016 LOT C-91
2016 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Lot C-91
Joe Heitz pioneered single-vineyard wines in Napa Valley, and in 1969 he blended select plots from his most prized vineyards, discovering that he could create a wine with the qualities he desired most – aging potential, complexity, and depth. Lot C-91 encompasses this art of assemblage, gracefully presented with concentrated fruit, focus, and sophisticated complexity. 
 
Heitz is a historic winery that continues to pursue the same traditional, age-worthy style for which they’re well known and respected. For the last 50 years, Heitz Cellar has sourced fruit for Lot C-91 from premium parcels in St. Helena, Oakville, Rutherford, and Howell Mountain, representing a step-up in quality, achieving the density and length of a genuinely fantastic wine, which recently earned an extraordinary score.
 
HEITZ CELLAR
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2016 LOT C-91
 
Your Price: $99.99
 
 
“Blue fruit with stone, lavender and currant aromas and flavors. Fresh herbs too. Medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins. Such firmness and focus and beauty. A blend of all their top single vineyards. Drink or hold.”
96 Points
Louis Roederer Collection 242 Brut Champagne

Louis Roederer Collection 242 Brut Champagne

with No Comment $50-$60ChampagneChampagne/SparklingFranceKevin Vogt

LOUIS ROEDERER 

COLLECTION 242 
BRUT CHAMPAGNE

Louis Roederer Collection 242 Brut Champagne
Champagne is one of the coolest growing regions in France and has seen a significant increase in temperatures resulting in riper flavors, undesirable for Champagne production. Louis Roederer has taken this as an opportunity to redefine their estate plots and historic partnerships in the Coeur de Terroir with the region’s acclaimed chalky soils and by harvesting earlier before the grapes accumulate too much sugar.
 
Collection 242 is the estate’s 242nd blend since its founding and where the art of blending comes into play with 34% Perpetual Reserve, 10% oak-aged reserve wines from 2009 through 2016 vintages, and 56% of the 2017 vintage. This new-age approach combined with old-world methods and Louis Roederer’s continuing drive for ultimate quality is an evolution in style necessary to preserve the integrity of Champagne. The results are breathtaking and should be a part of your holiday celebrations this year.
 
LOUIS ROEDERER 
COLLECTION 242 
BRUT CHAMPAGNE
 
Your Price: $55
 
 
“Aromas of cooked apple, bread dough and lemon tart follow through to a full body with round, delicious fruit and a rich, flavorful finish. Yet, it remains tight and fine with lovely, compressed bubbles. New energy and freshness. Medium-to full-bodied with layers of fruit and vivid intensity. 42% chardonnay, 36% pinot noir and 22% pinot meunier. 8 grams dosage. Four years on the less. A new-format non-vintage that designates the year of the 242nd harvest, 2017, plus reserve wine of 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Drink or hold.”
94 Points
 
“So much for the composition and concept of the new NV Brut Collection 242, but how does it taste? This debut release is very impressive indeed, wafting from the glass with notes of pear, peach, ripe citrus fruit, toasted almonds, fresh pastry and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and textural, it’s concentrated and layered, with lively acids, an enlivening pinpoint mousse and a long, sapid finish. Brut Premier was already a very persuasive wine, but the new Brut Collection nevertheless represents a step up.”
93+ Points
2018 Brevity Pinot Noir Mission Ranch Vineyard Monterey County

2018 Brevity Pinot Noir Mission Ranch Vineyard Monterey County

with No Comment $30 and underArroyo SecoKevin VogtMontereyPinot NoirUSA

BREVITY

2018 PINOT NOIR
MISSION RANCH VINEYARD
MONTEREY COUNTY 

2018 Brevity Pinot Noir Mission Ranch Vineyard Monterey County
Brevity is an exciting new project by Bobby Moy, a talented winemaker who got his feet wet in the wine industry mentoring under Thomas Rivers Brown. He sourced his Pinot Noir from the Mission Ranch Vineyard, the oldest commercial vineyard in the Arroyo Seco AVA, an area defined by its unique geography resulting from the Arroyo Seco River and its influence from the Pacific Ocean. 
 
The 2018 vintage combines three iconic Pinot Noir clones, offering the powerful dark fruits and structure of Pommard, the richness and expressive fragrance of 777, and the concentrated cherry and bright acidity of 115. At $30, this is a stunning bottle of Pinot Noir that’s shining right now and was a highlight of our recent tasting, outperforming wines at twice its price.
 
BREVITY
2018 PINOT NOIR
MISSION RANCH VINEYARD
MONTEREY COUNTY 
Retails at: $35
 
Your Price: $29.99
 
 
“The Brevity Mission Ranch Vineyard Monterey Pinot Noir 2018 is a shimmering ruby color in the glass and begins with a nose of bright red fruits, elegant florals, cola, chalk, and light spice. The palate is medium-bodied yet lush, with cherry liqueur, red raspberries, black tea, cola bean, and hints of vanilla. There is a silky elegance to it that keeps you coming back for more.”
91 Points
2018 Chateau Guillon Bordeaux Graves

2018 Chateau Guillon Bordeaux Graves

with No Comment $30 and underBordeauxBordeauxFranceKevin Vogt

CHÂTEAU GUILLON

2018 BORDEAUX
GRAVES

2018 Chateau Guillon Bordeaux Graves
Graves, named for its deep gravel soils, is historically significant as the home of the first vineyards in Bordeaux and famed first-growth Chateau Haut-Brion. Bordeaux is now one of the most sought-after wine regions globally. Its top producers sell their wines for monumental prices; however, most wines produced in this classic region are surprisingly affordable.
 
Chateau Guillon manicures their pristine vineyards with an attention to detail that artistically translates into their gloriously structured red wine. This Left Bank blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon scored an impressive 95 points at the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards, securing its spot as one of the more collectible wines in the fantastic 2018 vintage.
 
CHÂTEAU GUILLON
2018 BORDEAUX
GRAVES
 
Your Price: $24.99
 
“Sweet, full and mellow, with settled, attractive, bright red berries, blackberry, cedar and leather. Extremely elegant and well put together, this is an accomplished and hugely satisfying wine”
95 Points
2019 Harvey & Harriet Proprietary Red San Luis Obispo

2019 Harvey & Harriet Proprietary Red San Luis Obispo

with No Comment $30-$40Cabernet SauvignonCentral CoastKevin VogtPaso RoblesUSA

HARVEY & HARRIET

PROPRIETARY RED 
2019 SAN LUIS OBISPO

2019 Harvey & Harriet Proprietary Red San Luis Obispo
Luxuriously designed to emulate high-end Cabernet Blends’ most hedonistic qualities, Harvey & Harriett creator Eric Jensen’s inspiration for this wine derived from his hardworking parents, Harvey and Harriet, who couldn’t afford the expensive, top-level Cabernet blends produced today. This wine is a “smoking value,” as Jeb Dunnuck alerts, embodying the satisfaction of a hard day’s work through exceptional quality, but without the high price tag.
 
Eric Jensen of Booker Vineyard is dedicated to growing fruit for some of the best wineries in Paso Robles, gaining winemaking experience along the way from neighbors Stephan Asseo of L’Aventure, and friend Justin Smith of Saxum. The fruit for Harvey & Harriet is sourced from premier sites, blended to showcase the intensity, depth, and character expected from cult-style wines. 
 
HARVEY & HARRIET
PROPRIETARY RED 
2019 SAN LUIS OBISPO
 
Your Price: $32
 
 
“…the 2019 Harvey and Harriet can be thought of as the more approachable, lush red in the lineup, and it always seems more black fruit-driven than the straight Cabernet Sauvignon. Blackberries, sweet tobacco, cedar, and some floral violet nuances define the nose, and it’s medium to full-bodied, with a beautiful texture and silky tannins. It’s a smoking value, and while it has plenty of up-front charm, it certainly has a decade or more of overall longevity.”
94 Points
2018 Carr Pinot Noir Hilliard Bruce Vineyard

2018 Carr Pinot Noir Hilliard Bruce Vineyard

with No Comment $30-$40Central CoastKevin VogtPinot NoirSanta BarbaraSanta Rita HillsUSA

CARR

2018 PINOT NOIR
HILLIARD BRUCE VINEYARD

2018 Carr Pinot Noir Hilliard Bruce Vineyard
Ryan Carr, the owner, grower, and winemaker for Carr Vineyards & Winery, never imagined himself in the wine industry until moving to Santa Ynez Valley, where he found himself working in the vineyards, and he hasn’t blinked since. In 1998 Ryan worked for Central Coast Wine Services, getting the chance to make wine with several different wineries, gleaning hands-on experience with some of the area’s best winemakers.
 
Partnering with his friend Andy Kahn, winemaker of Kahn, the two started a vineyard development company, allowing access to high-quality grapes. Ryan also became the assistant winemaker for Kahn and made the first commercial vintage of his Carr wine in 2004. Ryan’s involvement in the vineyard makes him a better winemaker because of his intimate knowledge of the growing conditions the grapes experienced before they got to the winery, which is fully evident in every drop of this gorgeous Pinot.
 
CARR
2018 PINOT NOIR
HILLIARD BRUCE VINEYARD
Retails at: $49
 
Your Price: Insider Club Members Only
 
 
“The 2018 Carr Hilliard Bruce Vineyard Pinot Noir is bright, ruby red in color, and begins with notes of rose petals, potpourri, wild strawberries, and cinnamon sticks. The palate has a smooth texture with refreshing acidity and flavors of raspberry, bramble, vanilla, and savory undertones that round out the balance. This wine is the type of Pinot Noir that everyone should have on hand for any and every kind of occasion.”
92 Points