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Conn Job

Didn’t really see this one coming… Pulled a miserably corked Shiraz out and opened this as a back-up, not expecting much. Wow. What a surprise. I want to go down Villa Mt. Eden or even Bradford trails with this one, and old-school people will understand. But this is a proprietary red of relative low price and here at 14 it stuns. Heavy sediment in an opaque black glass with considerable brick.…

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#Conn Creek #Conn Creek Cabernet #Conn Creek Winery #Herrick Red #Meritage #Napa Valley #Napa Valley Cabernet #Proprietary Red #Red blend #Red Wine #St. Helena Wineries #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Villa Mt. Eden #wine1er.com

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Sunny Grey

An electric shade of rosy amber. Dry and chalky in the nose, peaty and weedy, foggy haze cooling and subduing all sounds. Sparkling brilliance in the mouth, everything coming to unfettered life, blossoms and sprouts and dew drops glistening old barrels and steel hoops and THE MOST delicate, fragile, and angelic fruit in that sunlight moment.

2017 JOLIE-LAIDE WINES Trousseau Gris Fanucchi-Wood…

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#Central Coast Critic #Forestville Wineries #Jolie-Laide wines #Natural wine #Rose #Rose Season #Roseallday #Russian River Valley #Sonoma #Sonoma Coast #Sonoma county wines #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Trousseau #Trousseau Gris #wine1er #wine1er.com

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Berry Picking

Remember the old Ravenswood Pickberry? Man, I haven’t seen that for a LONG time! I’d seen this label many times, but never had a chance to try it, so when Bobby Moy dropped it on my desk, I was like

Brilliant pink ruby, clear and slightly staining. Smoky-chocolate grabs gobs of all that Sonoma Mountain currant and dilly dust and thrusts it into your face, a slightly-burning edge of young fruit…

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#2015 #Cabernet Sauvignon #Central Coast Critic #Pickberry Vineyard #Smith Story Wine Cellars #Soif Wine Blog #Sonoma Cabernet #Sonoma Mountain #Sonoma wines #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1er.com

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Laffy Taffy Bricking hard. An electrical fire vegetal Dr. Pepper rises out of the glass, swirling dirty and acerbic in the nose but aligned with a declining slather of flabby fruit, a bit of oxidation and overall: just smooth ripe-fruity blandness intensified with dilly spice and a shot of Luxardo.

#Central Coast Critic #Central Coast Wines #Counoise #Esprit de Beaucastel #Grenache #GSM #Mourvedre #Paso Robles #Rhone wines #San luis obispo wineries #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Syrah #Tablas Creek #Tablas Creek Vineyard #wine1er #wine1er.com

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"California"

“California”

Grapey grapey grapey, all fresh and up front, but simultaneously wracked with black pepper and the square mint chocolate chip of a thousand Thrifty stores. Shrill and unbelievably concentrated in the nose, a black funky streak of peat tries hard to stave off the burn. Warm and gushing like your best Paso Syrah and green and edgily brilliant like your Tannat cousin from Mendocino who beats to a…

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#Alder Springs #Jewish wine #Kosher wine #Paso Robles #Red blend #Shirah #shirah wine #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Syrah #Tannat #Templeton gap wineries #wine1er #wine1er.com

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Rim Job

Smoky funky horse-barn goodness coming out of a package still deep ruby with nary a brick. What I am guessing was significant green stemmy has toned down into a woodsy briar still edged with the brashness of wet tobacco and raw beef. Mud puddles of ridiculous petrichor obfuscate almost completely the intent black cherry.

Rimrock is a tiny little rocky clay vineyard about 10 miles from my house…

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#Arroyo Grande Valley #Best Wine Instagram #Central Coast Critic #Central Coast Wines #Cool Climate Syrah #Eric Bolton #Greg Linn #Greg Linn wines #Nipomo #Presquile #Rim Rock Vineyard #San Luis Obispo Co #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Syrah #top wine blog #wine1er #wine1er.com

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Brand Apart

Easily one of my favorite producers in Santa Barbara County, their Bordeaux sensibilities translate smoothly into both their red and Sauvignon Blanc bottlings. The Bouchet is an inexpensive cuvee, a strong vertical I keep in my cellar. Often showing more balance and finesse than the straight-cab or Merlot offerings. I love pulling these old things out of the rack and surprising people who equate…

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#Bordeaux Blend #Brander #Brander bouchet #Cabernet #Cabernet Franc #Happy Canyon #Los Olivos District #Meritage #merlot #Red blend #Santa Barbara Co #santa barbara wine country #Santa Ynez Valley #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #The Brander Vineyard #wine1er.com

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Feudal

play with me. hard. tickle me till I pee. smother me with kisses until I gasp. drive too fast and never stop. don’t tell me what to do. leave me alone in the woods. swim too far out. get lost. wear bright colors and eat with your fingers. make the next move count. make it all seem worthwhile. tell them, that that’s not how it’s going to work. that their comfort zone is nauseating. that everything…

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#Aglianico #Campania #Feudi di san gregorio #Italy #Southern Italy #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Taurasi #wine1er.com

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Leo Keen

Gorgeous little Cab Franc found on a list today with roast artichoke, egg rolls and flatiron and lobster risotto and duck @oxandanchorslo … I hadn’t heard of it before, but the SCM intrigued me. Tons of tomato-vine and wet burlap, fresh hardwood sawdust, and a chubbiness of fruit defying its 12.5…

An absolute pleasure to drink. You never know what you’re going to get from an unknown producer…

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#Ascona Vineyard #Cab Franc #Cabernet Franc #Central Coast Wines #Leo Steen Wine #Loire-style Cab franc #Santa Cruz Mountains #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1er.com

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Poor Man's Grape

Poor Man’s Grape

Dark leather cherry licorice flows effortlessly out of the glass. Sweet perfume far deeper than Teen Spirit and less flowery than White Shoulders… somewhere between Jo Malone and Avon Wild Country. Dark cola and a little bretty green fairy tosses twinkle-toes onto the tannins you can SMELL. Rich cherry and rhubarb dress the graininess of the nose–sharp mineral and bruised jalapeno curl the…

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#Carignan #Carignane #Hopland #Mendocino #North Coast #poor ranch #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #West Of Temperance #wine1er.com #wine1percent

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Paean

Medium ruby right out to a bright pink rim, very staining and not a speck of brick. Plush perfume, chubby and round at first–almost preposterous–gradually opening to broad vanilla, green cherry, and sweet vegetal funk. The 24 month barrique and 36 mo bottle-age are really showing here: there’s a decadence to the bouquet that nearly defies description. NEVER have you smelled Sangiovese like this.…

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#Colorino #IGT #Italian wine #Italy #Paonazzo #Poggio La Noce #Sangiovese #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Toscana #Toscano #Tuscany #wine1er.com

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Tether This

I tasted this wine a release party over the weekend and typically I’d let a bottle like this sit around for a while before getting around to it but this time I wanted to get a jump on showing it because there are only 150 cases. Now 6 barrels may sound like a lot of wine but trust me this girl knows her way around Carignane *checks to see what spelling she uses on the bottle* oops Carignan–and…

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#Amy Butler #Carignan #Carignane #dry creek valley #Forchini Vineyard #Paso Robles #Ranchero Cellars #Soif Wine Blog #Sonoma #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #The Tethered Beast #Wine #wine1er.com #Women winemakers

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Gigio wid it Bright staining ruby, out to a minuscule pink rim. THE best perfume rises outa this thing. Deep candied cherry.

#Colorino #Gigio #IGT #Italian wine #Poggio La Noce #Red blend #Sangiovese #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Toscana rosso #Toscano #Toscano Rosso #Tuscany #Wine #wine1er.com

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40 is the new 25 Impenetrable black, no edge lining, just abrupt and staining the glass mercurochrome. A bit closed in, warm roasted vegetable skewers on wet oak wood and light dried fig for fruit.

#2013 #Cabernet Sauvignon #Central Coast Critic #Mondavi #Mondavi Cabernet #Mondavi Unfiltered #Napa Valley #Napa Valley Cabernet #Robert Mondavi Winery #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1er.com

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Dessert

Medium garnet with slight brick before the clear rim. Big dull smoky ripe fruit, a spice-bite grinding nutmeg and motor oil and menthol into a peachy-keen smoothie running closer to deep nectarine and stewed apricot than cherry. Tart and alive in the nose, powdery orange-mold minerality honing and enlivening the ridiculous deep blackberry-infused Tuaca and Amaretto.

I’m not a huge…

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#2012 #Cabernet #Cabernet Sauvignon #coombsville #Napa cab #Napa Valley #Napa Valley Wine #Pritchard Hill #RJV Vineyards #RJV wine #Robert John vineyards #Stagecoach Vineyard #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1er #wine1er.com

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Cali Bandol Dark beautiful ruby. Gobs of barnyard funky goodness gradually breathes out to show delicious cherry and marzipan in the nose, baby baby youth in the mouth, tempered with clean briliance and all the tannin you can handle.

#Bandol #Central Coast Critic #Domaine de Terrebrune #France Sud #Kermit Lynch #Kermit Lynch wines #Mourvedre #Soif Wine Blog #South France #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Terrebrune Bandol #wine1er #wine1er.com