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Member Press
James Laube's Recommended California Pinot Noirs: 90 Points | $30
92 Points | $65 Chardonnay: A distinct taste
"... For our palates, we like lean chardonnays with a refreshing mouth-feel because they do much better with food than creamy chardonnays with little acidity. That could be the reason we fell in love with two Carneros chardonnays we tasted recently from MacRostie. Winemaker and owner Steve MacRostie focuses on keeping his chardonnays fresh, even though they get a heavy dose of malolatic fermenation — the process a winemaker uses to turn strong acids, like those found in apples, to softer acids, like those found in milk. ML, as it is known, can lead to creamy, overly extracted wine in the wrong hands. You might find it helpful to compare his wines with some of the fatter, more unctuous chardonnays from Australia to see what we mean..." Winemaker Stacy Clark has spent two-and-a-half decades making world class wine
"Dave Dobson left a position where he turned around a merlot producer once better known for its architecture, artwork and site than its wine. And he joined another winery that makes excellent wine, but is still better known locally for its architecture and location, in addition to a wine it no longer makes. When the winery now called Artesa opened in Carneros Valley as Codorniu Napa in 1991, it was dedicated to producing mid-market méthode champenoise sparkling wine to compete with Domaine Chandon, Mumm and other French and Spanish producers who’d opened wineries in California. Though it was recognized for excellent wine, Codorniu Napa was more acclaimed for its innovative architecture designed to fit its hilltop site in Carneros..." Legendary California Vineyards
"... Greg La Follette, one of California's most esteemed winemakers, enthuses that "There is no one in the industry better than any member of the Sangiacomo family," and he is equally enamored by the fruit they grow. He buys 12 to 14 tons of pinot noir and 13 to 16 tons of chardonnay from the family every year. La Follette contracts the Sangiacomo fruit for his Tandem label and is extremely pleased with what he gets from every vintage. "The Sangiacomo Pinot Noir and Chardonnay always, to some degree, have those sauvage et animale characters that my wife finds so incredibly attractive, almost sexy," he says. "The Chard has always been downright sexy, to be blunt. It kind of gets you right in that center chakra. The Pinot is always our most Burgundian bottling, with lots of forest floor, mushroom, smoked venison and great Pinot fruit that, as it ages, takes on a bacon fat element that becomes a dead ringer for a Burg."..." There's more there than meets the eye
"Dave Dobson left a position where he turned around a merlot producer once better known for its architecture, artwork and site than its wine. And he joined another winery that makes excellent wine, but is still better known locally for its architecture and location, in addition to a wine it no longer makes. When the winery now called Artesa opened in Carneros Valley as Codorniu Napa in 1991, it was dedicated to producing mid-market méthode champenoise sparkling wine to compete with Domaine Chandon, Mumm and other French and Spanish producers who’d opened wineries in California. Though it was recognized for excellent wine, Codorniu Napa was more acclaimed for its innovative architecture designed to fit its hilltop site in Carneros..."
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Top Wines: Pinot Noir Carneros 2005
