Alexandre Bonnet, Champagne Brut Nature Le Gèande 7 Cèpages Les Riceys (2018)

Type Wine - Sparkling - White Producer Alexandre Bonnet Region Champagne, France Appellation Champagne Size 750 mL × 12 SKU BNT18D007 Pinot Noir (sélection massale carried out by the estate) from vines planted in 1974; Chardonnay, Meunier, Pinot Blanc (locally called “Blanc Vrai”), Pinot Gris (locally called “Buret”), Arbane and Petit Meslier, all planted on the same plot, with varying pruning styles that include Chablis, cordon de Royat and single Guyot from a variety of limestone and marls from the Kimmeridgian Jurassic era.

The vineyards enjoy the cool and sunny semi-continental climate of southern Champagne, and a moderate altitude of 250 m. The Pinot Blanc is pruned using the cordon de Royat technique, and is blended with singleGuyot pruned Chardonnay, with yields 20% lower than average in Champagne. The grapes are manually harvested, through several passes in the vineyards and careful tri, for optimal ripeness. They are immediately brought to the winery and gently pressed (pneumatic pressing). Elimination of the “taille” must, static settling, addition of basic yeasts, natural malolactic fermentation, low addition of sulfites and light filtration after cold stabilisation.

The wine is left at least 36 months on the lees and disgorged with a low dosage to preserve its purity. Complex nose of peach, pear, fresh quince, fig, apricot, plum and mandarin, floral notes (acacia, honeysuckle) with fresh almond and sweet spices. Opulent and powerful palate, with an elegant mineral backbone (chalk, granite). 12.5% alcohol. 4,449 bottles and 50 magnums produced. Sustainability: Certified HVE (high environmental value) since 2015, with organic practices: no weedkillers, soil tilling, partial grassing, organic composts, reduced treatment frequency, no insecticides. Development of biodiversity through the planting of orchards, truffle oaks and honey plants, the mowing of grassy areas late in the year to protect pollination times, and the restoration of local heritage structures (small stone huts known as cadoles).

SYRAH - DISTENTA I 2019

Grapes: 83.6 % Syrah 6.2 % Grenache 5.2 % Petite Sirah 3 % Mourvèdre

1.4% Muscat 0.6 % Petit Manseng

FERMENTATION: 100% Estate Fruit – 35% Third Twin, 33% Eleven Confessions, 31% Cumulus, and

1% Molly Aïda Estate Vineyard in Tepusquet Canyon. 33% Whole Cluster fermentation.

élevage: Aged in 43% new French oak (remainder was used; none older than 3 years).

Manfred’s Tasting notes: Let me begin by saying a few words about that year. It was a very

even growing season without any extremes and only one single day when temperatures reached 100 degrees

and only at one vineyard. The outcome was fruit, or better WINES, that are fabulously fresh and alluring and

giving and sexy (yes, that is what they are) and just immensely tempting. All of them. Initially they were a little

shy, but boy oh boy they are singing now and are pure liquid silk. This Syrah is an otherworldly and terrifically

woven composition. It is in a fantastic place. Maybe the best non-Eleven Confessions Syrah we have ever

made. I absolutely love it !!!!

Wine advocate - 100 points 

Vinous – 95-97 points

2003 SINE QUA NON "THE INAUGURAL - ELEVEN CONFESSIONS" SYRAH

 100 points Wine Advocate

The mind-boggling 2003 The Inaugural Syrah is an emotional experience to taste as well as drink. Aged 38½ months in French oak, it was fashioned entirely from the Eleven Confessions Vineyard, which is planted with Syrah clones #470, 174, and the Estrella River and Alban field selections. This stunning Syrah boasts a magnificent bouquet of spring flowers, blueberries, blackberries, charcoal, licorice, and roasted meats. It hits the palate with remarkable intensity, purity, and full-bodied power, but it somehow manages to dance across the taste buds with the gracefulness of a ballerina. Awesomely long, I still tasted this wine 60 seconds after I had spit it out -- no easy task, even for a professional. This majestic Syrah should be a modern day legacy for Sine Qua Non, ranking alongside the other stunning Syrahs they have produced... (RP) (8/2007)

 99 points Vinous

The 2003 Syrah The Inaugural, the first wine off of Sine Qua Non's Eleven Confessions vineyard, is simply stunning. Dark, rich and magnificently layered in the glass, the Inaugural boasts captivating aromatics married to intense, voluptuous fruit, all backed up by the silkiest tannins imaginable. Hints of mocha, spice, leather and dried flowers meld into the super-expressive, lifted finish. There isn't much else left to say, except the Inaugural is magnificent. (AG) (7/2014)

CHAMPAGNE CLAUDE CAZALS, CHAMPAGNE GRAND CRU EXTRA BRUT BLANC DE BLANCS VIELLES VIGNES (2013)

Type Wine - Sparkling - White Producer Champagne Claude Cazals Region Champagne, France Grape Chardonnay Appellation Champagne Size 750 mL × 12 SKU CCZ13D004 The prize jewel of Champagne Cazals is the Clos Cazals in Oger, one of only 21 clos in Champagne and the largest. Delphine’s grandfather, Olivier, purchased the 3.7ha walled Grand Cru vineyard from United Nations founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Léon Bourgeois and planted it entirely with Chardonnay in 1957. The walls of the Clos reverberate the sun and allow the grapes to reach exceptional ripening: one full extra degree of potential alcohol compared to other plots. Delphine observed that this vineyard was consistently the best and was the first Cazals to craft a cuvée entirely from this distinct site. Delphine then petitioned the Comité to have the vineyard designated a Clos and won the right in 1995. She was especially proud of this achievement as nobody else in the family believed it could happen! 100% hand-harvested Chardonnay from 65 year old vines planted on chalky soil. The fermentation takes place in thermoregulated stainless steel vats and 10% oak barrels, including the malolactic fermentation. A fine and elegant champagne with notes of white flowers and citrus fruits with an appreciable roundness revealed by a minimal dosage between Extra-Brut and Brut N

Château Valandraud, Saint-Émilion 1er Grand Cru Classé (2012)

Type Wine - Still - Red Producer Château Valandraud Region Bordeaux, France Grapes Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec Appellation Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Size 750 mL × 6 SKU VLD12A002 88% Malbec, 12% Cabernet Franc. 14.5% alcohol. Aged in 100% new French oak for 28 months. 24,000 bottles produced. Each vintage is the sum of all the dedication and hard work done by a whole team to bottle a true expression of the terroir. Château Valandraud is regularly acclaimed for its harmonious complexity, its depth and intensity, but also for its display of fruit, its freshness, velvety texture and finesse.

CHÂTEAU CLINET, POMEROL (2010)

Type Wine - Still - Red Producer Château Clinet Region Bordeaux, France Grapes Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc Appellation Pomerol Size 750 mL × 6 SKU CLI10A001 85% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc - the vines average 40 year old and grow on a clay soil with a thick layer of gravel and a ferriferous subsoil. The yield is a small 20 hl/ha. The grapes are hand-harvested. The wine is aged for 16 months in oak barrels,60% new and 40% one year old. 3333 cases produced. 14% alcohol. The wines of the 2010 vintage have a very dark garnet hue, a powerful, warm nose, and an unctuous, fruity and spicy palate, with an amazing length. The acidity, which is higher than in previous vintages, promises great aging potential. 2010 is sure to be one of Château Clinet's legendary vintages. 

2006 SINE QUA NON "A SHOT IN THE DARK" STA. RITA HILLS SYRAH

 100 points Wine Advocate

A Shot in the Dark is composed of 96.5% Syrah and 3.5% Viognier from the 11 Confessions Vineyard in the cool Santa Rita Hills. Performing better from bottle than it did from barrel, this prodigious red exhibits incredibly velvety tannins, a seamless style, and no noticeable oak (which is remarkable given the fact it spent 32 months in barrel). Dense purple to the rim with an extraordinary perfume of blueberry pie, blackberries, soy, Asian spices, and hints of forest floor and charcoal, this is a complex, rich, seamless, well-balanced tour de force in winemaking. A full-bodied, exuberant, unabashedly California Syrah, it will offer stunning drinking over the next 10-15+ years. (RP) (8/2010)

98 points Wine Spectator

An amazingly detailed wine, deep, rich and layered, musclebound yet graceful. It's packed with dense, focused, pure mineral, blackberry, toasty oak and roasted coffee flavors that end in a long cascade, veering into chocolate malt ball notes. Awfully tempting now, but sure to reward cellaring. Best from 2012 through 2024.  (JL) (3/2011)

96 points Int'l Wine Cellar

Inky violet. Captivating, varietally expressive nose melds cassis, boysenberry, olive tapenade, cracked pepper, licorice and Indian spices. Suave, velvety and deeply concentrated, with restrained sweetness for a wine with this much power and thrust. Firm acids give the lush dark fruit and floral flavors excellent focus. Finishes chewy, suave and very long, with velour-like tannins and strong mineral character. Really compelling wine that is shockingly approachable now. (JR) (11/2010)

 95 points James Suckling

Smoky and coffee with earth and spices with ripe fruit. Full-bodied, round and meaty. Dried meat and grilled. Pepper and spices. Intense and rich. Very round. A gorgeous wine. Drink now or hold. (10/2011)

2004 SINE QUA NON "INTO THE DARK" CENTRAL COAST GRENACHE

99 points Wine Advocate

More up-front and open-knit, the 2004 In the Dark (Grenache) checks in as a blend of 84% Grenache, 8% Mourvèdre, 7% Syrah, and 1% Viognier that comes mostly from Manfred’s 11 Confessions Vineyard, yet includes small portions from Alban (10%) and Alta Mesa (9%) Vineyard. Reminding me of Clos Saint-Jean’s Sanctus Sanctorum with its incredible bouquet of sweet kirsch, licorice, dried baking spices, graphite and ground pepper, this beauty flows onto the palate with impeccable purity, perfect integration of its fruit, tannin and acidity, and blockbuster length. As is common with this estate’s wine, it’s the purity paired with serious richness that sets it apart. (JD) (7/2014)

SINE QUA NON

THE 2016 GRENACHE D I R T VERNACULAR

is called so because it screams and teases and hints and whispers and bloviates about earth and all that it brings us. It is a vernacular you want to get familiar with, believe me.

It is a ménage à quatre, made up of these four seducers: 78% Grenache, 11.5% Mourvedre (no kidding, there really is a .5 portion to it), 7% Touriga Nacional and 3.5% Petite Sirah. A few things from the get go… right here, right now… because I can almost hear you say “hey, Touriga Nacional and Petite Sirah aren’t even Rhone varieties!” If you are pedantic like that then you are officially, technically, by law (I guess) correct, but I think someone – maybe God himself or more likely some bored, French bureaucrat – made a mistake as these two should be Rhone enhancers. We have taken it upon ourselves to fix that mistake now. It might take a while, but we’ll get there. On 43% of the fruit we used whole clusters (meaning the stems were also included) to ferment with and we raised this delightfully tanned beauty in 38% new French oak, a substantial portion of which were Demi-Muids (these are larger, 600 – 650 liter vats), 53% used barrels and 9% concrete. The wine was kept in these training cells for +/- 23 months… until it learned to behave. We never fined or filtered it, but rather left it to its own, natural devices. And, if I may say so myself, that was a wise move. This mama is clearly no slouch (if one can honestly understand the vernacular of DIRT or properly interpret nature’s signals, then one would have to conclude that California does not want us to fashion whimps). It is a gutsy, spirited, well-toned lady in full glory. I don’t have many highfalutin tasting notes because that’s just not my game. But a few scratched down lines read “VERY dark for Grenache and just beautiful (literally) all around. Very juicy and supple and succulent and velvety creamy, but with tannins – but the very ripe ones. Long and persistent and giving and truly memorable.”

Critical Acclaim

98 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The label of the 2016 Dirt Venacular is based on a picture of a stone imbedded in another stone. The wine is composed of 78% Grenache, 11.5% Mourvèdre, 7% Touriga Nacional and 3.5% Petite Sirah, fermented using 43% whole cluster with the whole cluster mostly used on the Grenache component. The vineyard sources are 42% Eleven Confessions Estate, 25% The Third Twin Estate, 22% Cumulus Estate, 9% Bien Nacido and 2% Molly Aida Estate. It was aged for around 23 months in 38% new French oak, 53% used French oak and 9% concrete.

98 Vinous

Sine Qua Non’s 2016 Grenache Dirt Vernacular is a classic Sine Qua Non wine. Rich, powerful and aromatically deep, the 2016 has so much to offer. A rush of sweet dark cherry, plum, mocha, licorice, lavender and spice builds in an opulent, flamboyant wine that hits all the right notes. Mourvèdre, Touriga Nacional and Petite Sirah add striking sepia tones throughout. This is a stunning showing.