Accolades
— Jeb Dunnuck, May 2020
VOILÀ (Here it is) — Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon , Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2021 Vintage
93 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2023)
93 Points, The Wine Independent (August 2023)
The 2021 Voilá is an interesting mix of 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillon. It has a pretty, pure, clean, medium-bodied style that carries ample white peach and light pineapple fruits as well as sappy herb and honeysuckle aromatics. It’s soft, forward, and ready to go, and will shine on the dinner table.
ZUT ALORS (Shucks) — Sauvignon Blanc, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2021Vintage
91 Points, Jim Gordon – Wine Enthusiast
The 2021 Zut Alors fills your nose with scents of lemon peel, honeysuckle, jasmine and orange blossom. The palate has great minerality, and beautiful fruit notes of apple and pear. The mouthfeel is rich an complex, perhaps a tad decadent, with just enough lush acidity to balance the weight. Zut Alors, always a “pleasant surprise!”
ENJOUÉ (Joyful; Playful) — Rosé, Grenache-focused, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2023 Vintage
91 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2024)
A bright pink/salmon color, the 2023 Enjoue is an inviting rosé made from a blend of 41% Grenache, 38% Mourvèdre, 14% Syrah, and the rest Counoise. Offering aromas of fresh strawberries, fresh flowers, and sweet herbs, it’s medium-bodied, elegant, and mouthwatering on the palate, with a light, savory feel, a pithy texture, and a nice lift of wet stone on the finish. It’s not austere, but rather nice and fresh, and harkens to rosés from the south of France.
CHEMIN DE FER (Iron Road) — Grenache-focused GSM, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2019 Vintage
93 Points, Wine Spectator (August 2023)
94 Points, The Wine Independent (August 2023)
94 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2021)
Incorporating more Grenache, the 2019 Chemin De Fer checks in as 81% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, and 9% Syrah. It’s a step up over the 2018 and offers more purity in its blackberry and black raspberry fruits as well as notes of licorice, spice box, and spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, and incredibly elegant on the palate, it’s a rocking Grenache that does everything right. Drink it any time over the coming decade.
DENTELLE DE FER (Iron Lace) — Grenache-focused GSM, Justi Creek Estate Vineyard, Sonoma Valley
2019 Vintage
95 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2021)
Based on 71% Grenache, 21% Mourvèdre, and the rest Syrah, the 2019 Dentelle De Fer was mostly destemmed and saw an extended maceration (42 days) followed by just 30% new French oak. Dentelle de Fer is a medium bodied wine with delicate aromas of red plum, herbes de Provence and lavender, hallmarks of our estate Grenache. Intricately layered with Mourvèdre and Syrah, the silky texture is infused with bold tastes of strawberries and chocolate on the mid palate with a long, lingering finish of spice and licorice strong yet delicate, a true expression of iron lace.
PAYSAGE (Landscape Painting; Countryside) — Merlot-focused Bordeaux Blend, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2019 Vintage
96 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2024)
A clear but fully saturated dark red, the 2019 Paysage is savory with aromas of autumnal leaves, red cherry, and leather. This full-bodied red is lush, with a velvety, round texture and notes of espresso, baked plum, and mossy earth. It’s long on the palate and has a nice accent of bitter dark chocolate.
AMOUREUX (Lovers) — Malbec-focused Bordeaux Blend, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2019 Vintage
97 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2023)
The 2019 Amoureux is the Malbec-dominated cuvee, a blend of 95% Malbec, and 5% Merlot seeing 60% new barrels. The wine offers a mélange of flavors and textures. Ripe blueberry, clove and nutmeg are intertwined with notes of vanilla, which come from 18 months of aging in European oak. The impression of ripe fruit continues on the palate, the wine rich and full with a long, velvety finish.
REMINISCENCE — Cabernet Sauvignon, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2017 Vintage
95 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (June 2019)
Checking in as 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Malbec brought up in just under 90% new French oak, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Reminiscence offers a classic Cabernet nose of blackcurrants, green tobacco, lead pencil, and chocolate. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Bordeaux blend that has great tannins, a solid spine of acidity, and an almost Bordeaux-like vibe in its texture and tannin structure. It’s beautifully done and showed much better from bottle than barrel, which is always a good sign. It’s going to have two decades of longevity.
L’AME DU SAGE (Soul of the Wise Man) — Old Vine Zinfandel field blend, Justi Creek Estate Vineyards, Sonoma Valley
2019 Vintage
93-95 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2021)
Lots of blackberries, plums, smoked herbs, and chocolate notes emerge from the 2019 L’Ame du Sage, a rich, medium to full-bodied, uber-ripe barrel sample that still shows freshness and purity..
SYRAH — Trinity Ridge Estate Vineyard, Moon Mountain District
2019 Vintage
98 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (July 2024)
The 2019 Syrah Trinity Ridge is potent and forward with savory richness, with black plum, smoked charcutier, lavender oil, and forest floor. Full-bodied and mouth-filling, with sweet tannins and ripe blackberry and peppery spice on the finish, it’s ripe and fleshy, with good balance and freshness throughout. Drink 2025-2040.
CABERNET SAUVIGNON — Trinity Ridge Estate Vineyard, Moon Mountain District
2018 Vintage
96 – 98 Points, Jeb Dunnuck (May 2020)
The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Trinity Ridge reveals a saturated purple color as well as a monster bouquet of blackcurrants, chocolate, graphite, spice box and earth. More tobacco and herbal notes develop with time in the glass, and it’s full-bodied, incredibly concentrated, with a stacked mid-palate, and a great, great finish. This wine is unquestionably the most powerful and opulent in the lineup, but it doesn’t give up anything with regard to elegance and purity.