#Stephen McConnell Wine Blog

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Pine Derby

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of…

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#2008 #Best wine reviews #Cabernet Sauvignon #Central Coast Critic #Henry DAvid thoreau #Napa Valley #Pine Ridge #Pine Ridge CAbernet #Pine Ridge vineyards #Pine Ridge Winery #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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DCV Cab what?

This is about as perfect of a wine as one could hope for… considering. Bricking a bit, but neither an explosion of concentrated fruit or a pillar of tertiary. It’s kinda light and thin, actually–and I know shallow minds who read will immediately be turned off. But I mean it in the best possibly way. And those who read *light and thin* into an aged Cabernet review as a negative need to go away and…

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#Alexander Valley #Best wine reviews #Cabernet #Cabernet Sauvignon #Central Coast Critic #Dry creek valley cabernet #Dry Creek Vineyard #Dry creek vineyard cabernet #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Sonoma Cab #Sonoma Cabernet #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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9 of 7

Spent a couple hours this morning on a very informative zoom with the vigneron from this place and although I had opened their two least expensive and most-distributed wines the past week, had not really acclimated myself with what was in the rest of the care-package. Sure enough, there’s a 100% Merlot in there and lord knows I love myself some Italian Merlot (and we’re not talking super-Tuscan…

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#9 of 7 #Best merlot #Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Il Conte Villa Prandone #Italian Merlot #Italy #Marche #merlot #Nobody drinks fucking merlot #Prandone #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Southern Italian wines #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Super Tuscan #wine1percent

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RRV Duties

I’ve been drinking a lot more Chablis in the past couple years than I have in 30 years or so… attributable to a couple people I’ve been drinking a lot of wine with recently… and it’s caused me to look at California Chardonnay a bit differently. Most of you reading this understand the vagaries of palate-complacency and while I am NOT judging everything by a Chablis-standard, it DOES cause…

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#Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Chardonnay #Donald PAtz #Dutton Ranch #MAritana Chardonnay #Maritana Vineyards #RRV #Russian River Valley #Shop block 1967 #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Sonoma wine #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #White Wine #wine1percent

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Jenkins Plot

This is that girl’s sweat you tasted you’ll never forget. This is that week at the lake with your more energeteic parents–younger than you are now–where the sand and campfire and clear mountain water between your toes makes you wonder how they kept it all together and will never end. This is that paragraph you re-wound because it insulted your vocabulary with juxtapositions you never dreamed…

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#Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Donald PAtz #Dr. Pinot #Jenkins Ranch #Maritana Pinot Noir #Maritana Vineyards #Pinot Noir #RRV #Russian River Valley #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Sonoma #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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Pommelled

Gorgeous clear rose–barely any garnet. A most closed-in nose: a little kinda latexy vague fruit but that’s it. NOT a glorious wine to smell and I offer three possibilities: a) that’s just this wine b) it *might* develope a bit more with air or c) it is bruised from traveling. While ‘c’ is impossible to prove, a combination of A and B seem to be the crowd’s opinion, as delicate nuances *did*…

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#Best wine reviews #Burgundy #Cotes d&039;Or #Cotes de Beaune #Domaine Cyrot-Buthiau #France #O. Cyrot #Pinot Noir #Pommard #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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Linn-Ville

Trivia-time: Grangerville was the original name of Santa Maria, changed to Central City and then Santa Maria in the late 1800’s. Now ya know, but I’m not here to tell stories. This wine: OMG. I’d have to check my notes, but I feel the last couple I opened were crazy tired. This one is NOT. Perfumed and concentrated, the fatigue *exists*, but nowhere overwhelming. Beautiful deep cherry layered on…

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#Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Central Coast Wines #Grangerville #Greg Linn #Greg Linn wines #Pinot Noir #santa barbara wine country #Santa Maria #Santa Rita Hills #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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Clementine

A ripe, luscious wine embodying everything a small number of Napa producers at 3X the price dream for and capturing it effortlessly while still managing glorious balance. Deep, impenetrable ruby in the glass, a fair bit of sediment, a nose greasy with gravel roads and pond-water algae while dark cherry plumps and spreads its legs for enjoyment. Svelte and polished while only barely slutty:…

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#BDX #Best wine reviews #Bordeaux #Central Coast Critic #Chateau Pape Clement #Grand cru classe de graves #Graves #Left bank #Pessac-Leognan #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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Red

Been seeing a lot of Lisboa’s lately, but rarely Dao’s, Douro’s, or Bairrada’s, so HAD to grab this one. Loved drinking thes inexpensive, fabulous wine while visiting, but sadly, most Americans don’t get a chance at them. It’s all Port, Port, Port….. SOOOO many great still-wines from Portugal though. This is a seriously rustic drop, all achy and acidic and slightly rubbery with immense fruit…

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#Adega Cooperativa #Adega Deredondo #Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Douro #Douro DOC #Gaios #GO wines #Grocery outlet wines #Gross Out Wines #Portugal #Portuguese still wines #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Touriga Nacional #wine1percent

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Don't Call it Petite

This could be the new gateway-wine to the un-initiated on *weird varieties* (or “weird varietals” as they would say). Gone is the shear wall of structural blackness and obfuscation often seen, and in its place a sweetish, fruit-FWD drop unassuming on first sight, but packed with all the goodness of PV. Impenetrable black ruby in the glass with blue edges, ridiculously staining, a nose of dusty…

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#Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Central Coast Wines #Dusty Nabor #Los Olivos District AVA #NSO #NSO wine No Special Occasion wine #NSO WINES by Dusty Nabor #Petit Verdot #Petite verdot #Santa Barbara Co #santa barbara wine country #Santa Ynez Valley #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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The Real Gig

OMG this is wine. Unlearn everything you’ve thought about Chianti and all the gold horrible Riserva stuff and come over to pure IGT Toscano Sangiovese. A nose crazy tertiary here at 7, fruit a non-stop course of cherry and blackberry along lines of acid and leather rather un-describable. The pure pith of raunchy black cherry opens the entry, dusty velvet an unimaginable soliloquy of grandeur…

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#Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #IGT #Italy #Poggio La Noce #Sangiovese #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Toscano #Toscano Rosso #Tuscany #wine1percent

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Vieux Rouge

Found a little satellite in the cellar… Yeah, it should have been dranken sooner, but so many wines–so little time. Heavy garnet brick in the glass, considerable bottle-funk blowing off easily to sharp spirit of equally sharp fruit, muddled down a bit into something I suppose could be called “tertiary”. Sharp again in the mouth, a spritely haze over-shadowing what remaining fruit exists. Big…

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#Best wine reviews #Bordeaux #Bordeaux Satellite #Central Coast Critic #Chateau vieux Moulin #cheap bordeaux #Lussac St. Emilion #merlot #Red blend #Right Bank #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1er #wine1percent

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Kiwi Reflections

From the land of mediocre SB and *potential* Pinot comes this little Chard. And–like a lot of wines I review–I don’t know the price-point. Which is a good thing. Not too pale–not too golden, it pumps out a strong weedy green nose charmed with flint and granite. The richness of the variety is there, a smoky-ashtray covering on concentrated floral and firm plum and nectarine. Tasting it produces a…

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#Best white wine #Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Chablis #Chardonnay #Kiwi wine #Kumeu River #Kumeu River Estate #New World Chardonnay #New Zealand #NEw Zealand Chardonnay #New Zealand wines #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #White Wine

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Anyone for tennis? Wouldn't that be nice.

A beautiful, crisp, fruity addition to a hot socal night. Feels almost like Malvasia in its depth of of fresh, up-front lychee and crazy nectarine. Some *natural wine* sediment clouding the bottom of the flint glass, turbidity throughout. Haricot verts and Caltrans mowing blow a vegetal beauty across the nose, grassy and briary in a funk blessedly lacking in ‘cidery’ nuances. In the mouth, a…

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#Anyone for tennis #Best wine reviews #California #Central Coast Critic #Deux Punx #low intervention wine #Napa #Natural wine #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #White Wine #wine1percent #wouldn&039;t that be nice

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Bandied About

With Bandol pricing going the way of Cornas in its ability to take over-looked and shelf-lingering regions OUT of the geek-osphere and into searing wallet-crunchers, finding a gem like this ranks up there. 37 dollars on a wine-shop shelf and 8 years under its belt, it exudes the kind of Mourvedre magnificence difficult to put in words. Few regions leave me speechless, but there’s something about…

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#Bandol #Bandol Rouge #Bandol wine #Chateau Jean-Pierre Gaussen #France #France-sud #GAussen bandol #Jean-Pierre Gaussen #Longue Garde #Mataro #Mourvedre #soif #Soif wine #Soif Wine Blog #South France #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #wine1percent

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Get the Hairnet

This is a beauty. Black impenetrable in the glass, a sharp, spicy nose clamoring briar, exquisite mineral and woody oak, deep, dark blackberry and black cherry headed *not quite* marachino–but you get the drift. In the mouth, sharp and ALIVE, a textbook example of quality Gran Reserva at a ridiculously young age, beautiful to taste presently, but gobs of everything you want in your cellar for…

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#Best wine reviews #Central Coast Critic #Gran Reserva Rioja #Jorge Ordonez Selections #Ramirez De La Piscina #Rioja #soif #Soif Wine Blog #Spanaish wine #Stephen McConnell #Stephen McConnell Wine Blog #Steve McConnell #Steve McConnell Wine Blog #Tempranillo #wine1percent