Score 91: Wine Spectator Top Wines August 2007
Shows fragrant floral notes of honeysuckle and jasmine. Intense and complex, with fleshy peach and mango flavors. Well-balanced, offing juicy Meyer lemon, tangerine, melon, pear and spice notes that echo on the finish.
Score 91: Wine and Spirits Magazine, October 2007
Large in scale, this has a musky green fruit tone, similar to papaya before it gets too ripe. The intriguing textural depth of the wine will match tuna tartare with shizo.
Score 92: Wine Enthusiast Magazine, October 2006
(Top 100 Wines for 2006) December 2006
Score 92: Wine and Spirits Magazine
(Year's Best Sauvignon Blancs) August 2006
Meyer lemon and fresh lime scents build into this wine's spicy citrus flavors to last, long and delicate. There's an undercurrent of wood spice that makes it feel firm. Decant a bottle for sautéed sand dabs.
Score 92: Wine Enthusiast Magazine, October 2006
What a rich wine this is. It shows ripe varietal character in the tangerine, fig and cantaloupe flavors, but more than that, a white Bordeaux-inspired interventionist technique brings a leesy, oaky creaminess. Add to that refreshingly crisp Carneros acidity, and the bottom line is great Sauvignon Blanc.
Score 91, Wine Spectator August 2005
Smooth, rich and plush, with layers of fig, melon, citrus and hay flavors, all sharply focused and finishing with excellent depth and concentration. Drink now.
Score 92: Wine & Spirits Magazine October, 2004
Cleanly delineated fresh lime flavor fills the soft, cushioned texture
of this wine. Then it lasts in shades of green from herb, to lime zest, to a
touch of artichoke. The balance between the piercing clarity of flavor and the
fleshiness of the wine make it a mouthwatering match for seared scallops or
fried clams.
Score 90: The Wine Spectator August
2004
Crisp, lean and coiled, with excellent focus to flavors of yellow and green
apples, grass, green pear and minerals that gain depth and complexity on the
finish. Best with food. Drink now through 2005.
Score 91: Connoisseurs Guide to California Wine - August,
2004
Regularly rising to the head of the class when it comes to very good Sauvignon
Blanc, Selene scores again with this deep and abundantly fruity wine. Rife with
ripe melons and lifted by oak, it has plenty of mass and essential fruit extracts
to offset its slight turn to heat at the finish. A serious wine with fine prospects
for age, it needs to be tagged for drinking with seafoods that fall on the richer
end of the range.
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate December, 2003
"One of Mia Klein's undeniable specialties is her exotic, perfumed,
seductive Sauvignon Blanc. Wonderful honeysuckle, melony, fruit-driven style.
With good delineation as well as medium body, it comes across as exuberant Loire
Valley-like Sauvignon Blanc-based effort with oodles of fruit."
Score 90: The Wine Spectator August 2003
Impressive, with an intense burst of concentrated green apple, grass
and lime peel character. Nicely delineated flavors fan out through the finish,
with subtle anise character and lead pencil notes. Drink now through 2005. 1,150
cases made
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate August, 2002
"Selene's delicious 2001 Sauvignon Blanc Hyde Vineyard is crammed
with melon-like fruit, fig and honeyed citrus notes. One of California's
finest Sauvignons, it requires consumption during its first 1-2 years of life."
Score 96: Connoisseurs Guide to California
Wine March, 2002
"Boasting a lovely mix of ripe melons, piquant citrus, just a bit of
grass and a fine veneer of creamy oak, this keenly honed wine edges very close
to varietal perfection. Intense, but never near to being overbearing, it is
remarkably well focused, bright and beautifully balanced, and it shows a rare
sense of seamless proportion from start to finish. For all its considerable
depth and richness, it makes no feint at being ersatz Chardonnay, and it earns
our most enthusiastic endorsement as nothing less than the quintessential
Sauvignon Blanc."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate #168
The dark plum/ruby/purple-hued 2002 Chesler Proprietary Red Wine possesses nuanced aromatics in addition to medium body, an elegant, stylish format, light to moderate tannin, sweet fruit, and an excellent mouthfeel as well as purity.
The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Dead Fred Vineyard exhibits a more saturated ruby/purple color along with a spicy nose of sassafras, black currants, sweet cherries, and herbs. Medium to full-bodied, moderately tannic, and rich, enjoy this impressive Cabernet over the next 7-10 years.
Dark ruby-red. Slightly high-toned aromas of candied cherry, ripe plum, licorice, truffle and tobacco. Sweet, spicy and rich, with subtle flavors of candied cherry, cured tobacco and eucalyptus. This smooth, fruit-driven wine finishes with soft, sweet tannins. 91 Points.
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate #168
Proprietor Mia Klein's Napa Cabernets include the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa, a dark ruby/plum-tinged effort revealing sweet aromas of pepper, an Old Bay-like spice (traditionally used for Maryland steamed crabs), and plenty of black cherry, currant, and mocha scents. Medium-bodied and spicy with an herbal edge.
Although more laid back and playing it closer to the vest, the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa is just as powerful as the 2002. It reveals more restrained aromas, not the open-knit, fleshy mouthfeel of its sibling, but abundant quantities of black fruits.
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate #168
The 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa offers projected, but simple aromas of plummy cassis in its full-bodied, opulent, fleshy personality.
"Bold aromas of mocha and toasty oak lure you in and then reveal layered, supple plum and exotic spice fruit. Finishes with dry graphite and mineral notes."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate #174
The dense ruby/purple-hued 2005 Merlot Frediani Vineyard exhibits an attractive nose of charcoal, subtle smoke, black cherries, and spice. Medium-bodied with soft tannin, decent acidity, and a savory mouthfeel, this elegant, flavorful Merlot should drink well for 5-6 years.
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate #150
"Exuberant. Possesses a chocolate, coffee, sweet black cherry, and earth-scented
bouquet as well as a spicy, firm, rich style."
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/June 2004
"(blended with 15% cabernet franc) Bright ruby-red. Explosive, pungent
aromas of bitter cherry, violet, licorice, spices, pepper and minerals. Sweet,
dense and sappy, with nicely concentrated red fruit and spice flavors. Youthfully
oaky finish features noteworthy freshness and length."
Score: 90 Wine Spectator April, 2005
"While there's plenty of flavor, much of it is derived from smoky, toasty
oak. Still, there's a rich display of plum, currant and berry fruit, and it
finishes with an appealing mineral and lead pencil edge."
Score: 90 Wine Spectator September, 2004
"A solid wine, with excellent structure, firm tannins and a ripe, supple
core of blackberry and black cherry fruit, with a touch of fresh earth and mocha
on the finish, where the flavors gain complexity and depth. Drink now through
2010."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate December 2003
"Beefier, richer, fuller-bodied as well as more firmly tannic is the 2001
Merlot. Exhibiting aromas of roasted coffee, plums, cherries, and cola in a
medium to full-bodied, firmer style."
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June '04
"(includes 10% cabernet sauvignon) Good bright ruby-red. Smoky aromas of
currant, truffle, game and caramel, with a distinctly herbal cabernet aspect.
Fat and truffley in the mouth, in a rich but dry style. Finishes with fairly
substantial, slightly dry tannins. Offers more texture than flavor authority
today, and probably best suited for drinking over the next three to five years."
Score: 92 The Wine Spectator December, 2002
"A delicious Merlot, dark, rich and chocolaty, with layers of mouthcoating
mocha, currant, blackberry and coffee grounds. Sharply focused, long and intense,
with well-integrated tannins. Best from 2003 through 2010. 1,000 cases made."
Score 92 Connoisseurs Guide to California
Wine March, 2003
"… there is so much fruit, sheer richness and lavish oak at work
here that its riper bias is more than easy to forgive. Fat and fleshy in feel
with lots of body and tannins enough to notice, this immensely flavorful wine
entertains with suggestions of cocoa, cream, raspberries, cherries, mint and
a note of loamy earth on the palate. Never shy and not especially refined,
it is a wine to save for appropriately savory dishes, and it should drink
famously with a classic, garlic-larded, rosemary studded, roast leg of lamb.
"
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate August 2002
"A deep ruby/purple colored effort, it reveals an easygoing style with
notes of smoke, black cherries, and blackberries. With airing, a pleasant
roasted characteristic emerges. Elegant and medium weight with well integrated
acidity, tannin and alcohol, it will drink well over the next decade. "
