{"id":2197,"date":"2011-02-09T05:06:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T05:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=2197"},"modified":"2011-02-09T05:06:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-09T05:06:29","slug":"10-lovely-us-wines-with-dinner-at-willis-wine-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/california\/10-lovely-us-wines-with-dinner-at-willis-wine-bar","title":{"rendered":"10 lovely US wines with dinner at Willi’s Wine Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Some very nice wines at Willi’s Wine Bar here in Santa Rosa last night. It’s an interesting place: they offer wine in a range of measures, including 2 oz tasting pours, which makes it possible to try quite a number over the course of an evening. Our 2 oz pours seemed quite generous, with more than enough simply to taste the wine. The food – tapas style – was really good, including some sensational bone marrow.<\/p>\n

Margerum Chenin Blanc 2008 Santa Ynez Valley, California
\n<\/strong> A small production (3180 bottles) Chenin from Douglas Margerum. This is quite deep coloured with real personality: it tastes like Chenin. Powerful, lively and citrussy with pronounced apple and pear fruit, as well as some nutty, oxidative notes. Very distinctive with high acidity and hints of tannic structure. I like it, but others may find it too extreme. 90\/100<\/p>\n

Ramey Chardonnay 2008 Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California
\n<\/strong> Taut, nutty and toasty with nice freshness and appealing citrus fruit. Taut palate is savoury and fresh with good acidity, citrus freshness and subtle toastiness. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Kistler \u2018Les Noisettes\u2019 Chardonnay 2008 Sonoma Mountain, California
\n<\/strong> Fresh and focused with some breadth. Subtle toast notes as well as a hint of bready richness. But the theme here is precision and freshness. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Beaux Fr\u00e8res Pinot Noir \u2018Les Cousins\u2019 2009 Willamette Valley, Oregon
\n<\/strong> Lovely stuff. Pale and aromatic with sweet cherry fruit and some sappy green notes. Sweet and seductive with spicy cherry fruit the key theme. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Freestone Pinot Noir 2007 Sonoma Coast, California
\n<\/strong> Dense, rich and spicy with dark cherry and blackberry fruit. It\u2019s very rich and full, but still has nice definition. Savoury spice and olive notes offset the sweet fruit. A dense style, but it has lots of appeal. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Sobriquet Sierra Madre Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009 Santa Maria Valley, California
\n<\/strong> Warm, smooth and subtly spicy, this is a sweet, ripe, soft textured Pinot, with subtle herbiness. No rough edges and quite seductive. 90\/100
\nGamba Zinfandel Moratto Vineyard 2008 Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California
\nDense, fresh and spicy with nice olive, tar and spice notes. Very fresh with a meaty dimension to the rich fruit. It\u2019s rich, bold, delicious and well defined. One of the best Zinfandels I\u2019ve experienced. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Pelerin Syrah Les Violettes 2007 Santa Lucia Highlands, California
\n<\/strong> Dark, spicy, meaty and rich with dark cherry and blackberry fruit. There\u2019s a lovely peppery edge to the beautifully fresh dark fruits. Such great definition. Brilliant. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Valdez Landy Vineyard Petite Sirah 2007 Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California
\n<\/strong> Lush, sweet and intense with slightly jammy blackberry fruit. But it\u2019s redeemed by some fresh peppery, spicy notes on the finish. Attractive stuff. 90\/100<\/p>\n

Radio Coteau La Neblina Pinot Noir 2008 Sonoma Coast, California
\n<\/strong> Rich, sweet and dense with lovely cherry and plum fruit, as well as notes of soy and spice. It\u2019s a big yet expressive Pinot with very appealing dark cherry fruit to the fore. 92\/100<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some very nice wines at Willi’s Wine Bar here in Santa Rosa last night. It’s an interesting place: they offer wine in a range of measures, including 2 oz tasting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[368],"class_list":["post-2197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","tag-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2197"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2204,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197\/revisions\/2204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}