2007 Humanitas Chardonnay Oak Free

Type: White
Producer: Humanitas
Variety: Chardonnay
Designation: Oak Free
Country: USA
Region: California
SubRegion: Central Coast
Appellation: Monterey County



The Little Wooden Guy really appreciates good wine without the gratuitous use of wood, so give this one a try.

Night One

The nose has more pears than apples, plus a bit of soft banana. There is also a slight underlying background tropical smell of pineapple.

The palate has a thick glycerin mouth-feel. The flavors open with apple, turning to pineapple and starfruit toward the mid-palate. This is creamy smooth, and a welcome oak- and vanilla-free.

Night Two

The nose is more tropical on Night Two than Night One. The lead fruit is pineapple, some butterscotch, and bruised red apples.

The palate, too, is more tropical on the attack, leading with sweet-tart fresh pineapple plus the soft flavor of banana. Apples appear on the mid-palate, along with some butterscotch, before tartness returns on the mid-palate. The tartness is not the sour tart you would find in lemon or lime, but the sweet tropical bite of a starfruit.

This is good wine. If you have run away from Chardonnay, afraid of juice flavored with wood, vanilla, and butter, come back and try it again.

2004 La Rochelle Pinot Noir

Type- Red
Producer- La Rochelle
Variety- Pinot Noir
Country- USA
Region- California
SubRegion- Central Coast
Appellation- Monterey
From WineQ
Approx. $20



This Big Wooden Guy would not leave me alone until I promised to add more of this to my queue at WineQ.

Before I even put my nose near the glass, let me thank the wonderful people at WineQ. I tried this once before, as you may recall. It gave the Webkinz a chance to make an appearance, but the bottle was flawed. The next thing I knew, I was getting email assurances another bottle was on its way. If you have not checked out WineQ yet, do yourself a favor and head over there soon.

The nose is nice. It opens with a little earthiness, truffles and black dirt. It is very light, but definitely there. Red fruit comes next, light fresh strawberries, wild cherries and pomegranate. There is also a hint, a tiny hint, of red licorice at the very edges of the glass.

The palate is rich, filed with soft full-bodied red fruit, black cherries, very ripe strawberries, followed by raspberry. The 100% new French oak starts to show on the mid-palate as vanilla first makes a gentle appearance then grows, eventually taking the lead, going from red fruit with a little vanilla to a little red fruit on vanilla ice cream.

Mouth feel is silky smooth. The finish is long.

This is good, but just on the edge of over-oaked. Too much wood is the trend in Cali pinots lately, and in my personal opinion does injustice to the fruit. This one is not quite there, not quite too much, on Night One. Sometimes, though, they can really fall apart, devolve into over-sweetened oak juice on Night Two. Will this one? Or will it dance delicately along the edge, balancing fruit and wood, while adding depth overnight? Stay tuned, and we will find out together.

Night Two

The nose is far more subtle on Night Two, less fruity, far more floral. Truffles are still there, but very light, very light indeed. Birch beer and cream, strawberries, and then violets all make up the nose.

The palate is absolutely silky smooth, even creamy. Fruits are red and soft, pomegranate, very ripe strawberries, cherries bought at a roadside fruit stand in Michigan in the summer time. More impressive, though, are the florals that appear on the mid-palate and grow, first joining the fruit then eclipsing it, in the classic Pinot Arc. They are violets and roses, and definitely worth the second night wait.

Give this wine some time in your cellar. If you can't wait, and I can't blame you, decant it for several hours, then treat yourself to a Burgundy doppleganger from the Central Coast of California.

2003 Escafeld Merlot

Type: Red
Producer: Escafeld
Variety: Merlot
Country: USA
Region: California
SubRegion: Central Coast
Appellation: Monterey County
Price: $19.99 from WineQ[disclosure- I am not sure, but believe this was a sample from WineQ]



The Little Wooden Guy is impressed, really impressed, at a $20 wine that screams "cellar me" as loudly and clearly as this does.

Night One

Don't put your nose too far into a glass of this. It will reach up and punch you right in that nose. Black cherries and mulberry, green grassy spices like sage, rosemary along with some cardamom. There is a smoky smell, too. The easy thing would be to say "bacon" and keep moving, but that would not be accurate. No, think instead the blackened grill drippings below a rotisserie leg of lamb.

Black cherries, blackened edges of grilled meat, a single fennel seed, all make up the initial attack. Chocolate shows up on the mid-palate, as the cherries take the lead over everything else on the attack, leaving not so much chocolate covered cherries, as cherries repeatedly dredged in barely sweetened cocoa powder until it is thick with the stuff. The finish is long. The tannins are strong, finely powdered but leathery-drying. This is still very tightly wound. I suspect this might be one of the real Night Two successes.

One more word for Night One, and it's just a hint now. I suspect it might really show up on Night Two. The word? Umami. That's Japanese for "savory." In Chinese, the word is "xiānwèi," or "fresh flavor." If you like Asian food think soy sauce. If you go with more of a European bent, think anchovy paste. It is a certain richness, fullness of flavor, a "certain something" that makes the four senses you are more familiar with, salty, sweet, bitter and sour, just work better.

Night Two

The nose has not changed a lot since Night One. It is still big and aggressive, fruity, earthy and complex. The cherries are a little more obvious. The spice bite is a little sharper.

On Night Two the fruit seems a little darker. Some blackberry joins the black cherries. There is still some smokey grilled meat and the fennel stands out a little more. Soy sauce makes a real appearance on the mid-palate, right before the infusion of unsweetened cocoa. Finish is long and savory. Tannins remain very strong, even twenty-four hours after it was opened. Put this one away for five years then open it. In fact, buy half a case or more, then open the first one in five years. I expect you will decide to wait another two or three years before opening the next one. This is a very moderately priced Central Coast Merlot, not the sort of wine you would usually buy to cellar over a long period of time, but this might be a real jewel. Only time will tell, but it it tremendously promising.

2006 Humanitas Sauvignon Blanc

Type- White
Producer- Humanitas
Variety- Sauvignon Blanc
Country- USA
Region- California
SubRegion- Central Coast
Appellation- Monterey County

Night One

This is very light pale yellow, perfectly clear, like a yellow diamond.

The nose has some very classic Sauvignon Blanc smells, particularly cut grass and sweet pink grapefuit. It also has some tropical fruits, perhaps mango and pineapple. The palate is a little fat, lacking the acidity I like and expect from this varietal. The grapefruit on the palate is white, not pink, and pineapple is still there. However, it is softened, in my own opinion just a little too much, by some banana. There are many palates that would find this absolutely delightful, and I can not say this is a poor wine, only that it is not a great wine for me. It might be a bit too warm to show at its best- straight from the 56 degree cellar, where whites often shine (the refrigerator is far too cold, closing everything down). I will try it a bit cooler on Night Two.

Night Two

The nose on Night Two is sweeter than on Night One. There is still some cut grass and pink grapefruit. There is something else, too, though, some sweet nougat. The palate is a little better balanced than on Night One. It is still soft, but not fat. The grapefruit on Night Two seems more pink than white, pineapple adds sweetness and banana stays more in the background. I suspect the improvement comes as much from a cooler temperature (about 45 minutes out of the refrigerator) as the extra night. Whatever the reason, this is better tonight than last night.

2004 La Rochelle Pinot Noir

Type- Red
Producer- La Rochelle
Variety- Pinot Noir
Country- USA
Region- California
SubRegion- Central Coast
Appellation- Monterey
From WineQ
Approx. $20



The Wooden Guys had no interest in the clearly flawed bottle. The farm animals from Webkinz, on the other hand, felt right at home amidst the brett.

Night One

Major funk blew out of the bottle upon opening. After an hour or two it seemed to settle down, but not disappear. Beneath it there were some great flavors, enough to think an unflawed bottle might be good. Black cherries, cranberries, smoked meat and some tomato all made for a very interesting, if not a tad heavy, palate. Tannins were smooth, acidity bright. Unfortunately ...

Night Two

The funk had funk of its own. It was just overpowering. There was plenty of barnyard and a distinct smell of moldy cherries. Two hours later a lot of the funk was gone, but not all. The nose smelled surprisingly of burnt toast spread with strawberry jam. There was dark cerry, watermelon, nutmeg, vanilla and tarragon, in that order, from attack to finish.

There is a lot of promise beneath the obvious flaw in this particular bottle. If I had an opportunity, I would give it a second try.


Just out of the bottle

Carmel Road Pinot Noir Monterey 2006

It was hotter than hell and the air conditioning was not working. Nothing was in the fridge, so what to drink? Something lighter, maybe a fairly fresh pinot. This mid-priced bottle seemed to fit the bill.

The color was a medium garnet, translucent, very pretty. The nose was bigger than I expected, since newer pinots often seem to be closed, hiding their odors. It offered black cherries, raspberries, black tea, and, if you kept your nose shoved all the way in the glass long enough, just a touch of cocoa. The palate was similar, with black cherries and raspberries up front, followed by a touch of sweet cocoa powder and tannins. The tannins were surpisingly soft. The finish did not fall right off but lingered a few extra seconds.

The next day. The wine spent the night back in the cellar (the A/C was out and I did not want to cook it) under the Vacuu-Vin. The next night it was far more earthy, with mushrooms and earth added to raspberry and darker cherries on the nose. The palate wa still fruity, showing strawbery and raspberry, black tea and, as odd as this sounds, a hint of somethin reminiscent of ginger snaps. The finish was softer and far longer, more obviously teeth-coating. This improved a lot over night, telling me (as if I didn't know, heck, it was an '06) it would actually improve with some cellar time or long decanting.

The first night's overall impression was a pretty typical mid-priced Cali-Pinot, mostly cherry and black tea, with enough mid-palate secondary development to justify a "pretty good, I'd drink it mid-week if the restaurant marked up the good stuff beyond reason" rating. In Parker-world that is probably about 84-86.