10 Special Wines For Valentines

February 7, 2023 – Yep, so many wines, so little time, but special occasions present a great opportunity to splurge a little and try something new. Here are 10 newly released local wines that are sure to impress. 

1. Beauregard Vineyards 2021 Bald Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay, $65 Having lost the prior year’s crop to the CZU fire, fourth generation winegrower Ryan Beauregard was eager to make a stab at his vision of Chablis from the Bald Mountain Vineyard, a former seabed. He picked in early September and fermented hot, then put the wine for 10 months in 33% new French oak barrels. After this cozy siesta, the wine then spent 4 months in stainless steel before bottling. The pale yellow color and lemon meringue pie aromas practically scream “Chablis!” Currently, this is Beauregard’s Holy Grail. The palate is brisk with limestone, yuzu, candied lime, tangerine peel and a kiss of salty fog. He thinks it’s his best wine yet. I think you need to try it.

2. Boekenoogen 2021 Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, $60 With aromas of fresh crushed raspberries, cranberry juice and a hint of cola, this is a really fun, bright and fresh approach that instantly won me over. A youthful and easy quaffer, it is delightfully airy and silky, with abundant blackberry, sweet cherry and sasparilla flavors. A nice hint of pepper jelly on this finish shows this wine has lots to share as it mellows with age. 

3. CRU 2020 Sarmento Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Lucia Highlands, $30 This is the first vintage winemaker Jose Reyes has made of Sarmento Chardonnay for CRU, having made Pinot Noir from this vineyard for several years. With a yellow-green hue, you know it’s gonna be different. Although barrel fermented in French, it is still very fruit driven, rather than oak driven. Highly aromatic of wildflowers, Meyer lemon and key lime, flavors are a fruit basket of pineapple kiwi, comice pear and green apple, framed by buttercream pastry and a smack of key lime pie topped with toasty meringue. 

4. Fogarty Winery 2019 Wills Cabin Pinot Noir, Gist Ranch Vineyard, $75 Winemaker Nathan Kandler is a definite Pinot whisperer, and his many vineyard designates reveal his prowess. Will’s Cabin Pinot Noir is sourced from Gist Ranch Vineyard on Skyline Blvd. overlooking the Big Basin watershed. The clones are Mount Eden, Swan and Rocchioli. The color is pure garnet and the nose, abundantly floral, pine woodsy and enticing. On the palate, a festive flamenco of strawberry, pomegranate and cranberry, framed ever so delicately by cedar and fir, lead to a smack of raspberry candy on the finish. Take one sip and try, try to resist another. 

5. Integrity 2020 Riesling Arroyo Seco, $24 Of all Mark Hoover’s wines, the Riesling stands out as the ones to which he is truly devoted. He wears his love for this oft-mistreated grape as proudly as a tattoo. Each year, he tries his best to make both a dry and dessert wine, although the various forces of nature, both animal and inanimate, often conspire to thwart his intent. The 2020 Riesling from Mike Griva’s vineyard in Arroyo Seco, is slightly off dry, and displays trademark Riesling petrol in the nose, flavors of almond Danish and a pleasing viscosity on the palate. His 2019 Late Harvest Riesling, which also leads with nosehair-tingling petrol, has lovely notes of orange peel, apple strudel, white fig and ginger. 

6. Kathryn Kennedy 2017 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, $295 Marty Mathis carries on the tradition of his pioneering winegrower mother, Kathryn Kennedy, by bottling the estate Cabernet in a distinctive silver label with her signature. Only 600 cases of this limited production, age-worthy wine are produced yearly from the estate vineyard she planted in Saratoga in 1973, using clone 8 Cabernet cuttings from David Bruce Winery. This is magnificent stuff, with cherry-blackberry brandy, leather, cedar, pine, olives and graphite: the hallmarks aromas of East Side Cab. Flavors of melted chocolate and grilled Wagyu meld nicely with blackberry, blueberry and sage on the infinitely supple, yet deeply complex palate. The mouthfeel is pure pleasure. Did we mention it’s magnificent? 

7. Kings Mountain Vineyards 2019 Clone 13 Pinot Noir, $65 Kings Mountain Pinots are grown in a hand-tended one-acre vineyard surrounded by redwoods, oaks and Madrones, on the lee side of Skyline in the town of Woodside. Always distinctive for their intensely spiced fruit and well-toasted French oak, this 2019 Martini clone (aka clone 13), grabs you with its earthy aromas, ripe raspberry, forest floor and cinnamon stick. If you love Pinot Noirs that are textural and lipsmacking, with a long, luxurious and sensational finish, give this one a try. Available at VinoCruz. (And also featured with their Valentine’s Day menu.)

8. Neely 2019 Bee Block Chardonnay, Estate, 13.3%, $50 This wine, made by Shalini Sekhar, has depth and grip from stem to stern. Made in a fresh, aromatic style, it’s totally designed for lovers of the grape, but not the overt wood that often accompanies it. Aromas of Meyer lemon shortbread, quince paste, toasted hazelnuts, wet river rock, honeycomb, fresh baguette and dried mango hint at its complexity. The mouthfeel is crisp yet fleshy, reminiscent of baked McIntosh apples with golden raisins, brown sugar and candied walnuts and a squeeze of Cara Cara orange. Their vineyard setting in Portola Valley is bucolic and breezy, complete with grazing sheep. 

9. Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards 2017 Bates Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, $150 Winemaker Jeff Emery has been doing things the same old-fashioned way, since Ken Burnap lured the unsuspecting UC Santa Cruz undergrad into a job as a cellar rat. He never left. Like a castle minstrel, Emery is the keeper of treasured cellar lore. His notes indicate that fruit for this superbly composed 2017 was harvested from upper rows of Bates Ranch planted in 1972. He prefers these monster old vines, as they produce wines that are forever lasting. They are a monument to the labor of love that is winemaking, which is why this bottle would be an astute gift for someone who loves everything about wine. With aromas of raspberry, pomegranate, sage, wild thyme and basil, this wine has a surprisingly texture, like filigree lace on top of the velvet intensity of the racy red fruit. 

10. Soquel Vineyards 2021 Stretched Boundaries Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains, $50 Such an interesting name for a wine, and that’s not the half of it. This wine is a blend of vineyards, from the sunny climes of Corralitos, to the estate vineyard in the hills of Soquel, to the northern coastal edge of Coast Grade Vineyard in Bonny Doon.  Stretched Boundaries, indeed. This wine starts as a practice warmup of cranberry, orange peel, earthy woods and salty marsh, slowly developing into something more deep and enveloping, with all those fruits harmonizing as nicely together as a quartet playing chamber music. Each sip reveals a new aspect of this multifaceted wine. Double Gold medal winner at the 2023 SF Chronicle Competition.