Tongue Dancer New Releases: and 2016 Russian River Valley Chardonnay

Tongue Dancer 2016 'Pinot de Ville' Pinot Noir Putnam Vineyard Sonoma Coast ($65)
This new release from winemaker James MacPhail is deeply colored and powerful with generous boysenberry and wild strawberry fruit notes accented with hints of vanilla and baking spices. As much as it is a rather powerful Pinot, it also has a good bit of tangy acidity that really lingers on the palate and keeps it lively and fresh. Only 95 cases made. (93 Points)

Tongue Dancer 2016 Chardonnay Bacigalupi Vineyard Russian River Valley ($50) Big, brassy, juicy and just a little bit wild, this full-bodied Chardonnay has savory cardamom, tarragon, lemon and apricot aromas. In the mouth it's expansive and unctuous, but has a nice thread of acid running through the ultra-long finish. Very impressive Chardonnay. (95 Points)
 

 - Tim Teichgraeber

MacRostie Winery and Vineyards

I still haven't had an opportunity to visit MacRostie's new tasting room near Healdsburg in Sonoma County, but I've seen pictures and it looks GREAT. A friend of mine recently visited there and told me he arrived before another car carrying the remaining members of his group. An employee walked out of the tasting room with a glass of white wine to meet him halfway through the parking lot. Not that's hospitality! I think I'm going to be sending a lot more people that way.

MacRostie has been sending me wines for a while and I had dinner with Steve MacRostie a few years ago. I have to say that I have been steadily, progressively impressed by the wines, especially with the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, both of which are now sealed with screwcaps and seem they seem all the more pure and fresh for it. Other wine writers I know feel the same way.

MacRostie 2014 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($42) This is just about textbook Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. It has an equal balance of red and black and blue fruit flavors, a generous silky texture and a little bit of spice, partly from the oak and partly from the loamy goldridge soils. It's a Goldilocks wine: not too this, not too that, just right. Everyone will enjoy this wine and the price is quite fair. (92 Points)