The Latest Cristaldi Scores
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Sourced entirely from Peter William Vineyard in the Rogue Valley, fermented in one-ton open-top bins, then aged 20 months in neutral French oak. This is a spicy, cha-cha Syrah with pure dark-berry fruit, white pepper, earthy brightness, and dried florals. Silky, juicy, and persistent on the medium-bodied finish—exactly the kind of thirst-quenching wine you need after a night of salsa dancing.
Not vineyard designated on label, but from two Rogue Valley vineyards, managed by Quail Run. handpicked and sorted and whole cluster pressed femrented in ss with 10 months agingon the fine lees. A very lovely, clean, and focused whtie wine with juicy apple and pear fruit, white flowers, baking spice notes and a lovely lush and creamy mid palate that is framed by a good amont of zesty acidity.
These Italian clones of Sangiovese come from an organically farmed vineyard in Ballard Canyon. The wine was fermented in open-top tanks for 21 days and aged 18 months in barrel before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The fruit is remarkably intense, framed by generous toasty oak and powerful incense notes. Beneath that structure lies a soft-fruited core with ample richness and a vanilla-spiced finish.
Sourced entirely from Clone 667 on a steep, north-facing hillside at Peake Ranch. Fermented with 20% whole clusters and aged 16 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is a wonderfully lush, dark-cherry-fruited Pinot Noir underscored by rich brown baking spices. The dark fruit and spice sit beautifully on the mid-palate, lifted by grapefruit peel, fine cedarwood accents, a touch of earth, and espresso bean on the finish. Totally crushable. Peake Ranch is also a fruit source for Migration and Cornerstone.
A tropical-fruited, savory white that builds with notes of white peach, honeydew melon, and apricot, along with subtle poached-pear nuances that come into focus at mid-palate. The finish is marked by savory dried straw, almonds, and a touch of sea-spray minerality. Sourced from the steep, organically farmed hillside block of the Coteau de Clair Vineyard. Fermented with native yeasts, split between neutral oak and stainless steel, then aged on lees for eight months to enhance mouthfeel and complexity. Malolactic fermentation was inhibited to preserve the wine’s natural acidity and freshness.
Sourced from the Fiddlestix Vineyard, fermented in stainless steel, and aged in 500L Austrian oak barrels. The aromatics are strikingly exotic, bursting with beeswax and honeycomb, a touch of spiced sea salt, citrus peel, flint, and wet river stone. The mid-palate is creamy, showing pear and apple framed by crisp acidity and firm stony minerality. It’s certainly an oyster wine, but it also pairs beautifully with sheep’s milk and goat cheeses—especially those wrapped in cedar or dusted with herbs—thanks to the wine’s savory beeswax, honeycomb, and dried white-floral character.
Sourced from John Sebastiano Vineyard, a site planted across steep, wind-exposed slopes with a mix of sandy loam, clay loam, and pockets of diatomaceous earth—soils and aspects that create naturally low yields and concentrated fruit—this Chardonnay is native-yeast fermented in barrel and aged 24 months in 50% new oak. The oak presents vividly, offering a rich, toasty profile that builds in the glass before giving way to lemon curd and butterscotch. It’s incredibly rich and unabashedly ripe, showing caramel-drizzled candied citrus rind, tangerine, tangerine oil, and warm ginger spice. Yet it’s a bit of a chameleon: a current of zesty acidity rises through all that silky richness, bringing the wine into balance.
A very small and special bottling of Hinnrichs Vineyard Syrah from Ballard Canyon. The fruit was 100% destemmed, aged 18 months in barrel, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Mixed berry fruit and woodsy spices build in the glass, joined by clove and earthy mineral notes. This is a medium-bodied Syrah framed by firm tannins that resolve gracefully, with mid-weight cherry and spiced plum adding intrigue. Notes of vanilla and wet slate carry the finish. Koehler Winery is a 60-acre wine estate in the Santa Ynez Valley, owned by the Koehler family since 1991.
If the 2020 Camp Lucy Malbec showed the delicate, lifted side of the variety, the 2019 reveals its deeper register. This vintage is more dark-fruited, with a richer, more concentrated core and noticeably greater mid-palate weight. You still get the signature cherry character, but it trends darker—black cherry and black plum—supported by firmer, more assertive tannins. The finish echoes the 2020 in its white-pepper lift and limestone-driven mineral notes, but here they play against a denser, more brooding fruit profile. A compelling, more structured counterpoint to the elegance of the 2020.
Whatever you think you know about Malbec, check it at the door with this Texas rendition from Camp Lucy Vineyard and the 2020 vintage. It’s a delicate, pretty wine—much like the world’s greatest Malbecs—driven by red cherry fruit and spice but softer in tannin, less muscular, and more elegant. White pepper and rose-stem nuances weave through the palate, carried by limestone mineral tension and a lift of tangerine oil on the finish.
While the 2021 is a bold, savory red, the 2020 shows a softer, gentler, more elegant profile. It’s more fruit-driven, with fresher flavors and brighter baking-spice notes—white pepper, candied violets, and cherry fruit. Medium- to full-bodied, it carries gentle tannins that support a juicy, vibrant core framed by earthy redwood spice and limestone-driven mineral intensity. A lovely counterpoint to the more overtly savory vintages of this wine.
Quite a bold, savory red wine building out of the glass with brandied black cherry and blackberry fruit, leather, tobaccoa and black pepepper, rose stem and dried rose petal notes framed by a salty mienral complexity and cocoa powder tannins that linger through a coffee bean and wet slate finish. Plenty of dark fruit and spice complexiy and great mouthfeel here. A very satisfying wine, ideal for brisket.
I’m not one to put much stock in the tasting notes on a back label—critics trust their own palates above all (what else would you have me do?). But in this case, the description of white peach, strawberry, and lime zest is spot on. All of that fruit shows up on the palate as well, and the mousse is super creamy and palate-filling, carrying a gentle sweetness that makes the wine especially inviting. This is an ideal bottle for a hot day, a picnic, or a bowl of fresh strawberries and summer fruit. It also makes an excellent topper for an Aperol Spritz, adding a subtle tropical note. Go for it.
Estate Chardonnay harvested in the early morning, with the cool fruit pressed directly and settled overnight before being transferred into Sandstone Jarre vessels—clay, stone, and terracotta—to ferment spontaneously. Fermented to dryness with full malolactic conversion, then aged eight months. I just love this Chardonnay. The aromatics evoke wet terracotta mingled with citrus and orchard fruit, and the palate is utterly lush—silky, soft, and completely mouth-filling. It’s richly textured without ever feeling heavy, the fruit remaining pure and vibrant, redolent of yellow apple and creamy pear. White floral notes add nuance, and the finish is long and lingering, carried by a lemony, oil-rich brightness. Yum.
What a fabulous, racy, salt-tinged white packed with green apple, pear, and a woolly mineral note, finishing with a subtle herbal edge. Picked in the cool morning hours, the fruit was pressed directly into a mix of concrete tulip and Clayver vessels, where it fermented spontaneously and completed malolactic naturally. It was aged 80% in concrete and 20% in Clayver. The concrete encourages natural lees movement and a low, slow fermentation, adding texture and depth.
This was my personal favorite of the Nid Tissé wines from 2023 that I sampled. I love the Russian River Valley richness it exudes — richness balanced by real tension. Beautifully pure and attractive lemon notes appear in all forms: lemon peel, meringue and lemon tart. A subtle kiss of toasty cedarwood mingles with all that bright citrus, interwoven with ripe orchard fruit on the palate. A long, chalky mineral finish brings everything into focus. Sourced from the famous Bacigalupi Vineyard — a site of red clay and rocky loam gravels — this Wente field selection comes from the Judgement of Paris Block. It is native-fermented with full malo and aged for 12 months in 14% new French oak, 20% clay egg, and a further three months in stainless steel before bottling.
From Hyde Vineyard, a famous Carneros site with Haire clay–loam soils, this is a field blend of 33-year-old Robert Young Clone and 30-year-old Wente Selection. It is native-fermented with full malo and aged for 12 months in 16% new French oak, 14% clay amphora, and a further three months in stainless steel before bottling. It is highly aromatic — stone fruit and tropical fruit melding together — with notes of apricot, banana and pineapple on a creamy palate. A fairly soft, generous and mellow rendition of this site, it makes for exceptionally easy drinking.
From Radian Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills of Santa Barbara, the site is perched at 152 meters on dramatically steep slopes of clay loam with large deposits of diatomaceous earth, which drains exceptionally well — so well that the vines truly struggle, resulting in a fantastically concentrated yet immediately fresh wine. Native-fermented with 18% whole cluster, it was aged 10 months in 12% Burgundian French oak, and is a blend of Clones 115 and 777. There is plenty of wet-rock minerality alongside dark cherry and raspberry fruit, with clove spice and blood-orange notes. Pretty rose-petal tones and supple tannins frame a juicy, dark-fruited wine layered with more wet slate and mild Indian spices on the lasting finish. The wine is incredibly fresh and invigorating, with both tension and generosity.
The Nid Tissé Chardonnay from Bentrock Vineyard — an iconic site in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA of Santa Barbara — sits on north-facing slopes of Santa Lucia shaley clay loam and Tierra sandy loam at 152 meters. Those soils, combined with its proximity to the ocean — about nine miles as the crow flies — bring an epic salinity to the wine, which is native-fermented with full malo and no filtration, and aged 17 months in large neutral French oak on fine lees. A mere 62 cases were produced. Lemony-bright on the nose, fragrant with sea-spray salinity and chalky mineral notes, it is silky on the palate, revealing tangerine and apricot, while lime-bright acidity frames a white wine of graceful, tension-filled poise.
