Very excited to have Sean Thackrey wines on the shelf...
Sean Thackrey is one of those wines that brings me back to when I started back at The Wine and Cheese Place in 1987. He is one of the original "Rhone Rangers" and one of the original cult wines. His wines always got huge scores (this was before there were a lot of wines that got huge scores), and we were unable to get them in Missouri. People kept asking for them and asking for them. Well here they are.....
Sean Thackrey Orion "Rossi Vineyard"...$94.99
(14.8% alcohol; bottled just a week before I tasted it): Saturated bright ruby. Slightly roasted aromas of black raspberry and eucalyptus complicated by sexy white fruit notes of apricot, passion fruit and peach pit. Suave, elegant and quite penetrating, with harmonious acidity shaping and leavening the complex flavors of black raspberry, stone fruits and chocolate mint. This "heritage vineyard," from which Sean Thackrey has made this wine since 1992, was planted in 1905, and according to Thackrey, "no one knows what's in it." He added that at least 11 different varieties have been identified."
Rated 93+/100 Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media
2012 Sean Thackrey Andromeda Pinot Noir Devil's Gulch...$53.99
"This is, as always, Pinot Noir from a vineyard above Nicasio in Marin County, thus the closest to Bolinas of all the vineyards we harvest from, and one of the cooler and windier Pinot Noir growing sites in the world. This means the fruit is never baked, fatal to the quality of Pinot in warmer locations....a naturally very high proportion of skins to juice, in turn meaning a Pinot Noir naturally intense in color and flavor. As usual, I've done everything to accentuate these (excellent) natural characteristics, and the result is reliably delicious...it's hard fro me to keep my corkscrew away from it." - Sean Thackrey
NV Sean Thackrey Pleiades XXIII Old Vines...$25.99
Rated 93+/100 Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media
"This is, as always, Pinot Noir from a vineyard above Nicasio in Marin County, thus the closest to Bolinas of all the vineyards we harvest from, and one of the cooler and windier Pinot Noir growing sites in the world. This means the fruit is never baked, fatal to the quality of Pinot in warmer locations....a naturally very high proportion of skins to juice, in turn meaning a Pinot Noir naturally intense in color and flavor. As usual, I've done everything to accentuate these (excellent) natural characteristics, and the result is reliably delicious...it's hard fro me to keep my corkscrew away from it." - Sean Thackrey
NV Sean Thackrey Pleiades XXIII Old Vines...$25.99
(13.9% alcohol; sangiovese, viognier, pinot noir and zinfandel, to name but a few varieties in this blend): Bright, pale red. Almost pinot-like perfume to the aromas of red berries, minerals, gingerbread cookie and rose petal. Sweet and round but exhilaratingly tangy too, offering enticing perfume to the flavors of cranberry, raspberry, blood orange and spicecake. Lovely balance and finesse here; complex in a subtle way.
Rated 92/100 Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar
2012 Sean Thackrey La Pleiade....$25.99
Rated 92/100 Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar
2012 Sean Thackrey La Pleiade....$25.99
Medium yellow. Slightly high-toned aromas of yellow apple, dried fruits, nuts and spices. Dry and chewy in the mouth, with a pronounced phenolic character to the flavors of pear skin, cyanic peach pit, green almond and bitter herbs. Suggests a good bit of skin contact. Not a fruity style but this distinctly idiosyncratic blend should be endlessly flexible with food. Hipster alert!
Rated 90/100 Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar
2013 Sean Thackrey Fifi Sangiovese ROSE...$25.99
"Admittedly, a rose name "Fifi" may sound as though it's the airhead of artisan wines, but producing it didn't just happen by accident, like, "OMG it came out all pink!", or whatever; no. In fact, it's an absolutely delicious rose of Sangiovese, and getting it right took several years of the sort of fanatic care and attention to detail for which we're something close to legendary, or close at least to exhaustion. I haven't yet served it to anyone who hasn't loved the result, which gives me every reason to be confident you will agree" - Sean Thackrey
Rated 90/100 Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar
2013 Sean Thackrey Fifi Sangiovese ROSE...$25.99
"Admittedly, a rose name "Fifi" may sound as though it's the airhead of artisan wines, but producing it didn't just happen by accident, like, "OMG it came out all pink!", or whatever; no. In fact, it's an absolutely delicious rose of Sangiovese, and getting it right took several years of the sort of fanatic care and attention to detail for which we're something close to legendary, or close at least to exhaustion. I haven't yet served it to anyone who hasn't loved the result, which gives me every reason to be confident you will agree" - Sean Thackrey
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