2006 Dierberg Pinot Noir
Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine gives the Dierberg Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir 91 Points and two puffs, click to read entire review!

2006 Dierberg Pinot Noir
Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
Volume 33 Issue 8: June 2009
91
Sweet, optimally ripened, cherry-like fruit is accented with deft touches of milk chocolate, flowers and sweet spice throughout the considerable length of this concentrated and keenly focused young Pinot, and, if very well-balanced and so showy as to beg early drinking, this fleshy wine is built with a fine spine of silky tannins that bodes quite well for age. Drink it now if you must with the likes of a rare rack of lamb, but we are planning to set a few bottles aside for three or four years and suggest that you do the same thing. $42.00

2005 Dierberg Syrah Robert parker rates 90 points
A beautiful inky/ruby/purple color....

2005 Dierberg Syrah Robert parker rates 90 points
A beautiful inky/ruby/purple color is followed by aromas of blackberries, blueberries, forest floor, and spring flowers. On the palate, the wine exhibits good sweetness, lush tannins, medium to full body, and excellent depth as well as balance. Drink it over the next 5-6 years.

Wine Spectator 92 Points for 2005 Dierberg Pinot Noir
“Beautifully crafted, rich, intense and elegant.......

Wine Spectator 92 Points for 2005 Dierberg Pinot Noir

92 - Dierberg 2005 Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley

 

“Beautifully crafted, rich, intense and elegant, with a stylish mix of earthy raspberry, wild berry and blackberry fruit that’s complex and concentrated, offering depth and length.” – James Laube

 The Wine Spectator – June 30, 2008

Vinfolio review of 2005 Dierberg Pinot Noir 95 points
Shows dusty black cherry and black raspberry nose with subtle dried lavender, and vanilla sprinkled sea salt.

Vinfolio review of 2005 Dierberg Pinot Noir 95 points
Just re-tasted at WOPN in early March. Shows dusty black cherry and black raspberry nose with subtle dried lavender, (there is some whole cluster fermentation), and vanilla sprinkled sea salt. The palate is round and ripe, leading to vibrant, mouth-coating flavors of black cherry, cola and violets. The finish comes through with silky violet-laced tannins. - Doug Wilder, Vinfolio Issue 159

Vinfolio review of 2005 Dierberg Chardonnay 96 points
The aromas are rich, smooth mango, citrus, gun powder, wet stone and lemon custard.

Vinfolio review of 2005 Dierberg Chardonnay 96 points
Re-tasted in mid-March in San Francisco. The aromas are rich, smooth mango, citrus, gun powder, wet stone and lemon custard. The dense and smooth flavors show butterscotch, tropical fruit (mango), macadamia and creamy citrus. The finish lasts for over 30 seconds. - Doug Wilder, Vinfolio Issue 159

Wine Spectator 93 Points"Syrah Shines in Santa Barbara Wine Futures Tasting" - James Laube
Dark, rich and savory, complex and concentrated, with a layered mix of wild blueberry and raspberry, mocha and chocolate brownie flavors that are sharply focused, tapered and ending with a long, persistent finish. Drink now through 2012. 93 points, 715 cases made.  J.L.

Wine Spectator 93 Points"Syrah Shines in Santa Barbara Wine Futures Tasting" - James Laube

James Laube

Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hurrah for Syrah—it dominated. Pause on Pinot, at least for now. And good for Grenache, it's coming along nicely.

The gutsy Rhône-inspired reds trumped the red Burgundian transplants in Wine Spectator's blind tasting of selected wine futures from Santa Barbara County, though it was hardly a landslide.

After tasting 46 wines (19 Pinot Noirs and 27 Rhône-style reds, including Syrah, Grenache and a Petite Sirah) we found 35 wines to recommend, with this caveat: Overall, this was the least impressive showing of wine futures I've tasted since I began reviewing them with the 2002 and 2003 vintages, mainly because this isn't a great Pinot vintage. (Another 15 wineries chose not to submit wines for review). For those considering buying futures from Wine Cask's sale (www.winecask.com), shopping cautiously is always the best advice.

The wines were divided up by varietal, vintage, finished bottles and barrel samples in our tastings. Finished bottles have final reviews and scores, while barrel samples are given a four-point range, which is where I expect a wine would rate on release based on what I tasted this week. All wines have two prices: The futures price is lower than the expected retail price.

The discounts range from $5 to $21, and average about $10 below expected retail price. The star of the tasting was the 2006 Jaffurs Syrah Verna's Vineyard (94 points, $38 on release, $31 as a future). It's a dense, concentrated beauty that offers uncommon depth and range of flavor. This winery has been on a roll of late, making its best wines ever, with Syrahs that offer rich, opulent flavors and smoother, more integrated tannins. The Jaffurs 2007 Thompson Vineyard Petite Sirah (90-93, $34/$28) proves that Petite can shine in this appellation. This is a superrich wine with unique boysenberry and raspberry fruit.

The Dierberg Santa Ynez 2005 Syrah (93 points, $30/$26) exhibits a complex mix of savory herb, pepper and dark berry fruits.

Three of the eight new wineries that we tasted wines from made showy debuts in this tasting. The 2006 Tecero Santa Barbara Watch Hill Vineyard Grenache (89-92, $38/$29) offers white pepper, juicy dark berry and jam notes on an elegant frame. Larry Schaffer, a winemaker at Fess Parker, owns Tecero, which is named after the dorm area at U.C. Davis where Schaffer and his wife met. The Dara Grenache-Syrah Gratitude Larner Vineyard 2006 (88-91, $35/$27) featured white pepper, herb, spice and rich cherry-berry flavors; the husband-wife team of Gary and Teresa Burk owns it. The Departure Grenache Alta Mesa Vineyard 2007 (88-91, $35/$28) is a tight, structured wine with layers of exotic dark berry flavors and tapered, fine-grained tannins. It is owned by Tim Grubb, P.J. and Jason Miele, a trio of Newport Beach, Calif., buddies who also graduated from U.C. Santa Barbara.

Lifestyle
Dierberg 2005 Chardonnay (Everything you'd expect from a California chardonnay but with far more elegance and restraint than so many of them possess. This is a lush, mouth-filling wine, fragrant with the aromas of nutmeg and cinnamon, but its bright acidity keeps all this richness lively.)

Lifestyle

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
2005 Dierberg Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley......90 Points

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
"Yellow-gold. Leesy pear, nectarine and white peach on the nose, with an exotic smoked meat quality adding depth. Ripe and round, displaying focused orchard fruit flavors and gentle acidity. Picks up a gingerbread note on the long, juicy finish. Just shy of exotic, and a serious palate-stainer."

Deleware Online
'Jim Dierberg wants to make world-class cabernet in the "Sideways" territory of northern Santa Barbara County.

Deleware Online
'Jim Dierberg wants to make world-class cabernet in the "Sideways" territory of northern Santa Barbara County. Dierberg is a banker from St. Louis who took the family enterprise and extended it into the First Bank franchise. Along the way, he bought Missouri's Hermanoff winery in 1974, and then he and his wife, Mary, decided to go west with their winegrowing in the late 1990s.'

'Two properties they purchased are in prime pinot noir and chardonnay territory -- the Santa Maria Valley and the Santa Rita Hills -- and produce very good wines under the Dierberg label. But it was a 4,000-acre tract in the eastern end of Santa Ynez Valley that attracted their attention because it is both the highest and hottest vineyard land in the appellation.'

'Here, Dierberg planted Bordeaux varietals and some syrah. The wines are called Star Lane, and the early cabs are very promising. A third line, Three Saints, produces wine from all three of the "Saint" properties.'