93
points
Fortress 2007 Petite Sirah (Red Hills Lake County)
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$35
A beautiful Petite Sirah, and a serious player. Shows the classic balance and elegance of a fine red wine, with smooth tannins framing the variety’s wildly exotic flavors of blackberries, blueberries, bacon, tobacco, grilled mushrooms, tamari, anise and lots of black pepper. Great now with BBQ, and should evolve in interesting ways for many years.
— S.H.
(12/1/2009)
91
points
Fortress 2006 Musque Clone Sauvignon Blanc (Red Hills Lake County)
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$18
Fortress is establishing a formidable record for Sauvignon Blanc. The ’06 is rich, elegant, and enormously drinkable. There’s great delicacy to the mouthfeel, with stony, mineral flavors that add tang to the lime, Meyer lemon and smoky spice flavors that finish so dry and crisp. The Red Hills of Lake County is proving to be an extremely promising source of Bordeaux…
— S.H.
(5/1/2008)
88
points
Fortress 2007 Novateur Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc (Red Hills Lake County)
-
$20
Fortress’s Sauvignon Blanc, based on the Musque clone, is seriously good at a fair price, and now they’ve blended it with some Sémillon to produce this slightly sweet dessert wine. With residual sugar of 5.3%, it shows crisp acidity and wonderfully pure flavors of ripe pears, peaches and vanilla.
— S.H.
(12/15/2008)