James Melendez — who produces both written and filmed wine reviews on his site and social media outlets as “James The Wine Guy” — has been sharing his love of wine with readers and viewers since November 2006. Thoughtful, meticulous, and passionate about wine and and the business, Melendez has filmed and posted thousands upon thousands of recorded wine reviews. He even included two of our wines on his list of the Top 100 Wines of 2021.
Segments usually run no longer than 5 minutes and reflect his history as a former national wine marketing manager for a large, off-premise food and wine retailer. Each clip includes a brief introduction to the producer, as well as his thoughts on the wine’s color, nose, and palate profiles. Melendez also scores wines based on a 100-point scale.
He recently reviewed three of our wines in the video below, saying the following…
2021 Rhapsody Willamette Valley Pinot Blanc
When I think of Pinot Blanc, I automatically go to Alsace and that’s because a lot of it does come from that region. And perhaps, maybe the majority of Pinot Blanc that gets found in the world today does come from Alsace. You do find some in Italy, United States, Australia, and so forth. But to me, it’s a treasure. [Pinot Blanc] is my definitive, go-to oyster wine if I can’t have a sparkling wine — and preferably Blanc de Blanc. This is a lovely wine to be tasted with seafood.
12.9% ABV [alcohol by volume], and it’s a really good point because I do taste some California Pinot Blancs — and there’s not a lot of them by the way — and they have a much higher alcohol point. And to me, I think back to Alsace. They’re going to have a lower alcohol point, ABV. And to me, that’s the best way to enjoy this wine.
For the characterization of this wine: The nose on this is, moistened stones, autumnal white fruit of apples and pears, as well as a hint of white floral. Next is the palate characterization. Palate is very nicely dry, and yet full of character, Bosc pear notes, hint of spice and floral notation. This wine is 92 points out of 100.
2019 Titan Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
So now we have the Titan Pinot Noir, and, what I very much enjoy about Oregon wines that they taste like Oregon Pinot Noir. And I would never mistake this, in my opinion for, I’m not going to even say a specific California region, but many, California Pinot Noirs can have a very certain characterization. And colorization. So I, when I get a wine like this, I know it’s not a Burgundy wine, but I’m definitely getting that this is an Oregon wine. It’s an Oregonian wine. And, I think it’s hauntingly beautiful and gorgeous.
Be sure to serve this in a Burgundy glass. You’re going to enjoy the experience and your palate’s going to thank you for doing so. If you have a smaller wine glass, I think you might miss some characterization…
So here we go with this wine. Crushed red candy notes, which I very, I find that haunting and beautiful, as well as violets, black cherries, freshly sanded wood, as well as suede notes. Excellent. Next, the palate characterization. Sublimely beautiful. This wine is giving notes of Bing cherry, mountain strawberry, hint of clove and savory undertones and finishing off with red flowers. This wine is 94 points out of 100 points.
2020 Jupiter Estate Pinot Noir
Now here goes this one here, Jupiter Pinot Noir. And, these actually wines taste different from each other as they should, right? They’re not gonna be exactly the same. Now this is Chehalem Mountain fruit. Different than this wine here [Titan], which is Willamette Valley. And it’s a 13.5% ABV. And, again, I think that’s a fantastic ABV because again, you don’t see that.
Gorgeous nose here. This to me is just so mouthwatering, and I want something like nice Italian charcuterie, I think would go quite well with this wine, as well as hard cheeses. Now, let me talk about the characterization on this wine. A fantastic nose of purple flowers, lavender, graphite. I love that mineral note, as well as freshly ground spices. Next is the palate characterization. So blue and black fruit, savory tones, as well as sage and purple flowers. This wine is 94 points out of 100 points.
