COMPLETE DELMORE WINES’ DISCOGRAPHY

For the newest wines, I added some wine writer notes to third party things up, with my own aging predictions in italics. The 2021 and older wines are all my takes on things. Thanks for reading and following along on my journey.

2023 Pinot Noir Deer Ridge Trail Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains - “Sweet, ripe fruit, balanced nicely by wild mountain scrub, dried lavender and notes of fresh mint that lift concentrated bramble fruits to a bright, savoury finish. 2024-2033.” - Decanter Magazine

2023 Syrah Bassi Vineyard SLO Coast - “Filigreed red fruits and smoky clove mingle with dried thyme and wild mint. This will age wonderfully, but he is drinking beautifully at the moment. 2024-2034” - Decanter

2023 Syrah Stolo Vineyard SLO Coast - “A featherweight beauty reminiscent of the now much sought-after Arnot-Roberts Clary Ranch bottling. The nose is a lovely combination of peppery, savory, cool-climate Syrah goodness with a beautiful oceanic floral lift. The palate is juicy and energetic.” RobertParker.com. 2026-2032

2023 Syrah SLO Coast - “Green olive, white pepper and blue and purple fruits. An enticing purity, lovely succulence, and vibrant acidity through the finish.”-RobertParker.com. Drink 2024-2030

2022 Pinot Noir Deer Ridge Trail Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains - “A savory and earth-driven single vineyard Pinot Noir that balances ripeness with an excellent lift and freshness. Bright berry aromatics buoy darker elements of turned earth, lifted further by pine sap and fresh mint notes. The palate has a savory generosity, plenty of piquant herbs mingling with ripe, juicy red and black bramble fruits.”-Decanter, 93 points. Drink now til 2030

2022 Pinot Noir Bassi Vineyard SLO Coast - “Hauntingly dark and floral, textures of pure silk, lifted by fresh acidity as mineral drenched red and black fruits saturate under an air of violet inner florals. This is already gorgeous today, it will only get better with a year or two of cellaring.”-Vinous. Drink now til 2026

2022 Pinot Noir Humboldt County - “Light rose perfume and red cherry. Palate is forest and tart. Subtle tannins mesh well. TOP WINE.”- SLOW WINE GUIDE, August 2023. Drink now til 2026.

2022 Syrah Bassi Vineyard SLO Coast - “Reminds me of a good Saint Joseph.”-Jeb Dunnuck, June 2023. “Aromas of plum and blackberry along with savory notes and subtle iodine and wood grilled meats.”-SLOW WINE GUIDE, August 2023. Drink now til 2034.

2021 Pinot Noir Central Coast - Damn, my family has been loving this fresh, bright wine, especially with a light chill. It’s more like Beaujolais than Burgundy, with that natural acid and 12.5% alcohol. Going to be sad to see it go. Drink now til 2025.

2021 Pinot Noir Bassi Vineyard SLO Coast - This has turned into the wildest Pinot Noir I’ve ever put out there. The barn door is slightly ajar these days. Farmhouse Pinot Noir but with a lot of gorgeous, gobby, cherry fruit keeping things together. If I filtered or added products or put in industry-standard sulfite levels, this earthy character might be more subdued, but it bloomed after six months in the bottle, blossomed into what it is today, and I recommend decanting it and drinking it soon, especially with an epic full flavored meal, barbecue even. I do think this will age for five more years, as the bit of effervescence is a preservative. A total living wine.

2021 Pinot Noir Eden Rift Vineyard Cienega Valley - Dark as night and bulletproof. This wine is chock full of limestone minerality, glistening natural acidity, and terrace-grown purply, grapey dense fruit. A friend recently said it was a dead ringer for Volnay. Drink or hold til 2030.

2021 Pinot Noir Deer Ridge Trail Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains - Poured blind and I’d lean Gevrey Chambertin, maybe Far Sonoma Coast. Vineyard manager Prudy Foxx mentioned Morey Saint Denis in regards to the character of what this small steep coastal vineyard puts out. The 2021 has truly opened up, with the raspberry and orange citrus fruit, sappy forest character, and old world earthiness coming on. Drink now til 2028.

2021 Syrah Edna Valley - Spicy, wild, pepper, red and blue berries, saline, volcanic reddish Sicilian like palate. Still an incredible food wine for middle-eastern fare, red sauce joints, tri-tip barbecue. The acidity is ripping. Vines are torn out forever. Drink now through 2025.

2021 Syrah Bassi Vineyard SLO Coast - Super young and intense. Cut it with beef or check back in around 2025. Can hold til 2030 or more.

2020 Pinot Noir Central Coast - I’d drink these up if you have them. Remarkably good fruit showing still. Came entirely from Eden Rift Vineyard, cofermented with 5% Chardonnay, and bottled young for early consumption, though I’ve gotten feedback that it’s aging nicely. Drink now.

2020 Syrah Stolo Vineyard SLO Coast - With the prevailing wildfire smoke of 2020, I almost didn’t buy this fruit. The testing that was available on grapes at the time showed no smoke taint, so I made two barrels of Syrah. I sold most of it to a wine restaurant group in So. Cal, and a small amount at a heavy discount to my mailing list, just in case. Today, it smells like classic Stolo, but I can’t tell if it’s harsh tannins or smoke in its tannic form that makes the finish so intense. Drink now with al pastor or cigarettes.

2019 Pinot Noir Central Coast - Youthful red color with good clarity for an early bottled, unfiltered wine. Watermelon Jolly Rancher candy, cola, orangey aromas, cranberry sauce and spicy palate. Two barrels of Eden Rift Vineyard pressings, one barrel of John Sebastiano Vineyard pressings. Drink now til 2025.

2019 Pinot Noir John Sebastiano Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills - I’m reminded why Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir is so expensive. This smells and tastes pricey. There is a pronounced earthiness now that this has been in the bottle since summer of 2020, but that bright red SB County fruit is still fully on show. Drink now with a decant, or hold til 2028 if you’re not afraid of the funk.

2019 Pinot Noir Eden Rift Vineyard Cienega Valley - Deep, dark youthful color with a jammy, more Zinfandel like aroma, until you swirl and search and find that amazing huckleberry scent. Complex, young, and hasn’t changed much. One barrel of Calera clone, one barrel of Mt. Eden clone. Drink now til 2030.

2019 Syrah Stolo Vineyard Central Coast - Exactly how I remembered it looking and tasting after bottling. The ripest Syrah from Stolo Vineyard ever because it froze the last two nights the grapes were on the vine. Has that warm mineral spring earth/tar, blackberry, wild peppermint, banana, bresaola character of the site. Medium-weight, clean and glossy palate, tannins there but mellow. Drink now til 2026 easy.

2019 Syrah Bassi Vineyard Central Coast - Sagebrush, rained on lavender, raw lamb marinated in thyme and pepper, Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage like. Has integrated so beautifully in the bottle. Drink now til 2030.

2018 Pinot Noir Eden Rift Vineyard Central Coast - Drink now.

2018 Syrah Stolo Vineyard/Boulder Ridge Vineyard Central Coast - Oh my… at a dinner party here the week before Christmas, I opened this quintessential Cambrian Syrah (two actual Syrah vineyards in tiny Cambria?!) and it stopped the table in its tracks. So dirty in the best possible way. “Under the sheets kinda way,” a friend said with a blushing grin. Yes this wine smells like sex. Maybe I should’ve stopped the project then and there. What more to achieve? The wine needed some air, and within minutes drifted up something akin to the scents I get off the famous August Clape Syrahs from the Northern Rhone. “As right as wrong can be”, Kris Kristofferson once sang. Boulder Ridge ripped the vines out after this harvest. Drink now til 2026.

2017 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills - Last tasted August 2022. Drink now.

2017 Syrah Stolo Vineyard Central Coast - Drink now or hold til 2025.

2016 “Dark Hollow” Syrah Spanish Springs Vineyard Central Coast - This bootleg wine, hand destemmed in our Templeton garage, co-fermented with Viognier in 45 gallon food grade trash cans, bucketed into a single barrel, aged in my mom’s cooler garage in Shell Beach, only to be hand bottled during the famous solar eclipse of 2017, continues to beckon me back to the garage. If wine this good and ageworthy is possible to make at home, WTF am I thinking? Drink now or hold til 2030 easy.