A Taste of Monterey, is the oldest and longest wine club that we belong to.  I think that my favorite part of the club is that it is not beholden to any one winery.  Though I am also a fan, that their Reserve Wine Selection is of wines that I would not find here in Detroit, because some of the production is very minor.  When we originally signed up, we had a choice, and they still offer that choice, of having two popular priced wines each month or the three wines that we get four times a year.  The quantity is the same, but the quality is different, and I will always go for the more unique when I have the chance. 

Kori Wines Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands, Highlands Vineyards 2019 was the second bottle I took out of the carton.  Kori Wines is the partnership between Santa Lucia Highlands grape/citrus grower Kirk Williams and his step-daughter Kori Violin.  Kirk planted the first vines in 1998 and in 2007 the initial Kori Wines Pinot Noir was released; and Sabrine Rodems has been the winemaker since 2010.  In 2018, they opened a tasting room in Carmel-by-the-Sea.  The Highlands vineyards occupy thirty-six terraced acres in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation.  The wine was made using French Oak and there was a production of one-hundred-fifty cases made.  According to the accompanying publicity the wine offers notes of ripe fruits and spices.  On the palate the wine promises to offer intense and focused flavors of apple tart, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, with a finish offering toasty oak and mineral terroir.

The third wine in the carton was Mesa Del Sol Zinfandel Arroyo Seco Monterey 2016.  Mesa Del Sol has been a favorite destination for travelers and some of the buildings on the estate go back to the 1800’s.  Costa Del Sol is in the Arroyo Seco Santa Lucia Highlands and the hot dry air was considered a haven for tuberculosis patients and even Teddy Roosevelt had stayed there.  The estate grown Zinfandel is from a vineyard planted on limestone and granite terroir.  This wine is made for the resort by Chualar Canyon Winery in Salinas, California, at least from the last production notes that I could find and about two-hundred-cases are produced.  According to the information furnished the wine offers notes of blueberry, leather and pipe tobacco, offering flavors of blackberry-cherry brandy in a spicy Zinfandel with a decent finish of terroir.