Marilyn Remark
Salinas
Joel Burnstein, owner and winemaker of Marilyn Remark Wines took me through his wines.

 
2005 Roussanne, Lockwood Valley Vineyard, Monterey County, Marilyn Remark Wines, 14.5%
Lemon zest and air freshener on the nose.  Lightly flavoured in the mouth, with a neat, fragrant citrussy palate.  Very Good Indeed.  89/100

2005 Marsanne, Loma Pacific Vineyard, Monterey County, Marilyn Remark Wines, 15%
Peachy and very minerally on the nose.  Light and very fresh on the attack, but it then fills out nicely.  There’s good balance with a nice acidity especially noticeable on the finish.  Excellent length.  Very Good Indeed/Excellent.  93/100

2006 Viognier, tank sample, Marilyn Remark Wines
This had a really powerful golden delicious nose – ripe golden delicious apples.  Quite full on the palate with lots of malic flavours and a real peachiness.  Very round and a touch fat.

Joel stressed that this was an unfinished wine and that in his view it needed more acidity.  To make his point he reached for a bag of citric acid and added a fair dollop.  The wine, with the added citric acid, still had apples on the nose, though the apple fruit was now more muted.  It was just a little crisper on the palate with more peach flavours coming through.  A bit more work was needed to get the right balance, but I thought this promised well.

2005 Rosé de Saignée, Monterey County, Marilyn Remark Wines, 15%
This was made from 55% grenache and 45% syrah, evidently with a fair degree of skin contact, given the deepish garnet pink colour.  There’s red fruit and blackberries on the nose, which is quite soft and integrated.  Good, clean palate, with quite deep flavours and a good fruit character.  Quite persistent in the mouth with great length.  Very Good Indeed.  90/100

2004 Grenache, Wild Horse Vineyard, Monterey County, Marilyn Remark Wines, 15.8%
There are perfumed black fruits on the nose, which is very attractive – quite gorgeous even – and I could sniff it forever.  The palate is really lovely: this is a very impressive wine with lots of elegant black cherry fruit.  It has quite a refined feel to it.  Finishes with exceptional length.  Excellent.  94/100

2004 Syrah, Arroyo Loma Vineyard, Monterey County, Marilyn Remark Wines, 14.5%
The nose has sweet, meaty, slightly gamey black fruit with some nutmeggy spice.  It’s not quite as impressive on the palate as on the nose, but it is very nicely rounded with good full fruit.  There’s a good meaty feel on the palate and it has good balance.  Having not been utterly impressed initially, I find it’s now growing on me, and there’s plenty of interest here, as it unfolds in the glass, and I think it works very well.  It probably just needs a couple of years.  Very Good Indeed+.  92/100

2004 Petite Sirah, Road’s End Vineyard, Monterey County, Marilyn Remark Wines, 15.5%
The nose has very sweet berry fruit tending towards jamminess, possibly with some of the sweetness coming from vanilla oak overtones.  Good palate, with sweetish black fruit, but fair balance.  Nicely made, but ultimately unexciting.  Very Good.  86/100

 


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Last updated: 1 January 2008