 |
And some Some Dessert Wines for Celebrating :
-
Austin Cellars Santa Barbara County JohannisbergRiesling Botrytis (SaH:
38.2Brix; RS: 17.6Brix; Alc: 10.5%; Hrvstd: 11/11/83) 1983: Quite
brown rather cloudy color; very botrytis/ peachy/apricotty some volatile/pickle
juice bit oxidized rather weird but complex nose; tart fairly sweet botrytis/apricotty
bit hot/volatile/pickle juice slight oxidized flavor; med.long rather sweet
botrytis finish; rather strange botrytis wine that has some pleasant things
in it but a bit oxdized & volatile.
-
Preston Muscat Brule MuscatCanelli DryCreek Valley Sonoma County (SaH:
35.2%; Alc: 16.1%; RS: 12.5%) 1987: Brown color; quite volatile intense
Muscat very fragrant/complex peachy/ botrytis beautiful nose; quite sweet
rather EA/airplane glue/volatile/hot intense muscatty/ peachy/botrytis
very perfumed flavor; very long very sweet rather hot/volatile intense
peachy/ botrytis/muscatty finish; rather on the volatile/fumey side but
lots of intense/complex character; aged into a very interesting wine.
-
Bonny Doon Vineyard Vin de Glaciere Grenache
(RS: 19.4%; Alc: 10.34%) 1991: Med.brown color; very strong grapey
some peachy/overripe/rotted fruit no Grenache bit cranberry some complex/
interesting nose; quite sweet rotted fruit/apricotty/candied very ripe
some complex flavor; long very sweet grapey/candied/rotted fruit finish;
lots of interesting grapey character w/ no Grenache character to speak
of; some complexity; interesting dessert wine.
-
Bonny Doon Vineyard Vin de Glaciere Grenache
(RS: 18.8%; Alc: 12%) 1987: Dark brown/gold color; intense
very grapey/old Riesling-like/rotted fruit some complex nose; very sweet
rotted fruit/ complex/very grapey rather soft no Grenache flavor; long
grapey/rotted fruit some old/botrytis Riesling finish; showing some complexity
and rather interesting.
And all the usual detritus from the Bloody Pulpit:
-
GrandeRiver Viognier: I tried (of course) their first few vintages of Viognier
(i.e. I followed them from the very start) and found them to be pretty
oaky. This one was much toned down on the oak but seemed very overripe
as if the grapes had been allowed to hang well after leaf drop; giving
it that slightly rotted-apple character you get in some late harvest dessert
wines. It reminded me a lot more of Roussanne than Viognier. You don't
suppose in Colorado they confused Viognier w/ Roussanne??
-
Siduri Pinots: This was the first exposure of my group to a Siduri Pinot.
As I expected, they were mightly impressed and there was a big Fleurie
to order some of the 2001 futures. We've been buying Adam&Diania's
Novy Syrah for several yrs, but now we're adding the Pinots to the list
as well. Mightly impressive Pinot... but then most folks here already knew
that.
-
FlyingGoat Cellars: I've followed Flying Goat Cellars from the very
start; this is the very start w/ the 2000 vintage. Winemaker Norm Yost
only makes Pinot there in the SantaYnez Valley. I was pretty impressed
w/ his first effort here. www.FlyingGoatCellars.com
-
LoringPinots: These two wines were given us to try by Brian during our
visit at Clos Pepe in May. This is Brian's second vintage, so I've followed
his wines pretty much from the very start. Brian is a computer type down
in the LA area and makes his wine up in the Edna Valley at CottonwoodCanyon
Winery. He'll soon move into a space shared by WesHagen and Kahn Winery
there on the far northern outskirts of Buelton. No vnyds of his own, but
sourcing his grapes from some of the most primo vnyds in Calif. He has
a lot of good info on his WebSite: www.LoringWineCompany.com . Most interesting,
he also provides links there to other Sites who's Pinots he particularly
likes. Obviously, a winery to keep your eyes on.
-
ClosPepe: This was my first objective tasting of Wes' Pinot other than
the tasting on my visit there in May. I liked his Pinot quite a lot then;
liked it even more tonight on my home turf. I was really struck by it's
spiciness and fragrance. Not a huge blockbuster Pinot but very well-made
(and -grown, obviously) and quite impressive. Definitely need to keep your
eye on ClosPepe, both as a winery and as a grower.
-
SantaRitaHills: This appellation is a new one a bit over a yr old now.
Wes was the primary force behind getting this AVA approved by the ATF.
Alas, they're having trouble with the SantaRita Winery folks down
in Chile over the name. Based on the wines coming from this AVA, it would
do a lot for the reputation of the SantaRita wnry, I would say. Not sure
how's this will eventually be resolved. But definitely an area to keep
your eyes on for Pinot and Syrah in the future; we'll see some great ones
from here.
-
Austin Cellars: This was the name for his own wines he made after he left
as winemaker at Firestone. Made on his property up in AlisosCanyonRd, far
back in the hills there. He's now head winemaker at the BigHouse in Soledad.
He was caught running a big meth lab at his wnry. The feds flew in to bust
him in a bunch of helicopters and he tried to outrun them in a beat- up
pickup truck. Not a smart thing. Guess he left a lot of pretty serious
chemical pollution in the pond there from his lab activities. It probably
explains why the wines he made under his own label could be pretty awful
at times. I still have a botrytis SauvBlanc that was the epitome of pickle
juice last I tried it.
-
BonnyDoon FreezerWines: I've followed the eccentric Randal Grahm's efforts
from the very start. These were nearly the first of his freezer IceWeins.
He made some 3-4 different varietals. If my memory is correct, it pretty
much started this genre in Calif, or anywhere I guess. He used to vintage
date them, but I don't see that he does that anymore. These IceWeins
always seem to strike me as being very (non-varietal) grapey and quite
simple when young. They also seem to develop bottle bouquet very slowly.
But I see no reason that they won't age forever because of the high residual
sugar. Whether they'll ever develop the complexity that botrytis wines
do remains to be seen.
TomHill
Return to the Tom Hill Archive Index |
