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And the usual rantings from the bloody pulpit:
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Gardner Britt & his son David were recently in LosAlamos for technical
discussions w/ some of the finest minds in science. Gardner, owner
of CraneCanyonCllrs, brought these two Mourvedres from his archives
for our tasting group to try. I've always liked the CraneCnyn Mourvedres
and felt they showed more structure & character than most of
the ones from ContraCosta. He has an old-vine Mourvedre vnyd that he sources
from there in SonomaCnty. The '94 showed surprising maturity than
I would have expected from a '94. The Enigma, which was crushed by
foot and fermented in the Britt hot-tub was an amazing/complex wine;
probably near its peak I would guess; an absolute gem. One of the few remaining
in Gardner's archives. He also brought his '90 Mourvedre (ho-made
wine) that we had with dinner during his visit. Absolute stunning
stuff, maybe the best mature Mourvedre I've ever had. And still w/ a few
yrs to go on it, I would guess. Mourvedre, when sourced from a quality
vnyd, can clearly make great wine in Calif. The CrabeCnyn Zin is
also another favorite of mine. And he makes a Chard (or is it CheninBlanc?)
/ Viognier blend called White Crane that's a great drinking white at a
very reasonable price.
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The Truchard Syrah has always been one of my favorite Syrahs. In the past,
some of them have been pretty bretty/unclean/funky. This '98 version
showed none of that whatsoever. It's a delicious Syrah, but probably
only for the near term.
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Alban CentralCoast Syrah: John's first CC Syrah was the '97, about 3 barrels
worth. It was a terrific wine, very close to Reva in quality, and
a real bargin at $18. This '98 CC Syrah seems a bit lesser than the
'97 version, and a bit overpriced at $28. It's good Syrah, no denying that,
but should be priced down in the low $20's I would say.
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DanielGehrs Syrah: I have followed Dan's wines from the very start, back
when he was winemaker at CongressSprings and made some terrific Zins
and Pinots, some of which I still have in my archives. I was very
excited when he went down south to be winemaker at ZacaMesa and feel that
he did an extraordinary job of turning that winery around; a wnry that
had sort of been languishing in the doldroms for a number of yrs.
Best of all, it sort of sucked Dan into the mainstream of the Rhone
movement in Calif. This was the first non-ZacaMesa Syrah of Dan's
I've tasted and was quite impressed. Since he doesn't have his own
vnyds, he's a bit at the mercy of what grapes are available. If these
were FrenchCamp Syrah grapes, I'm VERY impressed. I would guess they're
probably Frahlich Syrah grapes. Anyway, it's great to have Dan back
on the screen again & I'll be floowing his wines a bit more closely
again.
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AlbanGrenache: There's no doubt about it. John Alban makes world-class
Grenache, maybe the best in the world. This is exactly how Jacques
Reynaud would make Grenache if'n he could!! The rigt clones, the
right vnyd, low yields, and impeccable farming make all the difference
in the world. This was John's first crop from the SeymourVnyd (named
after John's father), which is located on the Alban property way
up on top of the hills, right below the high-power electrical transmission
lines. Very rocky,craggy, chalky limestone soil. We're going to see some
great Grenache (and Syrah) come from this vnyd in the future, I am
certain. This one,first barrel was auctioned at the first Hospices
du Rhone auction last year. Augie Hug, who makes his wine there at
John's wnry, was determined to have the barrel. He had to outbid
MarkMiller and BarryLarvin to attain it. Augie did good; it's terrific
Grenache. Augie runs the tasting room at AlbanVnyds and sells the
wine there.
TomHill
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