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And some profundities from the BloodyPulpit:
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Arrowood Viognier: This was a throw-away wine I brought that I fully expected
to be dead & gone. It was not. The Arrowood is one of the more DollyParton
style of Viogniers that is typically fat & low in acid w/ lots of up-front/jiggly
fruit. Not what you'd expect to hold up w/ age. Instead, it was a delicate/subtle
white that still retained a bit of low-key Viognier fruit but, surprisingly,
no signs of oxidation or tiredness whatsoever. Of course, it had lost much
of its fruit and, therefore, was not "good Viognier", but I liked it quite
a lot.
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Kristial: This is a single lieux-dit CdP. It's a lovely wine, loaded w/
Grenache fruit, balanced and quite atypical of CdP. Overrated by Arpy at
94-96 and overpriced at $60. But a delicious wine w/ a bit of CdP character.
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OjaiSyrah: This was one of my wines. As I recall, the grapes are primarily
from Bien Nacido Vineyard. This wine was a great trip down memory lane
as it was the first Syrah that Adam made that I thought was approaching
world-class stature. Back then, he was making his Syrahs quite different
from his present style that he really hit the big- time with about the
'93 or '94 vintage. I've followed Adam's Syrahs from the very start. The
early ones were very much in a Pinot/Burgundian style w/ lots of toasty/Fr.oak.
And from Paso Robles/Estrella fruit. As the SantaBarbara fruit started
to come on-line; he started getting a lot more intensity of Syrah fruit
into his wines. So the remnants of his Pinot-style Syrahs still showed
on this wine. I think his later/post-'93 Syrahs will stand the test of
time better than this '90. Nonetheless, the wine was still a pleasure to
drink and still gave glimpses of its former glory.
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GreenockCreeks: These were Paul & Claudia's contribution. I'd not had
these wines before and was pretty favorably impressed. Though loaded w/
Oz?Shiraz fruit; they were not boring like many nor what I'd call over-the-top.
Usually we close down the restaurant, but there were a group a five ladies
in the next room who sounded like they were having even more fun than we
were. So we offer them the remains of the Warre's and leave it to them
to close down the restaurant. Great evening of food, wine, and friends.
After my competition up in PalmSprings, I high-tailed it down to SanDiego
for dinner at Sam Popkin's home. Sam & I first met in CyberSpace a
number of yrs ago on alt.food.wine. But not in RealSpace until some number
of yrs afterward. Sam is quite a fine cook and uses my presence in the
SanDiego area to make a serious dent in his wine cellar. This time was
no exception, and "dent" we did. It was cause for celebration as his son,
David, had just been accepted at DukeUniv for next year. So celebrate we
did:
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Edmunds St. John Viognier 1998: Med.gold color; intense smokey/pungent/complex
some pear/ fragrant/Viognier nose; huge/rich pungent/smokey/toasty intense
pear/Viognier/perfumed some complex flavor; very long/lingering pungent/smokey
rather intense pear/Viognier finish; pretty big DollyParton Viognier that's
showing no signs of age at all.
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Chateau Beaucastel 1978: Med.light color; bit pungent/complex/roasted
beautiful/complex slight cedary/pencilly very fragrant/complex nose; smooth/elegant/delicate
complex/cedary/ pencilly slight pungent/roasted flavor; very long complex/smooth/elegant/delicate
light pungent/roasted/earthy slight funky/gamey slight dried-out/astringent
finish w/ little tannins; a fully mature/complex CdP that needs to be drunk
up.
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Chateau Rayas 1986: Med.dark color; beautiful/fragrant very spicy/cinammon/cloves
some toasty/oak slight Grenache/strawberry fairly complex nose; smooth/balanced/elegant
light Grenache/strawberry/tomatoey very spicy/pencilly/cinammon rather
toasty/oak complex flavor; fairly long very spicy/cinammon/cloves pencilly/toasty
smooth finish w/ light tannins; not a lot of fruit left but an incredible
spicy character; probably best to drink up now.
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Clarendon Hills Kangarilla Old Vines Grenache 1996: Dark color;
rather intensy minty/menthol bit hot/alcoholic some strawberry/blackberry/Grenache
bit simple/monochromatic nose; soft/ fat bit hot/volatile/alcoholic strong
Am.oak/vanilla/minty/menthol slight strawberry/ Grenache/fruity/grapey
slight earthy flavor; med.long bit strawberry/Grenache very minty/ menthol/oak
somewhat hot/burney finish w/ fair tannins; seems to have lost a lot of
its intense Grenache fruit and showing rather hot/volatile; not coming
together well; probably best to drink up.
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Alban Edna Valley Grenache 1996: Very
dark color; intense blackberry/blueberry/strawberry/ Grenache rather toasty/pungent/smokey/charred
slight reduced/stinky nose; big/rich somewhat hard/tannic intense Grenache/blackberry/blueberry/boysenberry
fairly toasty/Fr.oak/pungent flavor; very long hard/tannic intense charred/toasty/Fr.oak
very strong blueberry/blackberry/ boysenberry fairly tart finish w/ ample
tannins; some fruit loss and a bit hard/closed but the acid makes me think
it will mature just fine; Jaques Reynaud would be proud of John.
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Joseph Phelps Delice du Semillon Napa Valley 1986: Deep gold bit
browning color; intense botrytis/ peachy/Semillon orangey fairly complex
no-oak nose; soft/rich/lush some peachy/botrytis/ figgyslight oxidized
slight dried-out some complex/old-Sauternes flavor; med.long fairly peachy/botrytis
bit oxidized some complex finish; Not matured as well as I expected for
an old-Sauternes; best to drink up. Sam's partial to lamb w/ his reds and
this Leg of Lamb was done superbly. I don't think the Rayas & the Beaucastel
were quite up to matching the lamb's flavor, but the other two certainly
did. But those two were absolutely wonderful/fully-mature wines on their
own. Up early next morning and back to the real world.
TomHill
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