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And the usual stuff from the Bloody Pulpit:
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PesentiZin: This is the first Estate wine for Turley from the Pesenti vnyd,
one of the oldest & most beautiful/impeccably-maintained vnyds in Paso.
This is easily the best Zin (to my knowledge, and I've followed them from
the early '70's) ever produced from those grapes. I was expecting a bit
more extracted/intense character to the wine but I was quite taken by the
perfumey/spicy aromatics of it.
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The 2000 Vintage: Has been characterized my many as a "lesser" or a "weak"
vintage, for Zinfandel, comparable to the '98's. I guess I would have to
agree w/ that in a sense, but maybe not with the wording. These '00 Turleys,
and the '00 Ridges are, to my judgement, an accurate reflection of the
problematic '00s. I find, in those Zins across the board, lots of bright/fragrant/pretty
Zin fruit; but not the depth and extraction and the structure for aging
that you find in the "better" vintages. The wines are, by and large, made
for the short-term and will offer much pleasurable drinking over the next
yr or two. There are things you could have done to make the '00 Zins bigger
and more ageable, such as saignee. But I think that both PaulDraper and
EhrenJordan have crafted these wines to be quite reflective of the vintage...
they are balanced and drinkable and ready to go and the appropriate touch
of oak. We like our wines to be reflective of their orgins (expressive
of terroir). There's no reason that we shouldn't desire the same wines
to be reflective of the vintage as well?? To demand of every vintage in
Calif to provide big/extracted/ageworthy Zins is, I think, unreasonable
(yeah... every year's a "vintage" year in Calif, the say, or used to say).
Competent winemakers will adjust their winemaking technique to reflect
the vagaries of each vintage.... that's why they get paid the big buck$.
Winemakers who make their wines by "formula" will suffer in a year like
2000. Probably the worst Zin vintage of my recollect (which, I admit, was
not what it once was) was the rain-besotted 1972's. At that time, there
wern't a lot of wine writers around to raise this big hew&cry about
how dreadful the '72's Zins were. The InterNet existed only as a deck of
cards that you'd punch out and mail to someone. So I remember drinking
with a great deal of pleasure and gusto a lot of Ridges, a Clos du Val,
a bunch of Barney Fetzer's, some David Bruces, afore I found out it was
a "poor" vintage and I wasn't supposed to buy those wines. My, how the
times have changed!!
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TurleyZins: The most common complaint leveled against the Turleys are their
high alcohol levels. I guess I'm not that sensitive to the alcohol and
seldom find in the the hot/fumey character that I do in other Zins of this
alcohol level. More importantly, Zins at this level often, to me, show
a raisened/pruney/overripe character. I seldom find that in the Turleys
when they're young and only see hints of it when they have some age. Simply
put, the Turley Zins represent a style of Zin that does not appeal to everyone,
but it's one I happen to enjoy. But not as a steady diet, I would admit.
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EricRoss Zins: This is a Zin producer who never seems to get much recognition.
They are located on the old SeaRidge property NorthEast of Occidental,
about a hlf mile from the old Morelli vnyd. They have a small block of
old-vine remaining on the property, plus some new plantings. Like Ridge
used to have w/ their Occidental Zins, getting the grapes ripe can be a
problem in many yrs. But there's a certain quality to cold-climate Zin
that is special.
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Dutton-Goldfield/Morelli: This is the old vnyd that Ridge used to take
grapes from for their Occidental Zin, but Paul gave up on it in the mid-'70's
because they were a struggle to ripen. I gather the vnyd is now owned by
Steve Dutton (?). The wine was much different than I expected. It didn't
have the high acidity level I expected it to show. In addition, it had
an incredible perfume to it that Pinot-makers seem to be able to coax from
Zin and Syrah. John Olney will be here in Taos in a few weeks & I hope
to serve this alongside an old Occidental from the Ridge archives. Probably
no similarity whatsoever.
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Tres Sabores (3 savory flavors): This 3-pak is a debut offering from Julie
Johnson-Williams of the Williams Ranch in the western Rutherford foothills.
The idea is to take (essentially) the same grapes, give them to three highly-skilled
winemakers, and see what they come up with. The wines wre dramatically
different in style, with my preference lying with the Ken Bernards version
because of its beautiful perfuminess. The wines are, all three, some of
the best NapaVlly Zins I've had. The experiment was a grand success and
I hope she'll continue with it in the future, including other winemakers
as well. Its worth trying the 3-pak if you can find it.
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Zinfandels: It's been some 3 months since I've done a Zin tasting, and
quite a while since I've done one this good. Despite my passion for Syrah
and Rhinish-wines; it's always nice to return to one's roots. Zinfandel
was what hooked me on Calif wines and it's always good to go back and see
an old friend and find she's just as wonderful as you remember her!!
TomHill
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