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And the usual banal blatherings from the bloody pulpit:
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The Terre Rouge Muscat was advertised as being an Alsatian-style Muscat.
It was very much that in the nose, but I found it much too sweet on the
palate to be called Alsatian. Nonetheless, it is a huge mouthfilling beautiful
Mescat w/o the attendant bitterness one often finds in Muscats, Calif or
otherwise. From the very rich glycerined textureon the palate, I would
guess it to be over 15% alcohol also. But another terrific wine from Bill
Easton.
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The Austrian Gruner Veltliner was brought as a mystery wine by Diane Weir
from her recent trip to Vienna. I thought is was probably Chardonnay, but
a very unusual one because of the strong black pepper character. Of the
some 10-12 Gruner Veltliners I've had, this was by far the best.
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Roussanne in Calif: I've been singing the praises of Roussanne in Calif
for the last 3 yrs, even stating that it probably will be a better varietal
than Viognier. At the Roussanne panel at HdR last month, many of the Roussanne
producers (who all also produce Viognier) were of the same opinion, that
less assertive in stating it, that Roussanne may be better than Viognier.
The latest Calif Roussannes (AndrewMurray, Alban, Qupe, Bonny Doon) are
all killer white wines. Better than the few French versions I've had by
light yrs. World class white wines. I'd even go as far as to label the
Andrew Murray '98 the greatest Roussanne ever produced. Definitely a grape
to watch.
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Alban Vnyds: I can't say enough about the quality of the wines JohnAlban
is growing and producing these days. The new Viognier is sort of atypical
of Calif Viognier in that it is more subtle & restrained than most,
yet plenty of structured. His new Estate Roussanne is probably his best
white wine ever; incredible stuff. The key here is probably the quality
of his grapes, which is really what he's proud of. And all the other folks
who use is grapes (Lindquist/Qupe; the Krankls/SQN; Morgan Torel/ColdHeaven)
also make first-rate wines from them.
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Andrew Murray Vnyds: Another producer who just keeps getting better and
better. His new Roussanne is absolutely amazing in its intensity of flavor
& aromas. Much like some of the Great Zind-Humbrechts. Yield on the
wine was down below 1/2 ton/acre, which is why its incredible concentration.
His new '98 Viognier is a little more restrained and less intense but also
a terrific white.
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Qupe Vnyds: Obviously, not much left to be said about Bob Lindquist that
hasn't already been said. These new whites are some of his best ones yet.
His Alban Roussanne was one that was very slow to finish up M-L and was
not bottled until early this yr. I liked his CentralCoast version more,
but the Alban may eventually be the better of the two.
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I've never done an all-white Rhone tasting 'cause I would have trouble
getting a group of tasters together (the crowd was a bit sparser than usual).
It turned out to be an incredible tasting; some thought it was the best
white wine tasting I've ever done, even better than my legendary SutterHome
WhiteZin vertical tasting. It is really instructive to taste a bunch of
Roussannes and Viogniers together. The diversity in winemaking styles and
terriors make for a tasting far more interesting than any Chardonnay tasting.
As excited as I get about the continued improvement in quality and character
of Calif Viognier, when you taste a bunch of Condrieus, you realize that
it's still the gold standard when it comes to Viognier. But, yoikes, the
prices!! I'd had the Guigal LaDoraine at release & was not all that
impressed by it. Another bottle last February was much more impressive.
This mystery wine, brought by Kevin & Peggy Hubbard was quintessential
Condrieu, about as perfect as it gets.
TomHill (STILL writing on his HdR report... maybe this weekend)
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