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And of course the usual inanities from the bloody pulpit:
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The Turley Zins are always a controversial subject; many dislike their
huge extracted alcoholic style. It's a style that I find unique and happen
to like; not for good drinking in the here & now, but for what they
MIGHT become down the road aways. In previous vintages, I've found the
Turley winemaking style seeming to dominate the vnyd origins of the wines.
And though most of them were on the alcoholic side, I never found the alcohol
particularly obtrusive or offensive and they never seemed to have that
pruney/jammy/raisend character of overripe grapes. This expanded set of
'96 Zins struck me as a bit different in style from the previous Turleys.
A bit more restrained, perhaps, both on the alcohol levels and the
levels of extraction; a bit more balanced & supple. Not lighter....
just a bit more complete wines. And the winemaking style seemed to be less
dominant and the vnyd origins showed thru a bit more. Since Ehren Jordan
is certainly not one to make wines by rote formula, perhaps he adjusted
his winemaking to reflect the (alleged) lightness of the '96 vintage. And
several of the Zins had the character that overripe grapes show in some
wines. In some of the Zins, the alcohol levels seemed a bit more obtrusive
than they had in previous vintages. But every one of these wines I thought
were pretty outstanding.
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The Petite Sirahs..... real throw-backs to that old Calif style of making
PS that Ridge & Freemark Abbey did in the early '70's. More specific;
these two '96 PS reminded me of the huge,extracted PS that Carneros Creek
and Mt.Veeder made from Marston Vineyard grapes in the 75 vintage. Huge
extracted massive very tannic PS. You thought they would live forever.
They didn't; they're both pretty much dead now. They never really did come
around before what small amount of fruit they once had vanished.
I never did catch them at a point they were a genuine pleasure to drink.
OTOH, the Ridge York Creek PS '71, '72, '73 showed that same old-style
winemaking, perhaps a bit less tannic in their youth, a bit more fruit.
And they had aabout a 10-12 yr window where they were really great drinking;
one of the few examples of Calif PS that DID mature into great old wines.
So, with the huge extraction levels these Turley PSs have (though they
DO have a bit more fruit than most Calif PSs), one wonders which kind of
PS they will be: ones that never come around, or ones that DO mature into
wonderful wines. I would guess the latter. Alas, I only have 2 more data
points on each one.
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The two new Folie a Deux reds.... a real step up in quality from any wines
from FaD ever made in the past. Scott Harvey has really turned that place
around on a dime. On one hand, I was sorta expecting him to just continue
w/ the winemaking style that he had done at Renwood/Santino. It doesn't
look like that's the case. Both of these wines show a bit more restraint,
a bit more balance, a bit more complexity, a bit more complete wines, than
what he was last doing at Renwood. Definitely, a winery to keep your eyes
on over the next few yrs.
TomHill
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