We are happy that Bernard, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Bernard writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Bernard writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Bernard's notes from March 16, 2002:

• 00 “Rincon & Rosemary’s Vineyards” Pinot Noir—Tight.
• 00 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir—Closed aromatically. Great structure, restrained fruit, but more approachable and elegant than usual for ABC from this vineyard. Needs a few years. I liked this a lot.
• 00 “Knox Alexander” PN—Gamy, young, pretty simple young vines juice.
• 00 “Rosemary’s Vineyard” Pinot Noir—Good floral bouquet. Supple. Recently bottled and a bit backward, showing good promise. Bought a couple.
• 00 Isabelle PN—Great outgoing aromatics. Floral, showing its Rosemary component to greater effect than the pure Rosemary. Elegant and terrific. One of my must-buys.
• 00 “Melville Vineyard” Pinot Noir—Pretty simple throughout, but excellent finish.

Babcock

• 01 Grand Cuvee PN—Soft, oaky, puckery finish.

• 01 Purisima Mountain Grenache—Wine Cask TNs are accurate. “Ripe blueberry and loganberry”. Yummy. A big wine.
• 01 Purisima Mountain Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre blend—Closed. A big brawny bruiser.
• 01 Purisima Mountain Syrah—Evergreen nose. Rich, thick, oaky, tannic, with good fruit. Good potential.
• 01 Purisma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon—Super, suave. 

• 01 Sauvignon Blanc “Au Naturel”—Yummy. Balanced, but could use more zing in finish. Absolutely no oak. Not up to last year’s excellence. (Incidently, Brander makes one of the few Temperanillos in CA. It was there, but I forgot to taste it. After, I heard a favorable report.)

• 01 “Rozak Ranch” Pinot Noir—Perfumed, good fruit, tannic finish.
• 01 “Melville Vineyard” Pinot Noir—Big, heady(?), leesy barrel sample. Big density. Judgment reserved.

• 00 Viognier “Sanford & Benedict”—Rich. Lively, hot finish.
• 00 Viognier “Le Bon Climat Vineyard”—Good, balanced. Less opulent than S&B.

• 00 Syrah/Mourvedre “Cuvee Jeanne Marie”—Good Rhonish nose. Astringent finish.
• 00 Syrah “Tinaquaic Vineyard”—Sweet oak, concentrated, balanced. Big, terrific, but bitter finish. Should be great with some age.
• 00 Cabernet “Mamère Vineyard”—Minty. Real good. Dark fruit. Big tannins, long finish. Will be superb, with 6-10 years. I bought.
• 01 Cabernet “Vogelzang Vineyard”—Young, yummy. Bright, airy nose. Supple, low acid. Tough to call.

• 01 ’Tablé 62' Vogelzang Vineyard Viognier—Good, pineapple, some R.S.
• 01 "Fion Cisteog'’Syrah—Did not make much impression. The individual components tasted out of barrel earlier in the week were excellent. Perhaps this just needs time to recover.

• 00 “Bien Nacido” Pinot Noir—Great typicité. Mushrooms, gaminess, plum and briary berries. Best HP BN I can recall.
• 00 “Highliner” Pinot Noir—Close. Darker aromatics than BN. Flat middle and finish.

• 00 Pinot Noir Oregon—Oaky, with hollow fruit.

• 01 Syrah “Lafond and Melville Vineyards”—Tight nose. Suave oak (25% new). Excellent fruit, good tannins. Top QPR at $20. Surprise of the day.

• 01 “High Density” Pinot Noir—Very good, jammy. Some structure. May be real good.
• 01 “Clone 115-Indegène” Pinot Noir—Nice perfume, berries. Sweet fruit, toast. Good potential.
• 01 “Melville Vineyard. Carrie’s Block” Pinot Noir—Intense, syrah-like. Judgment reserved.

• 01 "White Hawk Vineyard" Syrah—Polished, simple palate, bit much oak.
• 00 "South Slope" Syrah—Smoky, nice aromatics. Lush, rich, layered, fine tannins on finish. Good class. 


Methinks young Andrew is getting the hang of it. This is now a consistent product from year to year. Good price at $24.

• 01 “Westerly Vineyard” Sauvignon Blanc—Cat pee, hay, grassy. OK, but better QPR from NZ in this style.
• 00 “Vin du Soleil” Roussanne/Viognier blend—Good nose. A lot going on. A fun wine.
• 00  "Roll Ranch" Syrah—Spicy nose, tannic, lesser fruit than previous vintages. Time will tell.
• 00  "Melville" Syrah—Gorgeous, backward, tannic, highish acid, Real possibilities here. I’ll buy direct.
• 01 Viognier Ice Wine “Roll Ranch”—Totally yummy. A consensus favorite. I bought.

• 99 Teroldego “Homage to Elisabetta”—Obvious source of inspiration for Jim. Very aromatic, good fruit, acid. Hollow middle, should flesh out. Good value at $16. I bought.
• 00 Late Harvest Orange Muscat—Good spice. Rich, thick. More viscous than the 99 vintage and slightly cloying. Worth the $12/375 ml. Heard rumours this is the last year for this as the vines were torn out or regrafted.

• 00 Roussanne “Alban Vineyard”—Great aroma, fruity, bit flat.
• 00 Grenache “Purisma Mountain”—Very light, good fruit, food friendly. But too light for its $16 tag.
• 00 Syrah “Colson Canyon”—Closed. Fairly light, elegant, herbaceous. Pass.
• 00 Syrah “White Hawk”—Flat, light aromatics, inconsequential.
• 00 Syrah “Hillside Select”—OK, but not up to previous efforts. Still, may pick up weight and complexity with age.


Bloody Bob Pulpit: I don’t know what’s with Mr. Lindquist, but this is his weakest offering since I started going to these events in 1990. Maybe he’ll show better at HdR.

• 00 Barrel Select “Sanford & Benedict” PN—Muddled. What happened here?
• 00 Barrel Select “La Rinconada Vineyard”—French oak, berries. Supple, soft, jammy. Low acid. Not enough cut. I liked last year’s better, but maybe it’s just going through a phase. 

• 00 Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre Rosé—Good, Provençal. Good QPR at $12.
• 00 Sangiovese—Too tannic.

• 01 "Larner Vineyard" Syrah—Killer (and I do not use that word to describe wine). Could take the finish off a quartz-glazed mirror. Roll Ranch-like, black, zesty. 
• 01 Syrah “Colson Canyon”—Huge, sweet, dark blueberry.
• 01 Purisima Mountain Vineyard" Syrah—High toned, less in-your-face, more restrained than above, but still big. Rather monolithic now.

01 Albarino “Ibarra Young Vineyard—Tasty, minerals. Not as lively as last year’s model.

Vita Nova

• 00 Sangiovese “Stolpman Vineyard—Tasty. Good acid, bit of a tannic finish. Good fruit. Worth the $16 for a credible new world Sangiovese (not to be confused…)
• 99 Merlot/Petit Verdot “Acronicus”—Nice aromas. Gorgeous throughout. Unique. I’d buy a bottle or two to see where this goes.
• 01 Purisma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon—Pretty simple. Cab franc-like.

• 01 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc (Passito style)—Botrytised. Good kick up front, lot of flavor, like French toast with apricot fruit syrup on top. Yum!
• 01 Late Harvest Viognier (Passito style)—My oh my! Spectacular. Treacle. Very complex dried fruits and nuts, like the liqueur Strega. I bought.