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 18, 2001:

I cruised around the tasting in my official WCWN “Iron Wino” designer Burger-Boy hat, advertising my complete and total ahead-of-its-time wine geek/rocket scientist-nerd fashion sense. Meandering through the crowd, I was constantly brushing away autograph hounds and fending off clumsy come-ons from a variety of knockout gorgeous babes, frustrated wives and divorcees, and a flaming waiter or two. 

More than one person asked me whether Tom Hill was present. Not surprisingly, big sighs of relief ensued once I confirmed his absence. There was some speculation as to Tom’s whereabouts (I guess he hadn’t posted in a while), but there seemed to be general consensus that he must be off on some secret mission to hone his bowling skills. [Tom needs special work on his 1-2-3-4-5-7-8’s and 1-2-3-5-6-9-10’s, and of course his chronic 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 splits.]  

I want to express a frustration among many attendees regarding the Wine Cask’s insensitive policy that allows some wines to sell out before the event (e.g. Ojai Roll Ranch, ABC Rincon & Rosemary Pinot, and, thanks to WCWN, Mat’s Syrah). This negates the motivation people have to attend the futures tasting to be able to taste before they buy. It is especially aggravating to out-of-towners who travel great distance only to find the cherries already picked. I hope next year Doug Margerum can do better.
 

Au Bon Climat

• 99 Pinot Blanc—Good fruit nearly obscured by too much oak. Pass.
• 99 “Nuits Blanches” Chardonnay—Lemony, low oak, good acid. Shows refinement. Yummy. Not quite as compelling as last year’s version.
• 99 “Rincon & Rosemary’s Vineyards” Pinot Noir—Great nose. Typical Rosemary’s perfume with Rincon structure and good supporting acidity. Yummy. Best PN of the day. Too bad it was sold out. Very small production (75 cases).
• 99 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir—Good bouquet, delicious fruit. On the light side for S&B Vineyard.
• 99 “Knox Alexander” PN—Cherry bouquet, young fruit with noticeable oak “enhancement”. A modest wine with simple flavors. Note: Knox Alexander is Jim Clendenen’s young son.
• 99 Isabelle PN—Gorgeous suave nose. Medium weight. This could be a good one if it gains some depth with age. Note: Isabelle is Jim’s daughter.

• 99 Fathom (merlot, cab franc)—Sweet fruit, smooth, long. Excellent wine showing little of the green, herbal character that often infects these varietals in these parts.
• 99 Black Label Syrah—Closed up. Not as big as the 97.

Beckmen

• 00 Purisima Mountain Grenache(Barrel sample)—Sweet fruit, spicy and delicious.
• 00 Purisima Mountain Syrah (Barrel sample)—Great color. Too young to say.

• 00 Sauvignon Blanc “Au Naturel”—Brilliant. Rich fruit, zingy bright acidity. Absolutely no oak. 

• 00 Chardonnay “Marcella’s Vineyard”—Lush pineapple. Some minerals.
• 00 Chardonnay “Mt. Carmel Vineyard”—Excellent. Lots of layers of fruit, even some banana. My favorite white of the day.
• 00 “Melville Vineyard. Carrie’s Block” Pinot Noir—Fabulous small berry nose. Hard to assess the flavors as this is a barrel sample, but there is a lot of fruit.

00 Viognier “Sanford & Benedict”—Mineral driven, talcky. Needs more fruit.
00 Viognier “Alban Vineyard”—Fabulous, spicy, zingy.

Di Bruno

99 Sangiovese “Stolpman Vineyard”—Gorgeous cassis confiture nose. A fun, yummy wine worth the $15. If they disguised the name of the grape and sold it as “Fun Red Wine”, the Italophiles might even like it for its new world charm.

Foley

00 “Dierberg Vineyard, Lot 13” PN—Bitter and stemmy. Chewy fruit. Some canned vegetable undercurrents. More expensive and less enjoyable than last year’s effort.  

Foxen

99 Syrah “Carhartt Vineyard”—Huge tannic monster. Tight, structured and complex. Needs a lot of time. One lousy barrel made and sold out.

Garretson

99 "Alban Vineyard, 'The Finné' Syrah—WOW! Spectacular. Gobs of sweet fruit, long, rich and wonderful. Bravo, Mat! Sold out, but available on Mat’s mailing list.
00 "The Berwyn 'Rozet Vineyard'’ Late Harvest Roussanne—Fabulously fun dessert wine. Slightly fortified.

Ici/La-Bas

• 99 Pinot Noir Oregon—Plummy, astringent. Needs flesh. Pass.

• 00 Syrah “Stolpman Vineyard”—Very juicy, sappy, approachable. Not especially complex. Good short term drinker.
• 00 Syrah “Thompson Vineyard”—Terrific. Huge, structured, very complex. Black fruits. Needs 6-8 years. Third best syrah of the day.

• 00 "Clautiere Vineyard" Mourvedre—Yummy, tannic. Needs some time.
• 99 "South Slope" Syrah—Smoky charred oak. Good flavor, but fruit could be sweeter. Time will tell.

• 99 "Bien Nacido" PN—Typical bouquet and flavor profile of Bien Nacido fruit, which is to say, distinctive and wonderful. In Adam’s hand, this vineyard’s expression is consistently preserved year after year. The 99 is certainly a top notch example. Recommended.
• 99  "Roll Ranch" Syrah—Consensus wine of the day by everyone I talked to. Firm, deep, very black fruit, licorice. Another good example of Roll Ranch syrah, which is to say, one of the best wines (not just syrah) in CA. But you didn’t need me to tell you…

• 99 Barbera “Riserva”—Disappointing. Buy Italian.
• 99 Late Harvest Orange Muscat—Good spice, balanced, zippy. Fun and yummy. Better than other examples I’ve had from other CA producers. Worth the $15/375 ml.

• 99 Roussanne “Alban Vineyard”—Very good, crisp, clean fruit. Long.
• 99 Los Olivos Cuvee (Syrah, Mourvedre)—Knockout sweet nose. Bit astringent tannins should round out nicely in a few years. A good one.
• 99 Syrah “Bien Nacido Vineyard Reserve”—The best BN syrah in years. Great nose, perfumy, PN-like bouquet. Wonderful, medium weight. Excellent value at $20.
• 99 Syrah “Hillside Select”—Bacony nose, round yummy. Not as fleshy and complex as the past two vintages. For the money, the BN Reserve is the better buy.

• 99 Barrel Select “Sanford & Benedict” PN—Wow nose, but thinnish flavor for this usually stellar wine.
• 99 Barrel Select “La Rinconada Vineyard”—Closed aromatically. Spicier fruit and richer than the S&B. Could be a winner. 

• 99 Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre—Juicy and chewy CdP blend. Fun wine, maybe worth the $20.
• 99 Sangiovese—Very rich. Different fron the Di Bruno (same vineyard). Sweet fruit, some bitterness. Very deep. Again, not for Italophiles, but plenty of new world pleasure.

• 00 "Thompson Vineyard" Syrah—Leafy, tarragon-like nose. Different from Jaffurs, not quite to my liking.
• 00 Purisima Mountain Vineyard" Syrah—No bouquet, but terrific. Fourth best syrah of the day. Good value at $24.


Note: I learned from Joey Tensley that the Purisima Mountain Vineyard is adjacent to Stolpman near Ballard in the Santa Ynez Valley. Although there might be a Purisima Mountain, this vineyard is in the flats of the valley.

99 “W” (cab franc, merlot)—Great nose, but kind of flat in the mouth.
 

All told, this was a fun event, there were some very good to outstanding wines. Most of the wines will be available from other sources, but a few small lot wines can only be obtained from the Wine Cask. I expect that a few of the “sold out” wines will some how miraculously appear from sale at full price in the restaurant and maybe the store. 

That evening, eleven of us got to dinner at Aja restaurant for a pretty good wine dinner. That report to follow on another day.