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And a few dessert wines to celebrate an Anniversary and
a BD:
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Cypres de Climens Barsac (14%) 1997: Med.gold color; bit cheap Sauternes/earthy/cement
vat rather peachy/botrytis little oak nose; tart somewhat sweet some earthy/cement
vat/cheap Sauternes fairly peachy/botrytis flavor; long peachy/botrytis
earthy finish; some nice things therein, but a bit too much cheap-Sauternes
character for me. Not worth the $25.00/500ml.
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Ch. Suduiraut (14%) 1997: med.gold color; strong botrytis/apricotty/peachy
Semillon/figgy bit volatile/ hot light toasty/oak nose; quite sweet bit
hot/volatile some apricotty/peachy/botrytis/figgy flavor; long botrytis/peachy/figgy
bit hot finish; not that rich & unctuious but pretty good for a poor
year. Larry's contribution.
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Bodegas Toro Albada Pedro Ximenez Gran Reserva (17%) 1975: Very
dark brown color; intense raiseny/loads of ripe fruit caramel more sherry/complex
nose; tart bit hard/lean/acid very pruney/raiseny/PX very sweet bit caramel
flavor; more sherry-like and leaner than the '72. Great buy at $18.00/hlf
Stuff delivered from the bloody pulpit:
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Grignolino: A gift from Andy Kahn during our visit w/ WesHagen at the winery.
Although not labelled as a rose, it is very light in color, as is typical
of Grignolino. The variety apparently has some weird anthocynanins associated
with it. I've had some Grignolino roses of Joe Heitz that were pretty brutally
tannic in their youth, but which aged into wonderfully-perfumed old wines,
though still tannic. Andy has done a wonderful job on tannin mangement
for this wine and it doesn't have that harsh/raspy tannins of many Grignolinos.
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Freisa: Freisa is a variety I first fell in love with almost 20 yrs ago,
when Darrell Corti had just brought in some from Scarpa. It was a variety
indigenous (apparently) that had nearly died out and Scarpa was one who
was bringing it back from obscurity. I was quite struck by the wonderful
aromatics the wine showed and, like Syrah, thought it should find a home
in Calif. Montevina made the first, I believe, Freisa in Calif. The versions
I've tried were a pretty/little wine but didn't show much of the perfume
I knew the variety was capable of giving. Bonny Doon also produces Freisa
that it grows in its Monterey vnyds. Theirs is produced as a frizzante
wine and is a beautiful frivolous- drinking little wine, but not quite
the aromatics of this Avelina. Although pretty hard&tannic, this Avelina
displayed all the fragrance & perfume that first attracted me
to the variety. A wonderful example of what Freisa can deliver, in Piedmonte
or in Calif. A wine worth tracking down.
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Calif Nebbiolo: I've been following Nebbiolo in Calif from the very start;
the first MartinBros made by Nick Martin and the Montevina ones made by
Cary Gott. As most others, I've been rather underwhelmed by most of them.
They seldom deliver the wonderful aromatics the grape is capable of, and
they're usually pretty hard & ungiving on the palate. This version,
made by Ben Silver, former ZacaMesa wine- maker, is one of the better examples
I've encountered. I was also impressed by Steve Clifton's Palmina version
as well. Two pretty good small steps along the way to GREAT Nebbiolo in
Calif, which will eventually make the Gaja's look pretty small-potatoes.
Part of the problem is expectations. Many of us are expecting Calif Nebbiolo
to deliver what the grape gives in the Piedmonte with Barolo/Barbaresco.
I actually find the Gattinaras and the Valtelline Nebbiolos a model much
more along the lines of what Calif can probably deliver. It's a grape they
shouldn't give up on Calif by a long shot; they'll get it right eventually.
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CarnerosCreek Zin: I've followed the CarnerosCreek Amador Zins from the
very start; the '74 Esola and Eschen ones. They were some of the early
GREAT Amador Zins (the SuttereHome and the Harbors were clearly the
first ones). It was one of the first wines that drew me to CarnerosCreek
wines and Frank Mahoney; the start of a 30 yr long love affair for those/his
wines. He doesn't seem to get the recognition for his pioneering efforts
w/ Pinot I think he deserves. Those first Amador Zins were always classic/big/extracted
and quite alcoholic Zins; not what you'd expect from a Pinot/RedBurg admirer.
Sometimes they had residual sugar from stuck fermentations. I, and my group,
loved those Amador Zins and went through a disproportinate share of them
I must admit. I had my last of them about 7-8 yrs ago and they were still
in great shape. And that was part of the problem of these wines for Frank;
they were NOT the kind of wine he wanted to be known for. Finally, after
the very ripe '78 vintage produced some sweet/late-harvesty Zins; Frank
threw up his hands in despair and eschewed the continued production
of them. For which he has received holy-hell from me nearly everytime our
paths have crossed. He has continued to take, and make, the Cabernet from
the Esola vnyd; but the Zin went elsewhere (now to Scott Harvey at Folie
a Deaux). So, a few months ago when Bruce&Sue Noel from my group
were visiting Frank at Carneros Creek; Frank went off a put up a btl for
them to bring back for me/us to try. It is not yet released, to my understanding.
Frank even enscribed the btl for me, saying Amador Zin "just like old times"!!
So, we tried it. My first reaction was, no, this isn't like the Carneros
Creek Amador Zins of old. It didn't seem as dark and tannic and extracted
and certainly not off-dry and not as late-harvesty as they often were back
in the '70's. Initially, I was a bit disappointed in it; I was wanting
a "bigger" Amador Zin. But as I retatsted it and thought about it; I rapidly
reversed course. This is EXACTLY the kind of Amador Zin that a fine Pinot
producer would make. Not big and overripe and extracted like they once
were. It had an elegance to it you rarely find in Amador Zin. It had a
wonderful scented perfume to it that one doesn't often associate with Amador
Zin. Yet it clearly speaks of the Amador terroir... as rendered by a RedBurg
lover. I would guess that Frank's pretty proud of this wine. And rightfully
so. I was, in the end, mightly impressed by it. So, the good news
is that Frank Mahoney is, once again, making Amador Zin. And the good news,
is that it's even better than ever!!
TomHill
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