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We had a couple of dessert wines to go with the Orange-Scented
White Chocolate Cheescake to celebrate my daughter Rebecca's and her husband
Jeremy's visit "home" (at which time she discovered "home" is no longer
"home".... part of growing up):
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Ventana Vineyards Monterey Cnty Botrytized Chenin Blanc (SaH: 29.6%;
RS: 6.0 Brix; 13.8%) 1981: Dark gold color; very strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty
slight herbal rather old Calif Riesling complex nose; tart slightly sweet
very botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight herbal/ earthy flavor; very long/lingering
strong peachy/botrytis tart complex slight herbal finish; a lovely dessert
wine that's still going strong.
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Chateau de Rayne-Vigneau (14%) Sauternes 1988: Med.dark gold color;
slight volatile/cement vat strong Sauternes/botrytis/apricotty some butterscotchy/creme
brulee/caramel some complex nose; tart/hard/lean bit earthy/dusty some
botrytis/peachy/caramel/cheap Christmas candy some butterscotchy/oak flavor;
long hard/lean/tart rather peachy/botrytis some caramel/ butterscotchy/oak
finish; still needs age; rather hard/lean on the palate but w/ the BinghamHill
Rustic Blue, it was a killer match.
And a few things for the Bloody Pulpit:
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Jaffurs Viognier: This wine was bttld about 3 weeks before. I tried it
at the winery about a week earlier and it seemed pretty shut down &
not much fragrance, even from the btl that had been opened several days.
This btl was wonderful, showing plenty of fragrance. And a classic Jaffurs
Viognier; restrained & elegant, not DollyParton but more Jamie Lee
Curtis.
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Andrew Murray Enchante: This strikes me has the best white wine I've yet
had from young Andrew. Loads of Roussanne character. I've followed his
wines from the very start. The early whites (Viognier and Roussanne cum
Viognier) tended to be a bit heavy on the oak and slightly nutty/oxidized.
His more recent whites have shown much more skilled winemaking.
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Titan Hills: First wine under this label... so the "long produced" is a
bit (lot) of literary license. Second label for Tobin James... maybe even
a third label.
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Ojai Release: Another terrific passel of wines from Adam Tolmach. The Calif
Syrah is, as usual, an absolute steal; not to be passed up. The BienNacido
is one of the stranger BNs I've had from Ojai. The Melville and the 50-50
are killer Syrahs. You just can't go wrong w/ Ojai wines.
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Calif Chenin Blanc: Good ones are few and far between. The dry ones seldom
show much terroir like they do in the Loire, are often NOT really dry,
and rather clunky/soft and boring. By far, the best Chenins I've had from
Calif have been the botrytis ones. It's a genre that should be more enthusiastically
pursued in Calif for they can make world-class versions. This Ventana,
on its release, was NOT a particularly impressive wine, didn't show a lot
of botrytis, little potential, a bit simple. So I was very pleasantly surprised
how the wine had developed w/ age; more like a Loire Molleux than a heavily
botrytis Loire.
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Santa Rita Hills Syrah: This is awfully cold-climate for growing Syrah.
Most of the versions I've had thus far have shown a very distinctive cracked
black pepper character. And they tend to be pretty hard and mean on the
palate w/ lots of acidity; much like some EdnaValley Syrahs. It'll be interesting
to watch how some of them age w/ their high acidities. Perhaps it's a Syrah
that would benefit from a bit of judicious blending with riper Syrah. An
Ojai RollRanch/Melville Syrah might be a mightly interesting wine.
TomHill
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