Jenise wrote:Jim, define "better luck". Just tastier?
Probably more info. than you asked for but . . .
Wells Gutherie, the winemaker at Copain, has a remarkable palate. I sat next to him at a wine dinner when everything was served blind and his ability to identify each wine's qualities, origins and often, even vintage, was nothing short of uncanny.
I have tasted his wines since the first year he started Copain and I have been impressed not only by his evident skills but by his use of and, in most instances, superb use of the fruit from the Anderson Valley. I personally find Anderson Valley pinot and, to a lesser extent syrah, to be some of the best in CA.
After several years of tasting his wines, I started to think of him as "the great white hope" for domestic wine making and the Anderson Valley as the undiscovered El Dorado.
I have since revised that opinion back a few notches as I have tasted other producers stuff from the area and more of Copain's wines over the years - and especially with some age on them.
I still think they do a good job but I don't think they're getting the precise and authentic wines they did in the beginning. Big points and press will turn one's head - or such is my surmise.
In any event, the early Dennison pinots were stunning wines - so unlike any others in CA I was amazed. Over the years they seem to perform just as well with age on them - some of the other bottlings, not so.
I have given up on this mailing list (along with all the others) but I still get to taste an occasional wine from the new vintages. But I still have some of the older wines in my cellar and every once and awhile, I try'em.
The Dennison's have maintained their sense of place - the Valley can produce wines with mouthwateringly "crunchy" fruit, good "tonic water" type acidity and a supple character that, when combined, make me wish more really good producers were wroking with that fruit.
Thus my comment.
Best, Jim