WTN: Three From Saturday...(short/boring)

Susan had her Mom over for dinner Sat night and we tried:
1. Jaffurs Viognier SantaBarbaraCnty (13.9%) 1997: Med.dark gold color w/ slight browning; piney some peachy/pineapply/Viog/ripe slight valve oil some oxidized/nutty/toasted hazelnuts slight toasty/oak interesting nose; soft light peachy/pineapply/ripe/Viog some toasted hazelnutts/nutty/old Rhone/oxidized somewhat bitter flavor; med.long light peach/pineapple/Viog some toasted hazelnuts/oxidized old Rhone some bitter finish; developed lots of old Rhone white and rather oxidized character but still a pleasure to drink; much better on the palate when it was at (cool) room temperature.
___________________________
2. Donkey&Goat Syrah Mendocino (14.1%; www.DonkeyAndGoat.com) 2007: Very dark color; somewhat earthy/dusty/Kansas root cellar nose that clears to slight funky/Rhonish bit ozone/WWII beacon/graphite very slight bretty strong blackberry/Syrah bit peppery interesting nose; tart some earthy/dusty rather blackberry/Syrah slight tannic/hard slight funky/Rhonish light oak flavor; med.long bit tannic/hard/lean slight funky/Rhonish strong blackberry/Syrah bit peppery finish; needs a yr or two; a lesser D&G Syrah but interesting and well-priced at $20.
_____________________
3. CharlesShaw RTW Noveau (12.5%) 2009: Med.light color; attractive grapey/juicy slight bannana oil slight spicy classic Noveau nose; soft very juicy/grapey/soda pop Nehi cherry soda/strawberry soda flavor; med. very juicy/grapey Nehi strawberry soda pop finish; a rather classic example of a Noveau and very attractively priced at $2.99.
________________________________________________
Gotta have a BloodyPulpit:
1. D&G: This is Tracey&Jared Brandt's wnry, located in lower Berkeley, that focuses on Rhone varietals...and does it very well. Thiis simple Appelation series is a new wine in their portfolio. Would guess that most of the grapes came from McDowellVllyVnyds. It's not as interesting as their vnyd-designate Syrahs, but it's a solid/4Square Syrah at an attractive price.
_______________________
2. CharlesShaw Noveau: Susan bought this (because of the price) to make a wine sauce to go w/ the steak. I was prepared to dismiss it and not even bother to try it. Shows how a closed mind can oft lead you down a blind alley. I was quite taken aback when I tried it. It displayed all the things you want in a Noveau Beaujolais. It can stand mano a mano w/ the Dubeouf at 3-4 times the price. Just because it says Charles Shaw on the label and is cheap...don't dismiss it out of hand. If'n you like/tolerate Beaujolais Noveau. Not sure what grapes went into it, but undoubetedly no GamayNoir. Probably SanJoaquinVlly Zin, Cab, and such.
Interesting that what goes around/comes around. The original CharlesShaw label was founded up near Calistoga with the intent of making great BeaujolaisNoveau in Calif, back in the '70's. It was actually pretty decent Beaujolais at the time. The wnry went under annd FredFranzia bought the property and label and hibernated it until he resurrected it for the TraderJoe's outfit. Wonder what ever became of the original Charles Shaw wnry? Anybody have a clue? You can make up something if you'd like...I'll believe it.
Tom

Tom; I don't have the answers to your questions, but i think it's useful to think about what Charles Shaw did, when he did it, and what went wrong. His intent, from my understanding, was to make "Cru" Beaujolais-like wines. Serious wines from Gamay, NOT Nouveau. Problem #1 was that he planted real Gamay in St. Helena, where Gamay does not belong (because it's too damn hot. What Gamay does best is fresh, pretty, light, and since it ripens extremely early, it needs to be in a cool enough growing situation so that those things are possible. Which, in St. Helena, they are not.
And when he planted his vines (latter '70s) the trends in the market were all headed in the direction of a 2-flavor platform: Cabernet and Chardonnay. Fifteen years earlier, California "premium" wineries tried to be all things to all people, so each winery made a really diverse range of wines. But when his first Gamay came to market, NOBODY WANTED GAMAY.
Being the only current producer of wine from real Gamay in California at the moment, I'm not prepared to say that the market for Gamay has grown much. There has to be a market for it to begin with, in order for that market to grow. But I think the timing is better. The way things have gone for the last 20 years, it's getting tiresome for a lot of folks not to have a few more choices. for which I say: Yea, verily!

The way things have gone for the last 20 years, it's getting tiresome for a lot of folks not to have a few more choices. for which I say: Yea, verily!

And the congregations responds: AMEN, Brother

Thanks, Steve, for clarifying things. I wasn't aware that he'd planted actual Gamay. I do remember there being a lot of hype when he released his first Noveau,
but didn't recall CruBo was his primary focus. I'll research my books tonight.
Tom