Over the last two nights, tried these two w/ dinner:
1. PurisimaCanyon Syrah MendocinoCnty (13.5%; www.PurisimaCanyon.com) ChanceCreek/Ukiah 2005: Very dark color; rather strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah somewhat spicy/plummy/earthy light vanilla/Am.oak slight tomatoe sauce rather attractive nose; soft slightly lean/metallic/earthy spicy/blackberry/plummy/Syrah light vanilla/oak bit hard/tannic flavor; soft bit lean/hard/tannic some vanilla/oak rather plummy/blackberry/Syrah finish; a pleasant blocky kind of Syrah but a bit hard on the palate; barely worth the $18.00.
_____________________
2. Ojai Chardonnay SBC (14.0%) 2008: Pale gold color; very attractive melony/Chard/grapefruity rather stoney/minerally quite AltoAdige-like light spicy/nutmeg/floral nose; tart/lean light melony/grapefruity/Chatd some minerally/stoney/tangey light spicy/floral flavor; long tart/lean/austere spicy/floral/melony/grapefruity some stoney/minerally finish; probably much better w/ 2-5 yrs of age; much like an AltoAdige Chard or PinotBlanc; well-priced at $21.00
____________________________________________________________
And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. PurisimaCanyon: This is apparently a K&LWines house brand. The wine is made by ChanceCreekWnry, which is located over in Davenport, just north of SantaCruz. The wine was a bit chunky/blocky but a bit pricey for what it was. Not nearly the steal as the CLWines Syrah. From the K&L Site:
The majority of this wine's fruit comes from the meticulously farmed hillside vines at Lovin-Patronne Vineyard south of Ukiah, which gives this wine its plush berry and earth characteristics. The syrah from Lovin-Patronne is balanced by petite sirah from Joe Golden's Hart Arrow Ranch, the Cadillac of vineyard sites. And there's also the addition of 2% viognier from the Mazeratti of vineyards, Lou Bock's Chance Creek Vineyard.
_______________________
2. OjaiChard: This generic SBC Chard is a new/non-vnyd designate Chard for Adam. It hasn't the toasty/oak that characterizes his vnyd-designate Chards. Obviously this is part of Adam's new effort to make leaner/lither more food-friendly kind of wines with higher acidity and less oak. It is a wine that will not go over big in Monktown.
I liked the wine quite a lot annd it went great w/ the brined chicken/pesto fettucini. So good I drank nearly half the friggin' btl; always a good sign that the wine inspires another glass. Despite obviously being harvested earlier than many Chards, it was still loaded w/ plenty of flavor and not at all on the eviscerated side like many such wines can be. The stoney/mineral character reminded me a lot of a Chard from the AltoAdige. If Adam continues to make wines like this; he, too, is going to be taken out to MrParker's woodshed over it...where he'll meet up w/ BobLindquist and SteveEdmunds. Actually..there's some pretty neat folks out in MrParker's woodshed...good company I must say.
Tom