We tried earlier (12/2/09) Some New Wines:
1. OjaiVnyd Calif Viognier (14.0%; 66% RollRanch, 33% Presidio) 2007: Clear light gold color; lovely/fragrant
peach/pear/Viog very floral slight minerally/earthy light pencilly/oak nose; tart/clean/minerally/chalky
restrained/elegant/pear/Viog slight steely flavor; long bit minerally/steely/metallic/tangy spicy/pear/
Viog/floral finish; needs yr or two; a beautiful/fragrant nose and elegant/restrained on the palate;
great price at $21.00
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2. Donkey&Goat Coupe d'Or 50% Roussanne/Marsanne ElDorado (U; 14.1%; 7% whole cluster fermtd;
100% FenaughtyVnyd; www.DonkeyAndGoat.com) 2008: Med.gold slightly cloudy color; strong ripe/floral/peachy/
honeysuckle very perfumed/aromatic/creamy slight smokey/complex nose; soft very lush/ripe pineapply/floral/
honeysuckle/Roussanne slight earthy/smokey very spicy flavor; very long very lush/ripe/mouthfilling
spicy/floral/pineapple/honeysuckle/Roussanne soft slight smokey finish; lots of lush/ripe/spicy/floral
fruit. $27.00
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3. Donkey&Goat Syrah Mendocino (14.1%; U) 2007: Med.dark color; slight funky/bretty/earthy bit peppery some
tomatoey/blackberry/Syrah slight smokey/oak nose; tart bit lean/hard/austere slight funky/bretty/Rhonish
light tomatoey/blackberry/Syrah bit smokey/pungent flavor; med. bit hard/lean/tannic/astringent tomatoey/
blackberry/Syrah slight earthy/Rhonish finish; a pleasant enough Mendo Syrah at a fair price. $20.00
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4. Donkey & Goat Syrah FenaughtyVnyd/ElDorado (14.1%; U; 3% Fenaughty Viognier cofrmtd; 25%
whole clusters) 2007: Med.dark color; very strong blackberry/earthy/Syrah very spicy bit menthol/herbal
rather smokey/pungent lovely/complex/perfumed nose; tart very spicy/floral/blackberry/Syrah some earthy/
ElDorado/Rhonish light smokey/pungent flavor; very long bit tannic very spicy/floral/Syrah/blackberry/
blueberry light earthy/Rhonish/smokey finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a lovely/interesting spicy/floral ElDorado
Syrah. $35.00
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5. Drew Syrah Ornbaun MendocinoRidge (241 cs; 14.2%; Clones:#1, #877,McDowell; www.DrewWines.com) 2008: Dark
color; very strong ripe/boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah bit jammy/chocolaty slight reduced/pungent/licorice
some toasty/oak very attractive nose; soft rather ripe/jammy/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry pungent/licorice
bit toasty/charred/oak flavor; very long ripe/jammy/chocolaty/licorice/pungent strong boysenberry/
blackberry/Syrah slight toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; a solid Syrah that seems more
SantaBarbaraCnty in profile. $30.00
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6. Donkey & Goat TheRecluse Syrah BrokenLegVnyd/AndersonVlly (U; 14.1%; 3.5% cofrmtd Viognier;
30% whole cluster) 2007: Dark color; beautiful floral/violets very perfumed/aromatic rather blackberry/
Syrah/blueberry light cracked black pepper light toasty/oak complex/perfumed nose; tart bit lean very
spicy/blackberry/blueberry/Syrah very floral/violets light toasty/pungent/oak slight peppery flavor; very
long tart floral/violets/perfumed peppery/blackberry/blueberry/Syrah some tannic finish; needs 2-6 yrs;
almost CoteRotie in style w/ its floral/fragrant character; a Viognier lift?? $35.00
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7. Donkey & Goat Syrah PerliVnyds/MendocinoRidge (14.5%; U; SteveAlden: grower) 2007: Dark color; rich/ripe
blackberry/Syrah/licorice bit chocolaty light toasty/oak/pungent slight spicy lovely nose; tart/acid ripe/
licorice/blackberry/Syrah quite spicy/light peppery slight chocolaty/ripe light pungent/oak flavor; long
spicy/blackberry/Syrah/ripe bit alcoholic light pungent/toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs;
much like the Drew in its ripe character but seems more taut/structured and maybe a bit tight on the
palate. $35.00
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8. Donkey & Goat Syrah Reserve PerliVnyds/PotatoPatchBlock/MendocinoRidge (#363 of 480; 14.5%;
U) 2006: Very dark color; beautiful/complex pungent/toasty/oak/smokey strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah
very floral/perfumed complex nose; softer/smooth/round some menthol/eucalyptus floral/blackberry/Syrah
complex/spicy some toasty/smokey/oak flavor; very long tart rather structured/tannic strong blackberry/
Syrah/spicy/floral/violets rather toasty/oak/smokey finish w/ ample tannins; needs 4-10 yrs; wonderful
aromatics and the structure to age well. $68.00
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10. AlbanVnyds Syrah Reva AlbanEstate/EdnaVlly (15.6%) 2001: Black color; very intense charred/toasty/burnt/
smokey/pungent/Fr.oak bit reduced/licorice intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah Oz-like/framboise nose;
tart very rich/intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/framboise strong toasty/charred/Fr.oak/burnt rather
hard/tannic huge fruit flavor; very long intense blackberry/boysenberry/framboise/Syrah strong charred/
burnt/toasty/Fr.oak finish w/ ample tannins; needs much age; pretty classic young Alban. $50.00
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Some boring stuff from the BloodyPulpit:
1. ElDoradoSyrah: ElDoradoCnty is an area for Rhone varietals that never seems to get the respect it deserves.
The ElDorado terroir, which can sometimes dominate their reds, has an erathy character not too unlike what
you can find in the Rhone. The Syrahs & blends that Tracey&Jared/Donky&Goat and Steve/EdmundsStJohn make
are as good as any made anywhere else in Calif. John&Barbara MacCready should get more credit for their
decision to plant Rhone varietals up there in the late '70's, when Syrah was just a blip on the screen
in Calif. ElDorado was an area that the Perrins looked long & hard at when they were planning their Calif
operation. I've often wondered what the (Calif Rhone) landscape would look like if they had chosen
ElDorado rather than Paso.
Those early SierraVista Syrahs were impressive and actually outlived their contemporaries from that
historic '82 vintage. They recent SV Syrahs have been a bit variable in their quality and not as exciting
as those early ones. And, of course, the Cedarvilles remain solid performers at a very reasonable price.
It's time for me to make a visit up to ElDorado again.
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2. Drew: I'm very excited about Jason&Molly Drew's efforts w/ Syrah up in MendoCnty. He made very good/solid
Syrahs when they were in SantaBarbara and I think, as more Syrah up there in AndersonVlly/MendoRidge
becomes available, they will greatly raise the profile of Syrah from that area. The best is yet to come.
This Ornbaun is a new vnyd for Syrah. The wine seemed on the ripe side and more akin to SBC Syrah than
Mendo. But it's a tasty/solid Syrah at a more than fair price.
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3. Donkey&Goat: I've followed Tracey & Jared's wines from the very start when I first tried them at Rhone
Rangers some yrs ago. Their wines seem to get better and better with each release. With this release,
they've changed their label for a more professional/sophisticated design. Actually, I rather liked their
old folksey/unique label with a drawing of a Donkey&Goat on the label. Oh well....the times change.
This Mendocino Syrah is their first of their appellation-series labels. A good/solid 4-square Syrah
at a more than fair price. This also is their first Reserve Syrah as I recall. Maybe their best Syrah
to date...and built to age.
One of the reasons I've liked their wines is their acidity and structure. One of the unique practices
Tracey&Jared use is to harvest early some underripe/acidic juice and then use this to acidify the must
when their main harvest comes in, rather than dump in tartaric acid from a bag. This takes a lot more
work, I'm sure, but maybe it's worth it.
Anyway...good folks making great wine down in lower Berkeley.
Tom