A few wines w/ meals over the weekend:
1. Branham Chard RRV (14.0%; www.BranhamWines.com) 2007: Pale golden color; very attractive mango/tropical fruit/melony/honeydew/Chard light nutmeg/pencilly/oak some spicy nose; tart bright/mango/melony/tropical fruit/Chard/spicy light pencilly/oak flavor; med.long tart bright/melony/mango/tropical fruit/Chard light nutmeg/oak finish; a very attractive bright/spicy/lively Chard at a good price. $22.50
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2. Branham PinotNoir SonomaCoast (14.0%) 2007: Med.color; lovely bright/cherry/black cherry/PN bit peppery/spicy light toasty/oak quite fragrant nose; tart light cherry/black cherry/Pinot/bright some peppery/earthy light toasty/oak flavor; med.long bright cherry/black cherry/Pinot light toasty/oak some spicy/peppery finish w/ light tannins; a very lovely cool-climate PN at a very attractive price. $32.00
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3. JCCllrs Syrah VentanaVnyd/ArroyoSecco/Monterey (14.7%; 321 cs) 2006: Very dark color; beautiful herbal/peppery/rosemary/cold-climate very strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah strong toasty/oak/smokey/pungent complex nose; tart rather herbal/spicy/peppery slight roasted/earthy very strong/blackberry/blueberry/Syrah rather toasty/charred/pungent/smokey/oak somewhat Rhonish bit tannic rich/full/mouthfilling flavor; very long/lingering herbal/peppery/cold-climate strong blackberry/Syrah strong pungent/toasty/smokey/oak bit Rhonish finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs and should go out 10 yrs or more; terrific Monterey/cold-climate Syrah at a fair price. $40.00
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4. Arrowood Viognier SaraLeeVnyd/RRV SelectLateHrvst (11.0%) 1994: Dark gold/brown murkey color; very intense botrytis/apricotty/peachy slight earthy/dusty classic aged/Calif TBA complex nose w/ no discernable Viognier character; very sweet intense botrytis/peach/apricotty/canned fruit cocktail syrup slight earthy bit soft flavor; very long/lingering intense botrytis/apricotty/peachy quite sweet
complex flavor; a classic old Calif TBA that should go out another 10 yrs or more.
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5. Backsberg BabylonsToren Viognier SouthAfrica (14.5%) 2005: Med.gold color; very attractive spicy/fragrant/peach/pear/Viog slight gout de petrol/minerally slight earthy almost pienapply/JR-like very interesting nose; tart slight tangy/grapefruity light pear/Viog bit minerally/earthy slight gout de petrol flavor; med.long minerally/earthy light pear/peach/Viog rather tangy/grapefruity/JR-like finish; a very interesting/atypical/unusual rendition of Viognier w/ only a light Viog character; well-priced at $21.00
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6. WineGuerrilla Zin DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (15.3%; www.WineGuerrill.com; 1000 cs; Label: www.SeanColgin.com) DavidCoffaro/Geyservile 2007: Med.dark color; strong raspberry/Zin/spicy some volatile/EA very light oak classic Zin nose; soft some hot/alcoholic/volatile strong raspberry/Zin light pencilly/oak flavor; med.long rather hot/alcoholic/volatile strong raspberry/DCV/Zin finish w/ light tannins; plenty of raspberry/Zin fruit but a bit too hot/volatile for me; much of the volatility blows off in the nose then next day but it still has a bit of a hot/alcoholic burn on the palate; decent Zin at a fair price. $18.50
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Branham: I'd heard the name but had never tried their wines. As I was putting together a tasting of Rockpile AVA wines, of which they have several, I ordered these to flesh out the 6-pack. This, and last week's PetiteSirah, impressed me. Not deep or profound wines, not Parker wines of power and extract; but they struck me as bright fragrant vibrant/lively very drinkable wines at attractive prices. A nice discovery for me. Will report on their Rockpiles next week.
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2. JCCllrs: I've always been mightly impressed by the Rhone wines (white & red) that Jeff has fashioned over the yrs. Yup...followed him from the very start...at his days at Rosenblum. His wines are pretty big wines, yet have a balance to them and are seldom over-the-top.
This Ventana is one of his best. I am always struck by the strong/interesting herbal character it shows...without wandering over into the vegy territory.
DougMeador planted Syrah at his VentanaVnyd in ArroyoSecco in the early '80's. An absolutely nutso thing to do...given the very cold climate in this area..back when Syrah was regarded as a Mediterrean/warm-climate grape. His is easily the first cold-climate Syrah vnyd planted in Calif. When I had his first Syrah ('85 or '86 vintage); I was totally blown away by it; by its unique slightly herbal character w/ plenty of blackberry fruit. This was probably what made me think that maybe they should rethink Syrah in Calif and start looking at cooler growing areas. Of course, BobLindquist was already on this when they grafted over some Chard to Syrah down at BienNacido (Block X).
Because of the sandy soils at Ventana, half of the Syrah is planted on its own roots. That would be an interesting comparison to do...Ventana Syrah on own-roots vs. grafted roots. Jeff, buddy...ya listening??
Anyway...this VentanaSyrah is a wonderful example of what unique Syrahs come from in a cold-climate area. Still available.
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3. Arrowood: DickArrowood proved himself a master of making botrytis/BA/TBA JR & GWT back in the mid-'70's. This was his first Viognier TBA I believe. Though it was a pretty ugly color annd spoke of oxidized wine, it was in wonderful shape and spoke of old Calif TBA...which tends to turn brown fairly early on. My theory is that botrytis tends to destroy varietal character and this wine shows strong support for that claim...no Viognierr character that I could find.
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4. GuerrillaZin: This is a fairly new operation making a variety of Zins from SonomaCnty. Owned by Bruce Patch...not a name I recognize...and makes his wine up at DavidCaffaro's wnry. It sttruck me as a pretty decent Zin but the volatility and hot character on the palate was a bit of a distraction to me. Would like to try some of his other Zins.
Tom