Opened these last night in a (failed) attempt to find something good:
1. Finca LaLinda Bodega LuigiBosca Viognier (14.0%; www.LuigiBosca.com.AR) Mendoza/AR 2007: Med.gold color; attractive floral/pear/peach/Viog rather fragrant/spicy nose; tart rather lean/austere/thin/eviscerated slight earthy weak/floral/pear/Viog slight metallic flavor; short lean/eviscerated very weak pear/Viog finish; a pleasant enough classic Viog nose but utterly vapid on the palate; must have been cropped at 8tons/acre or something. No bargin at $12.00
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2. CougarCrestWnry Vivace WashState (70% Viog/30% Chard; www.CougarCrestWinery.com; 13.3%) WallaWalla 2005: Light yellow color; some earthy pleasant floralViog slight melony/Chard rather perfumed nose; soft/lush some earthy/dusty light floral/pear/Viog simple/one-dimensional flavor; short slight earthy/tangy/grapefruit light pear/Viog finish; rather simple and delivers little on the palate; not a bad wine but a bit boring.
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3. Coturri Zin ChauvetVnyd/SonomaVlly (14.5%; hlf planted in 1935/hlf planted in 1976) 1995: Rather brown/old Madeira light color; rather oxidized/sherry old Zin/pencilly/oak bit swampy/fecal/bretty/unclean complex nose; off-dry quite raisened/pruney some pencilly/cedary/old Zin slight spicy rather tired/astringent/dried out flavor; med.long oxidized/sherry some cedary/pencilly/old Zin tired/dried-out some astringent off-dry raisened/pruney finish; pretty much dead&gone.
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4. Arcadian Syrah WesterelyVnyd/SantaYnezVlly (15.2%; www.ArcadianWinery.com) 2004: Very dark color; rather toasty/charred/oak slight bretty/unclean strong boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah somewhat interesting SBC Syrah nose; soft rather hard/tannic/metallic some bretty/unclean some blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah lean/hard/angular rather toasty/charred/oak not attractive flavor; med.short hard/tannic/rough light blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry bit herbal toasty/charred/oak finish; decent nose but hard/tannic and unattractive on the palate. $14.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Actually, the Coturri was in much better shape than I expected it to be. Organic grapes, organic winemaking w/ no sulfites used. Their wines are put to bottle w/ a witch's brew of live things in them, so you never quite know what you'll get over time. It was still clinging to life and had some old Zin/overripe character still there. But it wasn't really bad/foul like some of their fresh/young wines can be.
The Arcadian was a big disappointment, a rare clunker from JoeDavis. I bought this wine because it was originally $28/btl, but now at $14/btl on a closeout deal. Will not go back for more, even at that price. The nose was pretty decent SBC Syrah, but it was a mean/angry wine on the palate, going nowhere fast. Time has not been kind to this wine, and further time will probably reap little rewards.
Tom
