Susan's off for 7 weeks of hiking in France today, so we had our last dinner for awhile. Since SteveEdmunds is one of her most favorite people (and...yes....she also agrees with me that PamelaAnderson could bring a couple of assets to EdStJ as Steve's MarketingDirector), we had to have one of those:
1. EdmundsStJohn Shell&Bone PasoRobles WW (14.2%; Viognier/Roussanne/Marsanne)P&B by Intuition&BlindLuck 2004: Med.gold color;gorgeous spicy/floral/pear/Viog/honeysuckle slight Mosel/valve oil fragrant/perfumed/aromatic slight minerally nose; fairly tart light minerally/chalky very perfumed/floral/pear/Viog/honeysuckle sligh valve oil lush/ripe flavor; very long/lingering slight stoney/minerally/valve oil perfumed/floral/honeysuckle/pear/Viog finish; very balanced & very perfumed; in a mighty fine place right now and should go another 5-10 yrs.
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2. Qupe LosOlivosCuvee Ibarra-Young/Sawyer-Lindquist/PurisimaMtn vnyds/SantaYnezVlly (13.5%; 58% Syrah/26% Mourvedre/16% Grenache) 2007: Med.dark color; slight dusty/earthy rather plummy/spicy/licorice/slight blackberry/Syrah light pencilly/smokey/oak pleasant enough nose; somewhat tart bit earthy/Rhonish rather plummy/Mourv/spicy/blackberry/Syrah slight pungent/licorice balanced/round/lush flavor; long plummy/spicy/Mourv slight blackberry/Syrah/licorice bit earthy/dusty finish w/ light/balanced tannins; a pleasant/simple Rhone blend who future lies before it.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. EdStJohn: This wine came from the old RozetVnyd, now DerbyWest. When it was first released; I thought it was pretty lean/austere/stoney in the mold of a WhiteRhone. Wasn't a big fan of the wine, but thought it would improve. And, that indeed, it has. It's developed a very dramatic perfuminess and put on considerable weight on the palate. W/ great balance & good acidity, I see no reason this won't just get better yet. Like many of Steve's wines, they are often underwhelming upon release. But have this uncanny knack of rising up and biting you on the a$$ w/ some age.
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2. LosOlivosCuvee: Bb's been making this Rhone blend for many a year. It is almost always rather underwhelming and simple upon release. But its balance almost always guarantees a wine that will become very interesting down the road. Bob has served 10-15 yr old examples of the LOC at tastings and I'm always amazed how good they evolve.
Tom