We tasted last night (6/30/10) some New Reds:
1. VinoV Chard SolomonHills/SantaMariaVlly (12.7%) 2007: Pale yellow color; lovely pure/melony/Chard slight
earthy/minerally light toasty/oak some spicy/nutmeg nose; bit tart attractive Chard/melony/lemony bit
mineral/earthy loght toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering lemony/melony/Chard light toasty/oak light
spicy/earthy finish; a lovely/spicy very well-made Chard; one of the better Chards I've had this year.
$32.00
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2. VinoV PinotNoir SolomonHillsVnyd/SantaMariaVlly (14.5%) 2005: Med.light red color; strong earthy/black
cherry/PN/bit spicy light toasty/oak slight Burgundian nose; tart slight fumey/alcoholic strong earthy/
black cherry/PN light toasty/oak flavor; long tart somewhat earthy black cherry/PN light toasty/oak
slightly tannic finish; needs several yrs yet; not the bright fruit of some SMV Pinots and a somewhat
earthy character that give it a bit of a Burgundian character. $40.00
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3. EdmundsStJohn ThatOldBlackMagic Calif RW (co-frmtd Syrah from Wylie & Feneaughty vnyds/
ElDorado, Syrah & Grenache from Fenaughty, Syrah & Grenache from EaglePountRanch/
Mendocino; 14.3%; www.EdmundsStJohn.com) 2006: Med.dark color; some smokey/earthy/spicy rather meaty/Syrah
some strawberry/mushroomy/Grenache/earthy slight funky somewhat interesting nose; soft slight tannic some
meaty/mushroomy rather SouthernRhone/bit funky/strawberry/earthy flavor; long slight tannic strawberry/
slight Rhonish/meaty/mushroomy finish; more like a middle-of-the-raod Cotes du Rhone and not a lot of
Syrah character.
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4. EdmundsStJohn Syrah Parmalee-HillVnyd/SonomaCnty (14.4%; www.EdmundsStJohn.com) 2005: Dark color; strong
toasty/bacon fat/smokey/roasted/coffee some blackberry/Syrah slight earthy rather NorthernRhone nose; tart
some tannic/hard strong blackberry/Syrah some meaty/smokey/roasted flavor; very long roasted/coffee/smokey
rather blackberry/Syrah some tannic/hard complex finish; needs 5-10 yrs yet; a Syrah as good, maybe
better, than any of Steve's Durells; terrific Rhonish-like Syrah at a great price. $27.00
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5. VinoV Syrah WhiteHawkVnyd/SBC (14.5%; www.VinoVWines.com) 2004: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/
Syrah/boysenberry slight earthy/licorice/pungent very light toasty/oak slight funky/aged interesting
nose; tart some tannic/astringent light toasty/oak bit earthy/blackberry/Syrah light licorice/pungent
flavor; long fairly tart some tannic/astringent bit earthy/blackberry/Syrah light toasty/oak finish;
as a slight funkiness and seems a bit ragged around the edges but plenty of blackberry/Syrah fruit;
probably needs a few more yrs.
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6. VinoV Syrah WhiteHawkVnyd/SBC (14.5%) 2005: Very dark color; intense blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry some
licorice/pungent/smokey light toasty/oak quite perfumed very attractive nose; some tart very strong
blackberry/Syrah some licorice/pungent/smokey light toasty/oak bit tannic fairly rich/mouthfilling/
structured flavor; very long blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry slight pungent/smokey some tannic finish;
needs 2-6 yrs; first rate attractive Syrah.
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7. VinoV Syrah WhiteHawkVnyd/SBC (14.5%) Ventura 2006: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/
Syrah somewhat peppery/black pepper/pungent/licorice slight coffee/roasted/Rhonish light toasty/oak nose;
softer very peppery/blackberry/Syrah/spicy some pungent/licorice/roasted/smokey/coffee bit tannic/hard
flavor; very long tannic/structured black peppery/blackberry/Syrah some roasted/pungent/licorice light
toasty/oak some complex finish; some like the Tensleys but less lush fruit and more structure; probably
about the best Syrah from WhiteHawk that I can recall; absolutely first-rate Syrah at a very good price.
$32.00
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8. Yorba Tempranillo ShakeRidgeVnyd/AmadorCnty (14.9%) 2007: Very dark color; strong cherry/Temp/black cherry
some toasty/oak light earthy/dusty very interesting nose; tart some tannic/astringent/structured strong
black cherry/cherry/Temp some toasty/oak light earthy/dusty flavor; very long black cherry/Temp some
toasty/smokey/oak somewhat tannic/structured finish; needs 2-8 yrs; speaks strongly of Tempranillo w/o
the vanilla oaky character of the Spanish ones; one of the better Calif Temps I've had.
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9. Yorba Zin ShakeRidgeVnyd/AmadorCnty (15.6%; www.YorbaWines.com) AnnKraemer 2006: Very dark color; strong
blackberry/Zin/briary/boysenberry some pungent/licorice quite spicy slight milky/vanilla/Am.oak strong
dusty/earthy/Fiddletown Zin-like rather perfumed nose; tart strong blackberry/Zin bit licorice/pungent
very spicy some milky/Am.oak bit tannic/structured flavor; very long tannic/structured blackberry/
black cherry/Zin quite spicy some Am.oak finish; reminds me a lot of the fabulout Ridge Fiddletown Zin '77
w/o the DraperPerfume; not at all like ShenandoahVlly Zin and like some of the best Fiddletown Zins. $28.00
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10. Yorba Barbera ShakeRidgeVnyds/AmadorCnty (14.6%) 2007: Dark color; very strong spicy/Italian sausage/
Barbera some earthy/dusty very light toasty/oak slight funky nose; very tart somewhat lean/astringent/
tannic somewhat spicy/fennel/Italian sausage rather tight/pinched very light oak flavor; med.long tart/
tannic/astringent somewhat spicy/fennel/sausage/Barbera light toasty/oak finish; needs some age yet;
a rather tight/pinched/lean red like you'd expect of a Barbera; my least favorite of the Yorbas. $26.00
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11. ShakeRidge Red ShakeRidgeVnyds/AmadorCnty RW (50% Syrah/30% CS/8% Merlot/10% Malbec/
2% Graciano; 14.6%) 2006: Very dark color; rather blackberry/black curranty slight herbal some toasty/
oak slight minty/menthol rather Cab-like beautiful nose; tart black curranty/Cab some blackberry/Syrah
some toasty/oak rather structured/tannic light licorice/pungent flavor; very long/lingering some toasty/
oak strong black curranty/Cab slight herbal bit of blackberry/Syrah some toasty/oak fairly tannic/
structured finish; needs 3-8 yrs; speaks mostly of Cab w/ some blackberry/Syrah; quite a lovely blend
and probably the greatest of the Yorbas; not at all like any Amador Cabs & more like a primo NapaCab;
beautiful/ageable wine at a great price. $28.00
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12. Yorba Syrah ShakeRidgeVnyd/AmadorCnty (14.9%) 2006: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/
briary/spicy/Syrah light toasty/oak slight alcoholic/hot nose; soft rich/lush intense blackberry/
boysenberry/Syrah quite spicy light licorice/DrPepper/RCCola some tannic flavor; long somewhat tannic/
structured strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty/oak bit pungent/licorice/DrPepper/spicy
bit complex finish; probably the ripest & lushest and most Amador-like of the Yorbas but more structure
and ageibility than most Amador Syrahs; a beautiful Syrah that needs 4-10 yrs. $32.00
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13. Novy Syrah SantaLuciaHighlands (15.1%) 2002: Very dark color; intense toasty/charred/oak strong cracked
black pepper pungent/licorice complex some herbal/blackberry/Syrah beautiful complex nose; soft intense
cracked black pepper/spicy/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry slight herbal some pungent/licorice flavor w/ soft
tannins; very long/lingering strong cracked black pepper soft strong blackberry/Syrah slight herbal/pungent
finish w/ soft/smooth tannins; wonderful mature Novy Syrah.
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And the usual stuff from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Some of these wines were given to us to try, so don't know the price on all of them.
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2. VinoV: These wines are made by MichaelMeagher. He was formerly winemaker w/ AdamTolmach/OjaiVnyds before
striking out on his own. He makes his wine at the OldCreekRanch, near OjaiVnyd, where he's also the
winemaker. Michael & I go way back to his early days at Ojai.
I've tried his VinoV wines in the past, sorta on a hit or miss basis. So when Michael offered his
current wines to try, plus the vertical of his WhiteHawk Syrah, I jumped at the chance.
The Chard was a lovely/interesting Chard; one of the better ones I've had this year. The Pinot was
not nearly as thrilling.
Of the Syrahs; the '04 seemed to have a slight funk to it and seemed a bit ragged at the edges; as if
it was not evolving gracefully in the btl. Hard to tell where it will be going. The '05 was a good/solid
classic SantaBarbara Syrah. But the '06 I thought was absolutely first-rate; as good as any from
SantaBarbara, and probably the best I've from WhiteHawk. Terrific job I thought.
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3. SolomonHills Pinot: I've not had many SantaMaria Pinots from this side of the river that have really
hit my sweet spot. Most seem to have a somewhat earthy/Burgundy character to them and lack the bright
cherry/Pinot fruit you find in the BienNacido Pinots. Also owned by the Miller brothers. It is one of the
coolest & westernmost vnyds in the SantaMariaVlly. The soil appears very sandy in character, in stark
contrast to very stoney/gravelly BienNacido soils.
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4. ShakeRidgeVnyd: When I was researching HdR, I noted a new wnry, Yorba. This is NapaVlly wine made by
KenBernards. The grapes are grown by highly-regarded viticulturist AnnKraemer in her ShakeRidge vnyd
up in AmadorCnty. This vnyd is up in the Sierra foothills; east of SutterCreek and south of the
ShenandoahVlly. Ann has a lot of interesting stuff planted there in a rather complicated vnyd.
The wines did not strike me as typical AmadorCnty/ShenandoahVlly wines. They did not have that strong
briary/blackberry/ripe component typical signature of ShenandoahVlly. They seemed much more akin
to the wines from the Fiddletown area, just east of the ShenandoahVlly and slightly higher elevation.
They did not show that earthy/mushroomy character you typically find in the ElDorado reds. They did
not have a ton of lush/opulent fruit but showed more restraint and all very structured for aging.
Stylistically, I found a lot of similarity in these wines, but still very much varietally correct.
Definitely a wnry/vnyd to watch in the future. I was impressed by my first test drive of Ann's wines.
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5. OldBlackMagic: I didn't find much in this wine to excite me. It reminded me some of a middling Cotes du
Rhone, not one of my favorite genres. However, like the Rocks&Gravel, Steve's wines have this way of
rising up and biting you on the a$$ with some age. I would guess that this OBM is one of those wines.
Sometimes you just gotta believe.
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6. NovySyrah: This was SteveCostigan's mystery wine. On release; it had big boysenberry fruit w/ strong herbal
character typical of SLH. This wine has since developed a strong cracked black pepper character and in
a very good place for drinking right now.
Tom