The BacchusBadBoys got together last night for a BYOB to share and to get really baaaaad:
1. Ch.de Fonsalette AC: CdR Syrah Reserve (14%) SCEA Ch.Rayas 2001: Med.color w/ some bricking; some bretty/barnyard/horsecollar/leather rather smokey/pungent/roasted/some NorthernRhone slight coffee/espresso rather complex nose; soft/smooth/velvety some coffee/roasted/smokey/pungent light blackberry/Syrah slight green olive some bretty/barnyardy flavor; med.long smooth/polished some bretty/barnyardy rather smokey/coffee/pungent light green olive slight NorthernRhone finish w/ whispers of tannins; lovely fully mature red of a gentle nature. $49.00
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2. Ch. Vieux Telegraph AC: CdP (14%) 2003: Dark color; very strong plummy/Mourvedre very grapey/lush/some strawberry/fruity slight earthy nose; soft/fat very lush/ripe/plummy/strawberry very ripe flavor w/ little tannins; very ripe/plummy/fruity slight earthy/spicy lightly tannic finish; loads of lush/ripe fruit but lacks the structure & acidity to go out all that long in time.
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3. RobertBiale PetiteSirah E.B.A. NapaVlly (200 cs; ExtendedBarrelAged; 14.8%) 2005: Black color; very strong Am.oak/vanilla/pencilly strong boysenberry/PS slight peppery nose; soft/lush strong Am.oak/pencilly slight peppery/spicy strong lush/boysenberry/PS flavor w/ modest tannins; very long rather tannic huge/lush/boysenberry/PS soft/lush some pencilly/vanilla/oak finish; loads of that lush typically Biale fruit, a bit short on acid, but the structure to age 3-6 yrs.
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4. Ramsey NapaVlly Port (18%) 1991: Faiirly dark color w/ slight bricking; wonderful grapey/fruity some alcoholic/spirity very Oporto-like complex nose; bit alcoholic/spirity huge fruit/grapey very Porto-like some tannic flavor; very long complex grapey/fruity some spirity/alcoholic some tannic finish; dead-ringer for a vintage Porto w/ 20 yrs of age; lovely example of a Calif Port.
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TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Fonsalette: This was the very rare/very special Reserve bottling of this wine; made from 100% Syrah, rare in the CdP region. In its youth, it was a dead ringer for a big NorthernRhone Syrah, w/ huge blackberry fruit. Over the yrs, it has developed a fair amount of brett; not quite enough to ruin the wine for me...but getting close. It still showed a bit of the NorthernRhone character, but has evolved into a very attractive gentle old wine that only hints of the vigor it had in iits youth.
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2. Ramsey: This is the 2'nd label of KentRasmussen, taken from his wife's maiden name. This was usually the label he used for wines made from purchased grapes. Some were truly 2'nd label wines, some more top level wines. Don't know what grapes this was made from, but certainly PinotNoir would be a good guess.
KentRasmussen is a wnry that certainly flies below the radar screen of most folks. I have followed Kent's wines from the very start; not so closely in more recent yrs, alas. I must remedy that.
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3. CalifPort: When I first got interested in wine a few yrs ago (by crackey), when it came to Port, it was mostly ChristianBros, PaulMasson, and Llords&Elwood (anybody remember them??). But the cream of the crop was Ficklin over in the CentralVlly. Their claim to fame was the use of authentic Portugese Port varieties. I tried them and was a bit underwhelmed; found them on the soft/soupy side, lacking in structure, and not much of the spirity character I loke in Porto.
In '75, there were three folks who burst on the scene w/ the intent to make authentic Porto-style Calif Port: JimOlsen/J.W.Morris Port Works, RussWoodbury, and AndyQuady.
JimOlsen made his Ports in an old stationary warehouse over in downtown/scenic Emeryville. He also made a few other things like Angelica. His Ports were my favorite of this threesome. He got most of his grapes from KenToth's BlackMtnVnyd up in Sonoma. The Calif Port market crashed..or never really took off...he didn't pay his bills, and eventually JWMorris was taken over by KenToth. Expanded into simple varietal wines and never really did much in the Port arena. Last I'd heard of JimOlsen, he was winemakerr for LaCremeVinera (anybody remember them?). Google indicates that Jim is now the winemaker at ChateauRouton in FairPlay in the SierraFoothills. I should try his Port from up there.
RussWoodbury started making his Ports w/ the idea that the varieties were unimportant, it was the process that was important. He was located over in SanRafael and made Ports from Zin/CabernetSauvg/PinotNoir/PetiteSirah. The one thing I took from his wines was that the weedy character of Cab does not work well as a Port.
AndyQuady was working at EastSideWnry in Lodi (where they had these incredible stocks of old Port/Sherry/Madeira/Angelica) when he was convinced by DarrellCorti to make authentic/Porto-style Ports down in Modesto. Mostly, he used Zin until his vnyd of Portugese varieties came on-line. He once made a Port from RanchoTierraRejada down in CentralCoast area that was very weird, but aged into something very interesting. Andy, of course, is still at it. One of the first (at Darrell's urging) to work w/ OrangeMuscat (his Elysium Angelica).
Both Russ & Jim were convinced the secret to making great Calif Port was to use low-proof grape brandy to fortify with, as they do/did in Porto. They felt the higher alcohols (congeners or fusel oils) gave the Port more complexity and authenticity. Andy focused on using high-proof/neutral grape brandy.
I still have a pretty complete collection of these Ports from back in the '75-'78 time frame. I should try them sometime.
Nice trip here down memory lane.
Tom