Susan & I tried several wines this weekend amid the craziness of the NewMexicoOpen:
1. LucianAlbrecht GWT Reserve AC: Alsace (13%) 2009: : Med.gold color; intense hair oil/GWT/lychee bit simple lightly spicy pleasant nose; soft/fat bit off-dry strong GWT/lychee/hair oil simple porkysome Z-H somewhat bitter flavor; med. off-dry fat/soft/porky strong hair oil/GWT/lychee finish; bit too Z-H in style for my taste and pretty fat/porky; no value at $20.50
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2. Miraflores Zin ElDorado (14.8%; www.MirafloresWinery.com) 2007: Fairly dark color; strong blackberry/Zin/briary/ripe bit jammy slight earthy/mushroomy/ElDorado light vanilla/oak slightly alcoholic nose; soft bit hot/alcoholic ripe/blackberry/jammy/briary/Zin some Am.oak/vanilla slight earthy/dusty flavor; med.long soft bit alcoholic/hot ripe/jammy/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin slight briary/earthy some vanilla/Am.oak finish w/ light tannins; lots of ripeness and speaks strongly of ShenandoahVlly and only softly of Eldorado; no value at $19.00
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3. 6'th Sense Michael+David Syrah Lodi (15%) 2007: Very dark color; strong Lodi/mushroomy/biit earthy rather chocolaty/very ripe/boysenberry/Syrah slight smokey/oak nose; very soft/fat/flabby bit hot/alcoholic very ripe/chocolaty/boysenberry/Syrah/Oz-like some earthy/Lodi/mushroomy light oak flavor; med. soft/fat/flabby very ripe/chocolaty/boysenberry/Syrah some hot/alcoholic light oak finish w/ little tannins; badly lack structure and pretty dull on the palate. $15.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The Albrecht was a big disappointment for me. I've pretty much liked the Albrecht wines in the past and found them pleasant GWT at a fair price. This GWT was woefully lacking in acid, dull and plodding on the palate w/ the RS; though packed w/ plenty of simple GWT fruit. With a good platter of weenies & kraut, this wine wouldn't have hacked it. The Helflich GWT at $10.00 blows this wine away.
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2. MarcoCapelli is the winemaker for this wine. He made some pretty stunning Syrahs during his tenure at Swanson, plus some pretty good Sangio. When he moved to the SierraFoothills some 8-10 yrs ago, I fully expected him to turn those wines upon their head a rachet up the quality out of the Foothills. This is the first wine of Marco's I've had from the area. I was a bit disappointed. A decent/good Foothills Zin, bit on the ripe/jammy side; but I was just expecting a bit more sparkle to it.
The Miraflores Site shows lots of '04-'07 wines for sale. Nothing newer. Not a good sign.
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3. A week ago, I was extolling the virtues of Syrah on a wine board as a variety that is expressive of its varietal character from cold-climes all the way to hot climes, like Lodi and the SanJoaquinVlly. So I thought I'd put that notion to the test when I saw this wine on the shelf on Fri. The wines speaks very strongly of the Lodi terroir (that be good...the "somewhereness" that MattKramer loves); it speaks very strongly of (very ripe) Syrah (that be good..typicity); everything you would want in an "authentic" wine I guess. Yet I found the wine sadly lacking in interest; a soft/fat/oafish Syrah badly lacking in structure and acid. Pretty dull stuff and hard to drink more than a glass or two.
Tom