We tried over the weekend w/ dinner:
1. Chester'sAnvil GretnaGreen 50% Viognier/Marsanne StagecoachVnyd/NapaVlly (14.2%) 2009: Pale yellow color; lovely very fragrant Viog/pear/appley bit spicy/nutmeg slight earthy/perfumed talc aromatic lovely nose; rather tart/mineral rather appley/Marsanne light pear/Viog/spicy slight tangy/metallic flavor; very long appley/Marsanne light pear/Viog some minerally/earthy/tangy/grapefruity finish; nose speaks of Viog but the palate speaks of Marsanne; very well-structured and should benefit from 2-6 yrs, maybe longer.
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2. Georges DuBoeuf AC: Cote-Rotie Domaine de la Rousse (13%) 1988: Med.light color w/ some bricking; lovely bacon fat/roasted/smokey slight earthy/metallic fairly complex old Cote-Rotie nose; tart some tangy/metallic bit lean/astringent light smokey/bacon fat/roasted somewhat thin/dried out some tannic flavor; med.short tangy/metallic/lean somewhat astringent/dried out light smokey/pungent/roasted finish; a lovely old Cote-Rotie nose but lean/drying out on the palate; still somewhat alive but clinging barely to life.
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3. RidgeVnyds Calif Geyserville (64% Zin/18% PS/18% Carignane; 13.9%; Bttld: Feb'92; Drk: 1/98-1/00:PD) 1990: Med.dark color w/ lighht bricking; lovely blackberry/raspberry/black cherry/Zin light smokey/oak/DraperPerfume complex lovely old-Ridge nose; soft bit earthy/dusty lovely/complex old-Ridge/smokey/oak/DraperPerfume light blackberry/black cherry slight astringent/drying out flavor; med.long soft light blackberry/raspberry/Zin rather toasty/oak/smokey bit dried out/astringent complex finish; lovely nose but starting to dry out a bit on the palate; drink up.
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4. Ridge Calif Zin LyttonSprings (80% Zin/10% PS/6% Carignane/4% Grenache; 13.8%; 60% NortonRanch/40% ValleyVistaVnyd; Bttld: March'92; Drk: 2/92-2/97-2/98: PD) 1990: Med.dark w/ slight bricking; very similar old-Ridge/smokey/oak/DraperPerfume light licorice/blackberry/Zin some complex/old-Zin nose; soft light pungent/smokey/DraperPerfume light raspberry/licorice/Zin light tangy/astringent/metallic some spicy gentle/delicate complex/old-Zin flavor; med.long light raspberry/Zin some licorice/pungent/smoket/DraperPerfume gentle/complex/old-Zin finish w/ light tannins; not as dried out as the Geyserville but should be drunk up.
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5. TheOjaiVnyd Syrah SantaBarbaraCnty (14.5%) 2005: Dark color; strong smokey/pungent/oak rather licorice/roasted/blackberry/Syrah very attractive nose; soft some snokey/oak fairly smooth/little tannins some blackberry/Syrah/licorice flavor; med.long light licorice/blackberry/Syrah some smokey/oak finish w/ light tannins; noot much complexity and the fruit is just gently fading away; very nice drinking but wouldn't hold any longer.
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6. AlbanVnyds RottenLuck Roussanne T.B.A. (12.8%) 1998: Med.dark brown murky/cloudy color; very strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty/fruit cocktail/old TBA some pencilly/oak bit complex nose; rather tart/shrill/lean very slightly sweet strong apricotty/peachy/botrytis light pencilly/oak flavor; long tart/sharp/shrill off-dry/lean strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty finish; little RS and not really a dessert wine; loads of botrytis but not showing much complexity or development.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Chester'sAnvil: This is the combined effort of SteveLagier/CaroleMeredith and the Pott family. The grapes come from the Krupp's StageCoachVnyd up in the AtlasPeak area. The Rhone whites/BlackBart I've had from that vnyd under their label left me underwhelmed, plus they're rather overpriced. This is the first wine from StageCoach that I've been impressed with. It's a bit tight right now, but I think it will benefit greatly from some age.
Per Carole:The name comes from the town of Gretna Green in southern Scotland, very
close to the border with England. In the 18th century, Gretna Green became a
famous wedding destination for young English couples because Scotland had
more liberal marriage laws than England and Gretna Green was the nearest
Scottish town. Weddings were performed in the blacksmith's shop, on the
anvil. Blacksmiths in Gretna Green became known as "anvil priests".
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2. DuBoeuf: This wine was Georges DuBoeuf foray into Rhone wines. He made them for a few yrs and then they sorta disappeared from the marketplace. Don't know if he continued this effort or not.
In it's youth, the wine was actually pretty nice, good Cote-Rotie character, and very fairly priced, almost half of comparable Cote-Roties. This '88 was just clinging to life, offered up some pleasure initially, but was pretty much dead&gone by the end of the evening.
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3. Ridges: Both of these wines were starting to fade and dry out, but they still offered up plenty of pleasure; the LS a biit more there than the Geyserville. Lovely examples of old-bones Ridge Zin.
The NortonRanch was the fairly large vnyd just to the west of DickSherwin's that was owned by Ridge. The ValleyVista vnyd was Sherwin's original vnyd that Ridge made their LyttonSprings Zin up until 1976, having just been purchased by Ridge.
Tom