Tried these last night w/ dinner:
1. StClair GWT NewMexico (12.5%; www.StClairWinery.com) Florent Lescombes/Winemaker NV: Pale gold color; strong very attractive hair oil/very lychee/GWT rather spicy/floral very slight Kansas pig pen/outhouse/barnyardy/earthy rather interesting nose; rather soft spicy/lychee/GWT slight cinammon/nutmeg very slight earthy fairly clean very slightly off-dry (.6%-.8% RS?) attractive flavor; short soft bit watery pleasant lychee/GWT/spicy light earthy/pig pen interesting finish; surprisingly good for $10.00.
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2. TraderJoe's Reserve PetiteSirah RRV (13.5%) C&B by OurCllrs/Healdsburg 2006: Black color; very strong Am.oak/vanilla rather peppery/blackberry/boysenberry/PS fairly spicy nose; soft strong vanilla/Am.oak some spicy/peppery/PS/blackberry somewhat tannic/hard flavor; long strong Am.oak/vanilla peppery/blackberry/PS rather hard/tannic finish; needs 2-5 yrs and maybe longer; loads of Am.oak but quite good PS fruit underneath; amazingly good for $7.00
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A wee BP:
1. This GWT was just named the White Sweepstakes winner in the SFChron judging. The judges were out of their friggin' collective minds...this is nowhere that stature of a wine.
Despite that credential, I was prepared to dislike this wine, assuming it was just another NewMexico abomination of GWT..flabby/underacid/too sweet/little varietal character. WooHoo...what a surprise this wine was....a solid/well-made/interesting GWT from an area (MimbresVlly/Deming) that shouldn't be able to grow a GWT of this caliber. I was expecting a lot of in-your-face GWT/hair oil fruit. It was not. A more subtle rendition of GWT than I'd have expected, perhaps a bit like some of the AltoAdige GWTs, but w/o the acidity and chalky/minerality. Not a sweepstakes caliber wine, but amazingly good and worth seeking out. Well done, Florent.
Since this is a NV wine, there is no guarantee that this was the exact same wine the SFChron judges tasted; but it was at TraderJoe's and presumably the same current release.
Tom