WTN: Some Wines In Taos...(short/boring)

This last weekend was the TaosWinterWineFestival. I didn't see much in the program that excited me. But Susan&I went up Sat night to Larry&Laura's where we had a wine dinner. Joining us, amongst others, was PeterRosback, winemaker/owner of SinneanWnry in OR. Some of the highlights of the evening were:
1. Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Nahe (QmP; Spatlese; 9%) 2004: Light gold color; strong steely/minerally/Mosel valve oil bit perfumed talc light floral/R very fragrant/perfumed nose; tart rather earthy/minerally/Mosel valve oil fairly lush/rich lovely floral/pineapply/R rather spicy flavor; long earthy/slatey/minerally bit metallic floral/R lush tart finish; a rather youngish R w/ lovely Mosel valve oil character; needs 10-15 yrs.
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2. Bischofliches Priesterseminar Ayler Kupp Riesling Mosel (QmP; Auslese; 10.5%; EA) 1983: Light gold color; beautiful Mosel valve oil/slatey/gout de terroir light floral/R/pineapply complex nose; tart/lean nearly dry strong Mosel valve oil/slatey/minerally/gout de petrol slight metallic/steely slight buttery beautiful/complex flavor; very long lean/dry slatey/Mosel valve oil dry spicy light floral/R finish w/ lots of complexity; no signs of botrytis; rather austere for an Auslese and amazingly young; should go another 10-15 yrs; terrific Mosel.
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3. Eric&Joel Durand Cornas (13%) 1995: Very dark color; very strong pungent/roasted/peppery/classic NothernRhone/mocha/coffee slight blackberry/peppery/Syrah fairly complex nose; slightly tart smokey/pungent/roasted/NR/coffee slight peppery/blackberry/Syrah slight tannic flavor; very long pungent/roasted/NR/espresso/mocha slight blackberry/peppery/Syrah finish w/ light tannins & good complexity; a lovely fully mature classic NorthernRhone.
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4. SineQuaNon TheOtherHand (13.5%; 16 Hogsheads; 100% Syrah from Alban/BienNacido/Stolpman vnyds) 1995: Dark color; earthy/dusty slight dishwater/funky some toasty/charred/oak/smokey light blackberry/black cherry/boysenberry/Syrah nose w/ little complexity; some tart rather hard/tannic/chewey strong toasty/charred/oak slight blackberry/black cherry/Syrah flavor; med.long strong charred/smokey/toasty/oak rather hard/tannic light black cherry/Syrah finish; not showing the complexity that you'd expect of a 15 yr old Syrah; pretty hard & tannic but still some fruit left; maybe drying out on the palate somewhat.
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5.CaymusVnyds Calif Chard SpecSlctn (11.5%; 9% RS; SaH: 31%) 1976: Dark brown color; intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight herbal/dusty complex botrytis nose; very tart intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty slightly sweet bit earthy/herbal flavor; long slightly sweet very strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight herbal/earthy/dusty finish; pretty high acidity & very intense botrytis character; no Chard character whatsoever. $10.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. SQN: Very seldom drink a SQN wine in a recreational mode but only trot them out to impress folks that I/TomHill have SQN wines and, therefore, are better than thou. I was expecting a lot from this wine and was a bit disapponted. Still has fruit, dominated by charred/toasty oak, but still rather hard & tannic and may be a Syrah that will never come together.
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2. Caymus: This was an interesting wine. Back in '76 (by crackey) WenteBros had made a strong move into the ArroyoSecco area for their white varietals. In '76, they had a block of Chard that developed a strong botrytis infection. They harvested/fermented it anyway. Being that it was a pretty exceptional wine, WentBros had no clue as to what to do with it; so they bulked it out. Crafty ole CharlieWagner recognized how good it was, bought it for a song, and btld it under his own label and sold it for a song. Wente's loss/Charlie's gain. The wine is totally dominated by the botrytis, which typically, at high levels, obliterates any varietal character.
Tom

[Jenise]

Before I got to the Pulpit, my eyes popped off the page at your entry for the Caymus. Had to read it twice to make sure I read "chard" correctly. What an interesting wine--I take it that was your contribution? (Rhetorical question: Who else would have this?)

Before I got to the Pulpit, my eyes popped off the page at your entry for the Caymus. Had to read it twice to make sure I read "chard" correctly. What an interesting wine--I take it that was your contribution? (Rhetorical question: Who else would have this?)

Yup, Jenise...."who else" pretty much says it all !!!
Tom

Hi Tom -

Thank you for the notes. The Bischofliches Priesterseminar Auslese sounds great - I have never managed to find any of their wines, but understand that they were a very good producer back then. Emrich-Schonleber never disappoints me, though I have not had this particular wine of theirs yet.

Just curious: how long have you been holding onto that Caymus Chard?

Hi Tom -
Thank you for the notes. The Bischofliches Priesterseminar Auslese sounds great - I have never managed to find any of their wines, but understand that they were a very good producer back then. Emrich-Schonleber never disappoints me, though I have not had this particular wine of theirs yet.
Just curious: how long have you been holding onto that Caymus Chard?

Uhhhhh..."back then"!!! You're making me feel old, Andrew!!
Bishofliches used to be one of my favorite Mosel wineries. Don't see much of them anymore.
Would have gotten the Caymus Chard around '78 is my guess on release.
When you get BA/TBA levels of botrytis, doesn't make a whole lot of diff if it's Chard/Riesling/GWT/Burger/ThompsonSeedless.
My theory, anyway.
Tom

2. Caymus: This was an interesting wine. Back in '76 (by crackey) WenteBros had made a strong move into the ArroyoSecco area for their white varietals. In '76, they had a block of Chard that developed a strong botrytis infection. They harvested/fermented it anyway. Being that it was a pretty exceptional wine, WentBros had no clue as to what to do with it; so they bulked it out. Crafty ole CharlieWagner recognized how good it was, bought it for a song, and btld it under his own label and sold it for a song. Wente's loss/Charlie's gain. The wine is totally dominated by the botrytis, which typically, at high levels, obliterates any varietal character.

Damn, I miss ol' Charlie Wagner! Tasting his wines in his presence when I was 22 was one of the more intimidating wine experiences of my life (for no good reason, either, other than youthful insecurity). It didn't keep me from coming back and buying his wines, though, which may be why he tolerated this tongue-tied young City Slicker returning every 6-9 months. Outwardly, he was your typical Napa farmer, but behind those eyes lurked a sharp-as-hell winemaker. There aren't many of his type left in the valley any more. (and I don't buy Caymus wines any more, either ) That sounds like a quite an interesting wines, Tom.

Mark Lipton

Damn, I miss ol' Charlie Wagner! Tasting his wines in his presence when I was 22 was one of the more intimidating wine experiences of my life (for no good reason, either, other than youthful insecurity). It didn't keep me from coming back and buying his wines, though, which may be why he tolerated this tongue-tied young City Slicker returning every 6-9 months. Outwardly, he was your typical Napa farmer, but behind those eyes lurked a sharp-as-hell winemaker. There aren't many of his type left in the valley any more. (and I don't buy Caymus wines any more, either ) That sounds like a quite an interesting wines, Tom.
Mark Lipton

Yup...ole Charlie was something else. First wine was his '72, which I was impressed with. Wrote him several notes...no response.
Finally...he deigned for me to do a visit there about '76. I knocked on the wnry door (just an old barn as I recall). He answered the knock.
"Oh yes...forgot you were coming". Ushered me in, spread his hands and said "This is our wnry". Took me over to an upended barrel,
opened a btl of the current release & set down a glass. "Here, try this". And then turned his back on me & walked away over to a recalcitrant corking
machine about 40' away the he & son Chuck were working on. I stood around, shifting from one foot to the other, sampling the glass for about 30 minutes.
Finally, after quite a bit of cursing from over at the corking machine, I went over and thanked him for the tasting. "You're welcome" he muttered, and
turned back to the corking machine. Very weird visit, I thought.
Charlie was a crusty old bastard, old-time Napa farmer...but he was nobody's dummy. I actually ran into him some 8-10 yrs later at an event
and, danged, if he didn't remember me. Go figure!!
Tom