We tried last week (2/23/11) Some CoastviewVnyds wines:
5. Le P'Tit Paysan Chard MontereyCnty (14.1%) C&B by ChualarCanyonWines/Soledad 2009: Light gold color;
light appley/Chard/celery/tropical fruit/melony no oak nose; tart/lean/tangy/citric some appley/Chard/celery/
melony/tropical fruit slight mineral flavor; med. appley/celery/Chard/tropical fruit finish; shows good
Monterey celery character and no obvious oak; a pleasant Chard at a more than fair price. $15.00
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6. CoastviewVnyd Chard MontereyCnty (14.1%; 145 cs) Soledad 2009: Med.light gold color; fairly lush melony/Chard/
fragrant slight chalky/mineral/earthy slight spicy/nutmeg no oak nose; tart fairly rich ripe/melony/Chard/lemony
light smokey/oak rather racy/spicy/zippy flavor; long rather spicy/melony/Chard/lemony bit spicy/nutmeg fairly
tart/lush zippy/bright perfumed finish; a very attractive bright Chard at a fair price. $24.00
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7. CoastviewVnyd Terraces Chard MontereyCnty (14%; 120 cs) SantaCruz 2008: Med.gold slight cloudy color; strong tobaccoy/
smokey/oak/pungent very strong melony/Chard/spicy slight earthy/minerally slight perfumed talc very attractive/perfumed
nose; tart some toasty/smokey/tobaccoy/oak fairly rich/lush ripe/melony/Chard flavor; very long some tobaccoy/pungent/
oak tart/lush ripe/melony/Chard/spicy/perfumed talc slight earthy finish; noticible oak but in balance w/ the strong
fruit; a bit like some of the old Chalones but w/ less oak and more acid. $35.00
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8. Le P'Tit Paysan Meritage RW CoastviewVnyd/MontereyCnty (14.5%) SantaCruz 2006: Dark color; strong herbal/Cab/
blackcurranty/tea bit green strong toasty/Fr.oak bit minty/menthol somewhat earthy/gout de terroir/Bdx-like nose;
fairly tart rather hard/tannic strong pencilly/toasty/oak herbal/Cab/blackcurranty earthy/Bdx-like/peppery/cloves
rather interesting flavor; long pretty hard/tannic toasty/charred/oak rather herbal/Cab/blackcurranty earthy/peppery/
cloves finish; needs some age yet; rather earthy/Bdx-like interesting Cab at a fair price. $24.00
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9. Le P'Tit Paysan PetiteSirah MontereyCnty (14.5%) Soledad 2008: Very dark color; strong herbal/spicy/cloves bit peppery/
PS/pungent/earthy some toasty/oak slight chocolaty/DrPepper quite interesting nose; quite tart rather hard/tannic/rough
somewhat toasty/oak some herbal/peppery/cloves/earthy flavor; long pretty hard/tannic/rough some peppery/cloves/
DrPepper/earthy some toasty/oak earthy finish; needs much age; a bit like the early Ventana PS's, more like a Savoie
Mondeuse than anything; quite an interesting wine that'll be interesting to see where it goes; great price if you
want to gamble on its manifest destiny. $18.00
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10. CoastviewVnyd NorthBlock Syrah MontereyCnty (14.5%; 120 cs) SantaCruz 2007: Dark color; very strong plummy/blackberry/
black cherry/Syrah slight spicy/herbal/rosemary light toasty/oak slight earthy quite interesting nose; fairly tart
plummy/blackberry/black cherry cola/Syrah light toasty/oak slight herbal/spicy/rosemary/earthy some tannic/rough flavor;
pretty long fairly tart some tannic/structured strong plummy/blackberry/black cherry cola somewhat earthy/rustic slight
herbal light toasty/oak finish; not the herbal/citric qualities of SantaLuciaHighlands Syrah; more like Cabot's
HumboltCnty Syrah, some like the AlderSprings/MendoCnty Syrah, w/ a bit of sauvage/rustic Cornas character; a pretty
big interesting Syrah; will be interesting to see how this ages; fairly priced at $29.00.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Several weeks ago, we had tried the wines from ThacherWnry down in Paso. One of them was a Syrah
from CoastviewVnyd in MontereyCnty, that I liked quite a bit. Never having heard of this vnyd, I
assumed it was in the SanAntonioVlly/SanLucas area of southern MontereyCnty; an area I've been
pretty underwhelmed by their Syrahs. If so, this would have been the first Syrah from this area
that made an impression on me.
But I was totally wrong. This is a fairly new vnyd due east of Chualar, up in the Gavilen Mtns
above the SalinasVlly, not too far north of the Chalone/Brosseay vnyds and south of JoshJensen's
CaleraVnyd in the MtHarlin area. The winemaker for the operation is IanBrand, a person I'd met
on WineBerserkers. RichardJennings has a very nice blog on his visit w/ Ian at Coastview vnyd
last Aug:
http://rjonwine.wordpress.com/2010/08/0 ... ian-brand/
So I ordered up a case of the current releases to try with my group.
The LeP'TitPaysan wines are Ian's wines from purchased grapes. Very reasonably priced I thought. Fun label.
In the CoastviewVnyd wines, I was looking to identify any of their terroir. Failed completely. Because of
their altitude, I thought they might resemble the SantaLuciaHighlands. They did not show much similarity that
I could find. Nor much similarity to the Chalone wines...back when they were one of Calif's best labels.
Of the wines, I thought the Syrah was the best and the most interesting. Worth laying down a few to see
where they go. Clearly, this is a winery worth following I think.
Tom