Tasted at dinners over the last few days:
1. Darby Marsanne BousheyVnyd/YakimaVlly (14%) 2009: Med.light gold color; lovely floral/honeysuckle/rather Roussanne-like light appley/earthy/stoney nose; fairly tart appley/mango/floral/honeysuckle light mineral/earthy/stoney flavor; very long stoney/earthy/mineral rather floral/honeysuckle/mango finish; more like a Roussanne than an appley Marsanne; lovely/lush RhineBlanc. $23.00
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2. FrancoisVillard LesContours de Deponcins Viognier VdP: CollinesRhodaniennes (13.5%) 2008: Med.light gold color; light/low-key Viog/peach/pear slight mineral/Condrieu-like attractive nose; soft some gentle/pear/peach/Viog light mineral flavor; somewhat short light pear/peach/Viog slight mineral finish; a pleasant enough/gentle Viog but not a Condrieu wannabe. $28.00
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3. Ojai Calif Syrah RollRanchVnyd (13%) 1996: Med.dark w/ slight bricking; some pungent/smokey/oak slight blackberry/Syrah somewhat old/tired/cedary nose; tart rather dried out/tired/astringent some toasty/smokey/oak some cedary/old wine flavor; med.long tired/dried out/astringent little fruit rather smokey/oak finish; pretty tired/dried out and rather gone/gone.
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4. Carlisle TwoAcres RRV RW (15.4%; Mourv/PS/Valdepenas/Refosco/AlicanteBouschet; 78 cs) 1998: Med.dark color w/ some browning; some plummy/Mourv light toasty/oak tobbacoy/cedary/cigar box fairly complex nose; soft rather plummy/Mourv/licorice/bit chocolaty light toasty/oak/charred fairly smooth bit tannic/astringent some tobaccoy/cedary complex flavor; med.long bit tannic/astringent attractive plummy/Mourv/licorice some tobaccoy/cedary/old wine finish; an interesting/complex wine that's getting a bit along, but noot the dramatic statement of old Mourv I was expecting.
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5. J.J.Prum GraacherHimmelreich Auslese Riesling (A.P.Nr. 2 576 511 02 06; EA; 7.5%) 2004: Med.yellow color; rather petrol/slatey/steely some floral/Riesling/pineapple fairly complex nose; fairly sweet quite tart/steely/slatey light floral/Riesling/pineapple light gout de petrol fairly complex flavor; med.long sweet somewhat gout de petrol/Mosel valve oil light floral/pineapple/Riesling finish; a quite nice Riesling showing some maturity and a nice touch of petrol. $29.00
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6. Ridge Calif Zin LyttonSprings (80% Zin/12% PS/5% Grenache/3% Carignane; DryCreekVlly; 14.1%; 35% EstateVnyd/40% NortonRanch/25% MapleVnyd; Bttld: March'93; Drk: 2/93-2/98-2/03: PD) 1991: Med.color w/ some bricking; lovely cedary/tobaccoy/old Zin smokey/oak/DraperPerfume spicy/cinammon/blackberry/Zin complex nose; tart lovely/complex cedary/cigar box/old Zin light blackberry/Zin/spicy/cinnamon fairly smooth balanced flavor; very long spicy/cinammon/blackberry/Zin some smokey/oak/DP complex finish w/ light tannins; lots of old Zin character but not dried out and started its journey into spinsterhood.
$15.50
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7. BaldassariFamilyWines Syrah NolanVnyds/BennettVlly (www.BFWWine; 260 cs; 14.7%) Kenwood 2007: Dark color; strong spicy/blackberry/Syrah slight earthy/peppery/green olive/cold-climate fairly strong charred/toasty/oak attractive nose; fairly tart spicy/blackberry/Syrah rather hard/tannic/bitey fairly charred/toasty/oak flavor; med. somewhat tannic/hard light peppery/blackberry/Syrah fairly charred/toasty/oak finish; a pleasant/quotidian/straightforward Syrah, but just that, at a fair price. $19.00
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Oops..nothing profound for the BloodyPulpit today.
Tom