Tried three other wines w/ Susan over the weekend:
1. Drew Albarino ValentiVnyd/MendocinoRidge/AndersonVlly (12.4%; 70 cs; www.DrewWines.com) Elk 2010: Med.light yellow color; attractive floral/Albarino some mineral/chalky/stony slight mango/pineapple perfumed nose; fairly tart rather lush floral/Albarino/mango/pineapple light mineral/chalky/stony flavor; med. stony/mineral rather floral/Albarino light mango/pineapple/tropical fruit finish; very attractive Albarino; has the floral/stony character of Spanish and the rich/texture/lush character of Calif; seems a bit riper/lusher and less austere than the '09. $30.00
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2. WindGap PiccoloBastardo Fannuchi-WoodRdVnyd/RRV (1.5 brls/38 cs; 13.5) PaxMahle/Forestville 2010: Light copper/orange/salmon slight browning color; very fragrant/perfumed spicy/cinammon some earthy/dried mango/dried figs slight oxidized very exotic nose; quite tart strong spicy/cinammon/nutmeg rather dried figs/mangos slight tannic quite exotic flavor; very long rather tart some tannic earthy/dried mango/cinammon/spicy quite perfumed very exotic finish; quite an interesting wine that I think should age into something even more interesting. $32.00
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3. Novy Syrah NapaVlly (14.5%) 2009: Dark color; strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light pencilly/toasty/oak somewhat simple nose; fairly tart bit tannic/hard fairly strong blackberry/Syrah light pencilly/oak somewhat edgy/tight bit simple flavor; med.long hard/tannic/tight rather strong blackberry/Syrah light pencilly/oak finish; rather simple & tight Syrah but at a very fair price; needs maybe a yr or two of age. $18.00
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A wee BP:
1. NovySyrah: I, as a rule, like Adam's Syrahs quite a bit. Amongst his tableau of Syrahs, I almost always find the Napa
Syrah and the Page-Nord about the least interesting. They're not bad wines...they just don't have much that I find interesting, a bit on the simple side. This one was just such a Syrah; though the tannic sructure would give me hope that it'll evolove into something more interesting.
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2. Bastardo: This is the grape that is most commonly found in Madeira and to a lesser extent in Ports. Also known as TrosseauNoir. This wine is undoubtedly made from TrosseauGris, the lightly pigmented version of Trousseau. It was once widely planted in Calif where it was known as GrayRiesling.
This wine was made w/ extended skin contact. This should result in a wine w/ some significant tannins. So I served it at room temperature to ameliorate then tannins, which was the right decision.
Tom