Lunch With SteveEdmunds (3/22/12)
When I'm in the BayArea, I typically try to get together with SteveEdmunds to catch up
on things and try his new wines. As we often do, we hit up CafeRouge, one of our favorite places.
The wines we had:
1. Occhipinti SP68 Albanella/Zibibbo Bianco IGT Sicilia (11.5%) Louis/Dresner '09: Med.dark gold/
burnished bronze/orange color; rather earthy/stoney/mineral slight mango/orange peel/apple skin rather
exotic nose; quite dry/austere apple peel/mineral/stoney slight floral/mango rather bitter/tannic flavor;
med.long rather bitter/astringent/austere/lean stoney/mineral some apple peel/floral/orangey finish; served
too cold; the color/bitterness sugests this was intended as an "orange" wine.
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2. SierraVista Syrah ElDorado (12.5%) 1987: Med.color w/ some bricking; lovely/complex some earthy/mushroomy/
ElDorado slight blackberry/Syrah/licorice quite complex/mature nose; slightly tart smooth/velvety bit licorice/
toasty/old Rhone complex/smokey some earthy/muushroomy/ElDorado bit pencilly/cedary complex flavor; med.long smooth/
velvety/graceful some mushroomy/earthy/ElDorado slight blackberry/Syrah quite pencilly/cedary/old wine complex finish
w/ slight tannic bite; a lovely/graceful old lady that is still very much alive and that twinkle/mischevious glint
in her eye to let you know she was one hot chick in her day.
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3. EdmundsStJohn BoneJolly GamayNoir EldoradoCnty 2011: Bright red/purple color; very attractive bright
raspberry/cherry/Gamay slight earthy very fragrant/perfumed nose; fairly tart bright/raspberry/cherry/Gamay/spicy
light earthy/ElDorado vibrant/zippy flavor; med.long bright cherry/raspberry/strawberry/Gamay light earthy very
perfumed/bright/zippy finish; a classic SteveEdmunds Gamay; when you drink this, all you can think about is
frolicing up in the mountains in a field of alpine strawberries w/ Steve's crack marketing director, PamAnderson...
your imagination runs amok at the possibilities.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. AriannaOcchipinti: She is one of the darlings of the "natural" wine movement, on the island of Sicily.
This wine, from the bitterness, seemed to be made w/ skin contact, but not particularly in an oxidative
style. Albanella is not a grape usually found on Sicily I understand. I rather liked this wine and it
didn't have the funky character that many "natural" wines show. Alas, the wine was served rather cold and
the bitterness was a bit off-puting. The '10 version I had the next week, served at a warmer temperature,
was much more attractive.
Tom
