Tried these two last night w/ dinner:
1. Sarah'sVnyd Chard SantaCruzMtns (13.8%; www.SarahsVineyard.com) 2009: Pale gold color; some toasty/butterscotch/pencilly/Fr.oak strong lemony/melony/Chard somewhat earthy/chalky light spicy/nutmeg interesting/unusual nose; fairly tart/lean rather earthy/chalky light lemony/melony/Chard some toasty/butterscotch/Fr.oak attractive flavor; med.long chalky/earthy/dusty classic SCM Chard light lemony/melong/Chard quite tart/lean/mineral finish; needs 5-10 yrs of age; quite attractive now but likely to get much better; a tart/racy Chard but yet has a certain richness to it. $29.00 (MX)
__________________
2. JCCllrs Zin IronHillVnyd/SonomaVlly (14.8%) 2009: Very dark color; very strong/fragrant rather herbal/rosemary strong toasty/oak intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin very spicy/rosemary/pungent quite aromatic nose; soft rather herbal/rosemary/thyme/savory strong Am.oak/toasty/vanilla extract intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin/spicy slight alcoholic fairly tannic/structured flavor; very long intense herbal/rosemary/thyme very strong blackberry/boysenberry/Zin/spicy rather toasty/Am.oak/vanilla somewhat tannic/hard bit alcoholic finish; needs 3-8 yrs; no overripe character or jaminess for that alcohol level; fairly priced at $35.00
____________________________________
And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Sarah's: This is a Chard that MX at Enoteca recommended to me. I was quite taken by it. It reminded me, because of its lean fruit and chalky/earthy character, a lot of the Chards that DaveBennion used to make from MonteBello Chard grapes (as distinguished from Jimsomare grapes, the source of MonteBello Chards these days) in the late '60's/early '70's. Those wines used to age incredibly well.
_________________
2. JCCllrs: This is one strange Zinfandel. One that I found rather interesting, atypical of SonomaVlly, and actually liked quite a lot. It had a very strong herbal/rosemary streak and actually spoke more of the Ventana Syrah Jeff makes than classic SonomaVlly Zin. Not a wine that'll appeal to everyone.
I used to find Jeff's wines a bit on the alcoholic & over-extracted side, w/ quite a lot of oak. Though his wines still often show healthy levels of alcohol, I'm finding them much more nuanced and interesting, maybe even a bit eccentric, than they used to be.
Tom