Tried some wines last night from the archives, including:
5. ColoradoCllrs GrandGame (Uncommon Austrian Varietal/Lemberger; 12.5%) JimSeewald/Palisade/CO
1988: Med.color w/ slight bricking; rather earthy/dusty/loamy/wet pavement classic Lemberger bit Zin/
blackberry/ruhbarb slight toasty/oak complex nose; tart quite earthy/loamy/wet pavement/dusty/mushroomy
light toasty/oak slight blackberry/ruhbarb/Zin bit herbal/plastic rather smooth flavor w/ little tannins;
fairly long rather earthy/loamy/dusty/mushroomy slight blackberry/Zin/grapey/ruhbarb complex finish w/
smooth/soft tannins; speaks very strongly of Austrian BlauFrankish w/ the earthy/loamy character; an
absolutely amazing Lemberger that's still very much alive.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I have, of course, followed Colorado wines from the very start. That would be IvancieCllrs, located in
Denver and using grapes purchased from Calif, often from the Stag'sLeapDistrict. Dr.GerryIvancie was
a successful Denver dentiist and started as a home winemaker, before going commercial in the early-mid-'70's.
He hired as winemaker a StJohn's/Annapolis graduate and foil fencer and amateur winemaker from Chicago,
who was transitioning from his position as Prof of Philosophy at Univ of Chicago, a dead-end profession, to
the much more fertile career as winemaker. This winemaker, Dr.WarrenWiniarski, went on to achieve a small
modicum of success in the NapaVlly when his Ivancie gig was completed.
The next wnry, and first true CO wnry, was ColoradoCllrs, also based in Denver. It was founded by a home
winemaker, JimSeewald, who ran a supply shop there for home winemakers. He had convinced some farmers on the
WestSlope, near Palisade, CO, to plant some grapes for him, from which he sourced for his wines.
As I was pulling wines from the archives for this tasting, I stumbled across this lone btl and thought
I'd throw it in as a joke; convinced that it was absolutely dead & gone. When it was young, this wine was
loaded w/ ripe/grapey/blueberry flavors; not particularly tannic or structured. But, it's a CO wine and no way
could it have survived 24 yrs of cellaring. But what a friggin' surprise this wine was. It was totally alive,
quite complex, very reminiscent of young Austrian BlauFrankisch; a real pleasure to drink. An absolutely
astonishing wine...who'd have thunk.
Tom