Tried these two over the last week:
1. Garretson Syrah BassettiVnyd/SLOCnty HdR Cuvee (13.5%) 2000: Black some murky/brown color; rather bretty/horsecollar/barnyardy intense black peppery/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry some Toasty/Fr.oak interesting/lovely/complex nose; rather unclean/bretty/barnyardy soft quite rich blackberry/boysenberry/liquer/ripe/Syrah off-dry extracted some peppery/cold-climate smokey/toasty/oak attractive smooth flavor; long rather unclean/bretty/barnyardy dense/peppery/boysenberry/Syrah soft/snooth finish w/ modest/smooth tannins; starting to dry out a bit; some very attractive cold-climate/ripe Syrah character but a bit too unclean/bretty for me. $32.00
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2. Garretson Syrah TheAisling PasoRobles (14.1%; Am.oak) 2000: Very dark some murky/brown color; rather alcoholic/hot/fumey very ripe/jammy/boysenberry/Syrah some vanilla/oak bit rootbeer/DrPepper interesting nose; soft/fat somewhat hot/alcoholic/fumey bit tannic/dried out light fruit/ripe/jammy/boysenberry/Syrah bit root beer light vanilla/oak flavor; med.long hot/fumey/alcoholic some boysenberry/Syrah/ripe/jammy/Paso bit tannic/drying out finish; some interesting things therein but pretty much cracking up on the shoals of alcohol & overripeness; just too hot & fumey for me. $20.00
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The wee BP:
1. Both of these wines were closed by those abominable Supremcorq; those hard/plastic plugs that are a bear to remove from your corkscrew...resulting in frequently slashed fingers. Both had a murky/brown color to them, indication some significant oxidation. But neither had any signs whatsoever on the nose or palate of being pre-maturely oxidized.
Both were somewhat attractive on the palate initially, save for the indicated flaws. But within an hour of opening; both had lost most of those attractive qualities and were headed South in the decanter pretty fast.
Tom