Tried also last night:
1. AmadorFoothill Aglianico Estate/ShenandoahVlly/Calif (175 cs; 14.4%) 2008: Very dark/black color; light pencilly/oak strong earthy/rustic chocolaty/blackberry/spicy quite interesting nose; fairly tart some tannic intense chocolaty/blackberry/almost Syrah-like structured rather earthy/rustic/sauvage spicy interesting flavor; very long rough/earthy/tannic some chocolaty/licorice/blackberry finish; needs several yrs; a rather rough/rustic/sauvage red but has none of the hot-climate/goat pen/unclean character many of the Italian versions show. $28.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. It's been many a year since I've tried an AmadorFoothill wine. I have, of course, followed them from the very start. Ben & Katie Zeitman were a winery well before their time. It was founded back in the late '70's right behind LeeSobon's ShenandoahVnyds. Back in those days, the glory days for Montevina and ShenandoahVnyds, the classic Amador Zins were made in a big/ripe/alcoholic style.They were some of my favorites. They were cheap.
But Ben&Katie always marched to the tune of a different drummer. Their wines were always always made in a tighter/leaner/lower-alcohol style than was prevalent in the ShenandoahVlly in that time...long/long ago. They were not as rich/opulent as the others. But, I found out, they just need some time in the btl to age. Many of their Zins evolved into really lovely wines with time. Now that lower-alcohol/more restrained wines are this week's hottest thing with some wine writers...they should make the effort to discover the wines of AmadorFoothill. Except that AF is not "new"...so that'll never happen.
When I was up there last week, Ben &Katie were there in the tasting room when I dropped in. It was nice to get caught up on things. I tasted thru some of their wines I found to be pretty much true to form in the style they've always had. Maybe not the flashiest wine upon release....but I think they'll age, as always, just fine.
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2. Aglianico: This grape variety from SouthernItaly seems to be picking up interest these days in Calif. The ones I've tried thus far (Ryme, Rosa d'Oro, AmadorFoothill) all seem to show deep/black color and tend to be pretty big wines. It's a grape variety that I think shows very good potential in Calif. I think the Ryme has probably been my favorite. But the other two have certainly been no slouches. Not yet tried the Giornatta.
Tom