DaveYates & family drove into town to help Larry celebrate his BD. There was wine involved:
1. Fetzer Zin RicettiVnyd/Mendocino (12%; SaH: 22%Brix) RedwoodVlly 1973: Med.light color w/ lots of bricking; strong earthy/dusty very much old wine some cedary/pencilly/old Zin nose w/ little fruit left; strong earthy/dusty/cedary/pencilly/old Zin tart bit dried out/metallic smooth/gentle/old Burg flavor; long earthy/dusty/mushroomy/damp cellar bit drie out/metallic complex finish; served to me blind, this reminded me of a middlin' village RedBurg from the early '90's; obviously not much fruit left and a hollow shell of its former self, but amazingly good for an old Zin. $4.50
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2. Qupe Syrah BienNacido HillsideEstate/SantaMariaVlly (EB; 13.5%) 1998: Dark color w/ little bricking; lovely smokey/roasted/some Rhonish/coffee strong blackberry/Syrah beautiful complex classic old Qupe nose; fairly tart smooth/graceful strong smokey/roasted/pencilly/bit Rhonish strong blueberry/blackberry/Syrah light green olive/peppery/roasted chile bit tannic flavor; very long bit tannic strong smokey/roasted/coffee/green olive/light Rhonish strong blueberry/blackberry/Syrah complex finish; changes dramatically in the glass as the Syrah fruit comes to the forefront; lovely Syrah that's probably as good as it'll get. $35.00
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3. PaulJaboulet LesCedres AC: CdP (13.5%) 1970: Med.light color w/ some bricking; rather smokey/earthy/garrigue very complex some mushroomy/truffley almost brett-like/damp cellar nose; soft rather earthy/dusty/mushroomy/truffley/pungent bit dried flowers some dried out/tannic/hard bit metallic flavor; long delicate/elegant/complex smokey/earthy/dusty/mushroomy bit dried-out/tannic finish; a beautiful smoothness and complexity but starting to dry out somewhat.
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4. Jaffurs Roussanne StolpmanVnyd/SYV 2004: Med.gold color; very rich/lush flowery/honeyed/waxy/figgy very fragrant some complex nose; soft/rich/lush/mouthfilling waxy/figgy/honeyed some floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne flavor w/ light toasty/oak; very long rich/lush waxy/figgy/honeyed some floral/honeysuckle rather complex finish; developing a wonderful honeyed/waxy character w/o the nutty/toasted hazelnuts character old Roussanne can shor; wonderfully evolved Roussanne that should go another 5-8 yrs.
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5. Ficklin Calif Port EarlyFicklin TintaPort (Bttld: Feb 1955; 20%; Lot 5; Btl#1138; Signed: DF) NV: Med.light brown color; very raisened/pruney/very ripe very tawney Port bit smokey/Madeira-like very complex nose; very slightly sweet/near-dry slight alcoholic raisened/pruney old tawney Port beautiful complex flavor; very long/lingering slightly sweet near dry raisened/old tawney Port very complex finish; much like Portugese old Tawney Port w/o the alcoholic character they usually show; a wonderful/beautiful old Calif Port.
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6. Ermitage de Vetroz AOC: Valais Les Ruinettes (13%; Fletri sur souche) Serge Roh/Vertroz/Suisse 2007: Med.gold color; beautiful some passito/raisened slight herbal/hayloft earthy/spicey slight funky/damp cellar quite interesting nose; slightly sweet tart some raisened/passito bit earthy/pineapple/mango/cotton candy quite interesting/complex flavor; vey long/lingering fairly sweet very ripe/passito-like raisened/pineapple/dried mango complex lovely finish; reminds me some of Caluso Erbaluce Passito w/o the earthiness and more raisened fruit; a beautiful dessert wine. $46.00/500ml
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And the wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The old wines were from a SantaBarbara cellar that Dave & Larry purchased together under fire-sale conditions. Some of the others I've had w/ them from this cellar have been outstanding. Some have been so-so. Alas, the old btl of the PaulMason Very Cold Duck (a premium blend of Calif Champagne and Cold Duck) NV we also opened was pretty shot. No CO2 present, color of PaloCortado sherry, but w/o any characteristics of a fair-to-middling PaloCortado. The btl code on the bottom of the btl (date the btl was manufactured) indicated @72. So this VeryColdDuck was around vintage '71 most likely.
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2. Fetzer: BarneyFetzer's first vintage was '72, as I recall. A miserable rain-drenched vintage. His '72 was actually pretty good, though light. And cheap. Barney was a retired lumber executive and I was always amused that his Zins were loaded w/ a ton of oak...appropriate for a lumber guy I thought.
With the '73 vintage, Barney released 3 single vnyd Zins..this Ricetti, a Zeni, and a LaLonis. They were as good as any Zins being produced in Calif at that time. And did I mention they were...cheap??
Barney also made some pretty good PetiteSirahs during that period when the first great wines were starting to come out of Mendocino. What happened???
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3. Qupe/Jaboulet: These two wines were paired w/ sauteed mushrooms on a pancake. The earthiness of that dish paired well w/ both wines. The Qupe was a very classic old Qupe w/ lots of cedary/smokey character. Sort of a ersatz-NorthernRhone character...would not have been confused w/ a NorthernRhone I think. It still had plenty of fruit left and seemed a bit simple compared to the Jaboulet. It probably won't get a whole lot better over the next 5-8 yrs I would guess.
The Jaboulet had a slight funky character that almost resembled brett, but don't think it was. A beautifully complex wine that I doubt will improve any more.
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4. Ficklin: DaveFicklin (now there's a name you don't hear much of anymore) was the first to plant classic Portugese Port varieties in Calif back in the '40's, down in Madera in the SanJoaquinVlly. His speciality was RubyPort, which was quite good from my recollect. He always kept some old Port aging in barrel in sort of a Solera system. This btl was Lot 5, which I presume was the Fifth lot of old Port that he released. Bttld in '55, it would be Ports mostly from the late-'40's to early-'50's.
Took a look-see at their WebSite (http://www.Ficklin.com) and they have a ton of different stuff for sale, including chocolate sauce. I should order some of their wines to try...for old times sake.
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5. Calif Port: Back in those days (by crackey), Ficklin was regarded as the Primo port producer in Calif. My experience was only w/ their Ruby Ports, which I liked quite a bit. In fact, both ChristianBros (Brother Timothy)/NapaVlly and PaulMasson/Saratoga also made some pretty impressive Ports, but from non-Portugese varieties.
In the early-'70's, there were a number of producers who wanted to make authentic/PortugesePort-like Ports. AndrewQuady/RussWoodbury and JimOlsen/J.W.Morris Port Works were their names. Instead of using high-proof/neutral grape spirits, their emphasis was on using low-proof neutral brandy, brandy that contained more congeners/high alcohols. Russ argued that the variety used in Port was irrelevant and focused on Zin/Cabernet/PetiteSirah. Jim used whatever grapes he could get his hands on, mostly from KenToth's BlackMtnVnyd. Andy was focused on using Portugese varieties.
I have a very complete collection of those primo Ports from the mid-late '70's. I oughta get together w/ RoyHersh sometime and taste thru them with him.
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6. Vetroz: This is a wine I stumbled upon at DarrelCorti's last June and had to try it. Ermitage is the Swiss name for Roussanne. There was no signs of botrytis present that I could tell. Seems to be more like a LateHarvest/passito wine.
SergeRoh is the owner/winemaker. His WebSite (http://www.vins-roh.com/) indicates a very/very interesting tableau of wines. I'd love to try some more of them.
Tom