Tried last night w/ dinner:
1.Gobelsburger Riesling Kamptal (12.5%; http://www.Schloss-Gobelsburg.At) 2011: Med.light gold color; strong mango/pineapple/R some mineral/flinty some petrol/metallic/valve oil lovely complex nose; quite tart/steely/dlatey/flinty some metallic/petrol strong pineapple/mango/R very bright/vibrant flavor; very long intense pineapple/mango/R rather mineral/flinty/metallic/tangy some petrol/valve oil/pungent very tart/austere/steely finish; badly needs 5-15 yrs; a terrific Austrian R at a stupid/silly price. $19.00
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2. JC Cellars Syrah VentanaVnyd/ArroyoSeco (15%) 2008: Very dark/black color; intense blackberry/framboise/boysenberry/ripe/Syrah some herbal/rosemary/oregano bit toasty/charred/oak/smokey somewhat alcoholic/fumey complex cold-climate Syrah nose; fairly tart strong herbal/spicy/oregano/rosemary/pungent intense blackberry/boysenberry/ripe Syrah/framboise bit citric rather charred/smokey/Fr.oak/toasty some alcoholic/hot/fumey some tannic flavor; very long herbal/rosemary/oregano some hot/fumey intense boysenberry/blackberry/ripe Syrah strong charred/oak bit tannic/hard finish; speaks strongly of herbal/Ventana Syrah; a bit alcoholic but very good for the price. $17.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Ventana: JeffCohn recently had a half-price sale on his wines and this one was $15. A steal at that price. Like many of Jeff's wines, it is pretty intense/extracted and a bit over-the-top; but that's his style and he does it better than most anybody else.
The VentanaVnyd is, truly, one of Calif's great Syrah vnyds and the first authentic/cold-climate Syrah vnyd in Calif. Back in the early '80's, I was walking the VentanaVnyd w/ DougMeador and he proudly showed me this few rows of scraggly vines. "Syrah" he said w/ an impish grin. I gave Doug this cock-eyed look and asked him if he was crazy. "Everybody knows that Syrah is a warm-climate grape!!!" As we stood there shivering in the cold wind, he said "We'll see what it does". Several yrs later, when I tasted his first Ventana Syrah, I thought "holy $hit". It had a very peppery/herbal character, loads of structure, and was one of the truly unique Syrahs up till then from Calif. Ventana is no longer the coldest Syrah planting in Calif, but it still gives up unique Syrah and Jeff does better w/ those grapes than anyone. DougMeador was an incredible visionary. Wish more folks would try those Syrah grapes.
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2. Gobelsberger: A Kokoman rec from PrestonCox. I'm going back for more. This wine's a keeper. It reminded me a lot of Alsatian Rieslings, back in the good ole days (by crackey) before the Z-H style became dominant, back when they were bone-dry and had a screechy acidity. Those were wines that (were cheap and) would age effortlessly for yrs. Those this Gobelsburger is loaded w/ fruit, it's a bit of a pain on the palate. But I have little doubt it'll be going strong at 10-20 yrs.
Tom