Tried over the last two nights w/ dinner:
1. Jaffurs Syrah ThompsonVnyd/SBC (14.9%) 2000: Very dark/black color w/ no bricking; some toasty/charred/smokey/pencilly/oak strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/peppery rather perfumed slight alcoholic nose; soft ripe/spicy/blackberry/blueberry/Syrah bit peppery/pungent slight dusty/earthy/smokey some charred/toasty/pungent/oak slight alcoholic flavor w/ light/drying tannins; rather long slight rough/tannic strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/peppery bit spicy/cinammon/rosemary some smokey/toasty/pencilly/oak/charred finish; still pretty primary & not much complexity but plenty of blackberry/Syrah fruit; bit of alcohol showing and maybe starting to dry out a bit; a big/rough/burly kind of Syrah that may never come together. $26.00
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2. Brewer-Clifton PinotNoir SantaMariaHills/SantaMariaVlly (13.2%; #578) 1997: Med.light rather brown/murky color; very strong toasty/charred/Burgundian/oak/smokey/pungent light tomatoey/old Pinot/earthy rather complex/interesting nose; tart fairly/smooth/elegant lightly tannic strong toasty/charred/Burgundian/oak some earthy/tomatoey/old Pinot/dried rose petal/pungent slightly dried out flavor; long strong Burgundian/toasty/charred/oak/smokey some tomatoey/old Pinot/rose petal/earthy bit dried out/tannic finish; on its last legs but still delivers some pleasure and an interesting old Pinot. $27.00
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A wee BP:
1. B-C: Followed their wines from the very start, when they first showed them at an early WineCaskFutures tasting. Also showing there for the first time was a young AndrewMurray. Think that's the tasting where I first met BernieRoth as well. Know there's a name you don't hear very much anymore.
I liked the B-C wines, Chard & PinotNoir. Very classy packaging, wooden boxes, the whole shebang. The wines were pretty big and somewhat alcoholic, but not over the top big. When they became sorta culty and the prices seriously escalated, I pretty much quit buying them. I try their Chard from time to time and still like them quite a lot. The recent Quensa Chard was quite a good wine and at $30 (marked down from $60), I'd buy more.
Tom