Fellow WineBerserker, ZachScheiner, was in town for a conference, so Susan&I had him over for dinner last night. The food was simple/adequate, the wines a mixed bag/generally good, but the company was splendid. We tried:
1, Failla Viognier AlbanVnyd/EdnaVlly (14.3%) 2007: Med.dark gold color; rather mineral/earthy some fragrant Viog/peach/pear/spicy slight nutty/toasted hazelnuts some complex/aged Viog w/ no obvious oak; rather tart/lean earthy/mineral very light pear/Viog/spicy light nutty/hazelnuts very low-key/subdued flavor; med/short some earthy/chalky/mineral very light pear/Viog biit nutty/toasted hazelnuts fairly textured/structured finish; a rather attractive aged Viog nose but delivers little on the palate annd not much fruit remaining; sorta an OaklandWine...there's no there/there; as not evolved well and little future that I can tell...yet not oxidized or over the hill..just doesn't deliver much.
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2. broc Roussanne ElDorado (20 days of skin contact; #1082 of 1750; 12.5%) 2011: Med.gold/burnished bronze color; rather earthy/mineral slight orangey/cider/appley slight nutty nose w/ no Roussanne character as I recognize it; slight tannic/phenolic/perfumed talc/apple somewhat earthy/granitic/nutty slightly coarse flavor; long somewhat tannic/phenolic/apple peel/perfumed talc rather earthy/stoney/nutty finish; quite an interesting white w/ no Roussane character that I recognize.
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3. Dom.Bott-Geyl GWT Furstentum AC: AlsaceGrandCru (13%) 2001: Deep gold/amber color; very attractive spicy/GWT/hair oil/ripe/nutmeg/cinammon slight nutty/oxidized classic old GWT fairly complex nose; soft rich/lush off-dry bit nutty/oxidized strong spicy/GWT/hair oil complex aged flavor; long off-dry rich/lush aged GWT/hair oil/ripe/spicy/nutmeg rather complex finish; a quite rich/lush/off-dry lovely aged GWT/complex but a bit too close to the Z-H paradigm for me; probably not going to get any better or develop more complexity.
$24.00
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4. Jaffurs Syrah SBC (14.6%) 2003: Med.dark color w/ no bricking; lovely spicy/cinammon/blackberry/Syrah some toasty/pencilly/Fr.oak/smokey slight roasted/coffee/Hermitage-like fairly complex mature Syrah nose; soft bit tannic/dried out strong smokey/pencilly/charred/toasty/oak some blackberry/Syrah light roasted/smokey flavor; fairly long strong smokey/charred/toasty/oak/pencilly some blackberry/Syrah/licorice/pungent bit tannic/astringent/dried-out some complex finish; a lovely mature Calif Syrah on the nose but starting to dry out somewhat; drink up now.
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5. Harrington Tannat 1010Vnyd/PasoRobles (14.4%; www.HarringtonWine.com) 2011: very dark color; some hot-climate/unclean/goat-pen/barnyardy/sweaty leather/horsecollar rather ripe/plummy/black cherry quite aromatic interesting nose; soft bit unclean/goat-pen/hot-climate/barnyardy fairly plummy/black cherry/bit chocolaty/licorice light toasty/oak slight earthy/rustic flavor w/ modest tannins; very long some goat-pen/hot-climate/earthy/barnyardy/horsecollar/leather/animale fairly plummy/black cherry/jammy light toasty/oak finish w/ light tannins; a very unusual expression of Tannat; speaks a lot of SouthernItalian/hot-climate reds; a very interestng red that needs several yrs of age,
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6. Seifried Riesling Nelson "SweetAgnes" (WinemakersCollection; Vnyd Established in 1973; 10.5%; www.Seifried.NZ) Nelson/NewZealand 2010: Med.dark gold color; lovely lightly honeyed/botrytis/apricotty light R/floral slight earthy rather complex beautiful nose w/ some old R character; quite sweet rather tart light honeyed/botrytis/peachy/apricotty spicy/floral/R bit Mosel valve oil quite beautiful flavor; very long/lingering rather sweet tart strong honeyed/botrytis/peachy/apricotty bit complex/Mosel valve oil/petrol finish; should go out 10-20 yrs; a beautiful botrytis R that is not intensely botrytized and still shows some R/floral character. $30.00/hlf
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. broc: This was a wine that Zach brought from his visit there in Berkeley a week ago. This is a white made w/ skin contact thru its fermentation. This is a wine I've been wanted to try ever since KenZinns gave me a head's-up on it. Zach said that ChrisBrockway insists it is not an "orange" wine because it is not oxidized in the Gravner/Radikon paradigm. I yield to Chris on his definition.
Like most white wines I've tried made w/ extensive skin-contact, this one was devoid of any varietal character...at least as I recognize Roussanne varietal character. This seems to be a marker for skin-contact whites...their varietal character is obliterated....or, at least, varietal character as most people recognize it. Maybe this broc is the characteristic of skin-contact Roussanne...beats heck out of me. I'd like to sometime line up a tableau of skin-contact whites and, knowing what varieties are present, try to identify them as to variety. I expect I would fail miserably.
If you worship at the altar of varietal typicity, you'll not like this wine. If you worship at the altar of terrior, you'll probably not like this wine. If your worship at the altar of tasty/good-drinking/interesting wines, then tis wine's for you.
Like many skin-contact whites, this has a rather tannic/phenolic character...not really bitter or astringent, though. That oftentimes makes them tough to taste on their own. I actually thought the tannic character was rather minimal, given the length of skin contact. There was just enough of a tannic/phenolic bite to make it interesting. And as is usually the case w/ these wines, you don't want to serve them at customary white wine temps, but at cool room temperature.
I actually liked this wine quite a bit w/ the food (roasted carrot/sweet potato soup and tarte flambee). A fascinating wine that I kept going back to try again & again....always a good sign in a wine.
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2. Tannat: This wine was a bit of a puzzle to me. I'm pretty familiar w/ the Tablas and the RockWall Tannats. Given my experience w/ BryanHarrington's wines, I was expecting thiis to taste like a Tannat made by a Pinot producer. Generally, I get in the Calif Tannats a plummy character. This was definitely there in this Tannat. But it also had a hot-climate/SouthernItalian character that reminded me of Aglianico or Nero d'Avola. I don't think Zach was getting that character, though. Despite the seemingly negative descriptors, I actually liked this wine quite a lot. Didn't go w/ the food and needs a piece of beef or a spicy tomatoe-sauce dish. This was another wine that Zach brought. I have one in my taasting lineup to try, so was quite eager to try this one. Not what I expected, but pretty interesting and quite tasty.
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3. Seifred: This was a NewZealand producer that I'd never tried before. I was quite taken by this dessert wine. A light touch of botrytis and plenty of floral R character.
This had a closure that I'd not yet seen before last Sat. It is the same screw-cap that PeterRosback/Sineanne is now using for his whites. Not nearly as ugly/cheap-looking as the Stelvin screwcap. The outside capsule is smooth w/ no visible threads and looks like the same capsule that's used on the VinoLock closures. Inside the screwcap/capsule are threads made of plastic. According to Peter, they are much more robust and resistant to banging around (one of the weak parts of the roll-on Stelvin closure that it's easy to break the seal if the screwtop is roughlt treated any). Looks like the wave of the future.
Tom
