WTN: Two from Edmunds St. John (R&G, Shadow)

[David M. Bueker]

2000 Edmunds St. John Rocks and Gravel - USA, California (11/24/2006)
An excellent showing for this Rhone-style blend from Steve Edmunds. Leather, cherry, rosemary and earth fill both the nose and palate. It's very easy drinking (too easy). Delicious and very fine QPR. I would drink any more bottles of this now as it's so good.

2002 Edmunds St. John Syrah The Shadow - USA, California (11/24/2006)
Very good, but very young. Grapey, with more structure and deeper aromas coming out with air. Great purity. A fabulous value syrah.

Thanx for the notes, David. I just received yesterday what I hope will only be the first of many snail mail ESJ newsletters. It lists some of the available wines, though not the Shadow, which I think was in the last email missive from Steve. I know I would order more ESJ if it was just a little easier to do so... like all the other enabling wineries do... to my CC's chagrin.

[David M. Bueker]

Indeed. At least if Steve could enable paypal it would make things somewhat easier. I would buy a ton of his wines if it was not so hard to do.

Exactly...Steve and others note that all that is needed is to pick up the phone and call.. and it is true, that is not so hard.. but one of those mailers that land in my mail every other week from some winery or other with an order form that one can use to calculate all the costs.. or even in his email messages, an attachment order form with a fax number where it could be returned or even return it via email would make it easier to spend.. .I know ESJ is low tech.. but.. sales could be increased sooooo easily, if you ask me... Or an ordering place on the ESJ website... something... if I were a computer nerd, I would offer to do it for them!!!!

2000 Edmunds St. John Rocks and Gravel - USA, California (11/24/2006)
An excellent showing for this Rhone-style blend from Steve Edmunds. Leather, cherry, rosemary and earth fill both the nose and palate. It's very easy drinking (too easy). Delicious and very fine QPR. I would drink any more bottles of this now as it's so good.

2002 Edmunds St. John Syrah The Shadow - USA, California (11/24/2006)
Very good, but very young. Grapey, with more structure and deeper aromas coming out with air. Great purity. A fabulous value syrah.

David,
I posted a note recently on The Shadow and other ESJs and couldn't agree more with your assessment of The Shadow. Good now/fabulous QPR, and will benefit from a modest amount of ageing.
I have not ried the R&G, but hope to correct that oversight soon.
BP

[David M. Bueker]

A telling point is that the 2000 R&G is my least favorite version of that wine, and I still love it. The 2001 is just amazing, and an early taste of the 2003 is also very impressive.

[Robin Garr]

A telling point is that the 2000 R&G is my least favorite version of that wine, and I still love it. The 2001 is just amazing, and an early taste of the 2003 is also very impressive.

I picked up a 2002 the other day. Kind of wish I hadn't. I know '02 (the year of The Shadow) was a tough one for Steve, but the R&G just didn't make it for me. The back label hinted that - absent the usual Grenache - it might be seen as Burgundian rather than Rhonish. It reminded me more of a Chinon, but I regret to say not a particularly good Chinon.

I'm blaming nature, not Steve ...

[David M. Bueker]

I have not had any of Steve's '02s other than the Shadow. There's lots of '03, '04 and '05 on the way though so look out.

David, where do you get your ESJ?

I've walked down very few Cali isles at wine shops, and never seen any.

Do you mail order them?

[James Roscoe]

David, where do you get your ESJ?

I've walked down very few Cali isles at wine shops, and never seen any.

Do you mail order them?

Joe,
This seems to be a common complaint on the East Coast. I emailed the local distributor and got a rather snippy response. I was told they were readily available at a store I go to on a semi-regular basis. I went the next day and they were out. It seems as if it's not a big name brand thay can't be bothered. The system is screwed up and both the producer and the consumer get a raw deal. If I could find steve's wines easily I would buy them on a regular basis. I guess I will have to look into having them shipped to a friend in Virginia.
Cheers!
James

Joe... the difficulty of finding ESJ wines, even here in CA, has been a common complaint. In fact, on another wine board (to go unnamed, but related to RMP... ), there was a long and spirited debate about what ESJ might do to get its wines in front of more people.

Steve Edmunds, the owner and winemaker, is about as low tech as you can get. If you go to the ESJ website, there is no way to order wines. You have to call or send an email..there is no shipping info... etc. Steve has finally sent out a snail mail newsletter, but it is kind of a paper version of the website.

So... you are not alone. If you want to order, try Wine-Searcher.....

[David M. Bueker]

Joe,

Steve ships to me. The Massachusetts distributor is Violette. They focus on the Boston area, so they might help you out. I tried to get a response from them for my area and had no luck.

And I've discovered that Astor Wines in NYC is now carrying pretty much the whole range of ESJ wines. Picked up a Shadow there yesterday but I haven't opened it yet.

Thanks guys. I'm trying to get things together for my wedding in August (no invites mailed out yet) and am thinking about the Shadow for a good crowd wine.

Best,
Joe

Joe,
I had a bottle last night. The quality, style and price would be right, but I really think it shows better after it's been open a while, a logistical problem for a wedding. Others may feel differently. You might need to stick with the Monfortino.
Charles

Joe,
You might need to stick with the Monfortino.
Charles

Well, if you want to share the wines saved for the wine geeks...

Joe,
I had a bottle last night. The quality, style and price would be right, but I really think it shows better after it's been open a while, a logistical problem for a wedding. Others may feel differently.

I had the same thoughts. A friend got married last week and had asked me to choose the wine so one of my first thoughts was that the Shadow would be perfect, because of price and QPR. However, then the issue of needing something for pop and pour arose (among other things)..

However, if Joe is getting married next year, one would imagine the Shadow will be in an entirely different state of evolution and perhaps have calmed down.

Tough call.

[David M. Bueker]

You know what though...it's so grapey on opening that non-geeks would love it.

Joe, NH sometimes carries ESJ wines. If you use the Product Locator you have to search using keyword "Intuition" . The database has no knowledge of Edmunds but lists the wine as (for example) 38285 Intuition Syrah St John Cal 750ml