WTN: LimerickLane Zin SonomaCnty '10..(short/boring)

Now here's a name you don't hear much of anymore:
1. LimerickLane Zin SonomaCnty (14.5%; www.LimerickLaneWines.com) B by LimerickLaneCllrs/Healdsburg 2010: Med.dark color; rather vanilla/Am.oak attractive strong blackberry/Zin/spicy bit chocolaty/ripe quite spicy/Zin nose; soft lots of vanilla/Am.oak very spicy/blackberry/raspberry/Zin slight dusty flavor w/ light/smooth tannins; very long ripe/blackberry/raspberry/Zin very spicy rather Am.oak/vanilla bit tannic finish needs several yrs; more like the OldHill Bambino or a basic Bedrock Zin; quite a nice old-timey Zin at a fair price. $26.00 (SFW&S)
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Not quite sure what's going on here w/ this wine.
The original vnyd was planted there on LimerickLane (as in lime rick...not as "There was a young lady from France, who."...yada yada yada), just beyond the ChristopherCreek property, presumably on the RanchoSotoyome Grant, by the DelFava family in 1910. The Collins brothers bought the property in the mid-'70's and started making wines from those grapes. Subsequently, they also planted Syrah in there.
I used to buy lots of the Collins Zins back in the '70's-'80's. They were absolutely delicious old-time Zins...the kind Morgan makes these days. They sorta fell from my radar and I hadn't seen the label around at all for the last few yrs.
This Zin showed up in SantaFe the other day. But it was not the old LimerickLane label, but a new one featuring an old/antique corkscrew. Fair enough...I thought I'd give it a try. I was rather impressed by the wine...like the old LimerickLanes of yore.
According to their WebSite (www.LimerickLaneWines.com), the Collins have sold the vnyd back into the DelFava family third generation. Yet I'd heard from a local friend (Raph) that LimerickLane had just been sold to the Bilbro's of MariettaCllr fame. WTF???
Mystery solved. The bright & shining (unidentified) face of the new LimerickLane property owners is none other than...ScotBilbro, brother of Jake, son of Chris...two old...errrrr....long-time friends.
This is all very good news. Great to know that LimerickLane is, once again, in very good hands.
Some 10-15 yrs ago, the Collins planted a block of Furmint there at LimerickLane. The wine was actually quite interesting and rather expressive of Furmint...the most tannic of the white varieties (according to DarrellCorti). They don't say on their WebSite what happened to the Furmint. I'm going to be incensed if they pulled it. Old vine Calif Furmint could be a very interesting wine.
Tom

Fascinating. I knew the owners of Limerick Lane had sort of got into the position of going under during the late recession, and they sold a couple of years ago. I was wondering what had happened there. l liked their wines in the early '00s. Maybe next time I need a Foppiano fix. (They seem to be doing better after some rough times.)

Heard back from JakeBilbro w/ a few details:
1. Currently, the fruit off GibsonRanch is going into the MariettaCllr wines (Old Vine Red??), w/ a bit being sold to some select wineries.
There will eventually be some new wines from GibsonRanch grapes. They also own the McDowellVllyVnyds brand name as well. This vnyd is a National treasure, w/ the oldest planting of Syrah in Calif, and it seems to be in very capable hands once again.
2. They are keeping the Furmint at LimerickLane (there is also some Harsleveu in there) and are, in fact, expanding the plantings. And some of the grapes are also going to some very capable winemakers: Matthiasson/Carlisle/Bedrock/Biale/Siduri. All very/very good news.
3. Jake & Scot (note spelling) have bought out the family and are now sole owners of MariettaCllrs. I have, of course, followed ChrisBilbro from the very start and suspect that he makes his thoughts/opinions known to Jake & Scot.
Tom

Is Gibson vineyard the same as Collins vineyard?

Is Gibson vineyard the same as Collins vineyard?

The GibsonVnyd is up in MendocinoCnty and what was the source of grapes for McDowellVllyVnyd
over the yrs. Run by BillyCrawford until he got into financial difficulties a few yrs ago. It has a block
of Syrah that dates back to the late 1800's. Also a very old block of GrenacheGris that Donkey&Goat
make a pretty good rose from.
CollinsVnyd is the one there on LimerickLane.
Tom

Ah, thanks. More stuff to tuck into the dusty attic and forget about.