Along with Ken Zinns, Eric Lundblad and Steve Edmunds, I went to Bay Wolf in Oakland last night for dinner and wine. Guess what we talked about?
One comment about the restaurant; they did not charge us corkage even though we opened nine bottles and required considerable wine service (decanting, extra glasses, dump bucket, etc.) Hopefully, our server was happy with her tip.
2012 Edmunds St. John, Bone Jolly Rosé:
Sleek, spicy, lovely red fruit, crisp and bone dry. He shoots, he scores!
2011 La Clarine Farm, White Wine
An off bottle. Ken noted that his last bottle was delicious but this one was flawed (and not corky).
2012 Edmunds St. John, Heart of Gold:
Steve’s blend of vermentino and grenache blanc, of which the later was holding court. Clean, clear spring water impression with just a bit of viscosity and nice length.
1994 Edmunds St. John, Zinfandel Amador County:
Mike Dashe would be proud; a lighter weight zin. with berry fruit and spice and the texture of cool cotton sheets. Together, from another time and still fresh – a treat.
2002 Arcadian, Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vnyd.:
Mostly about whole cluster and alcoholic sweetness, this is not my style. Touch of heat.
2009 Ladd Cellars, Pinot Noir Cuvée Abagail:
Eric says its mostly Sonoma Coast fruit; young and has lots of baby fat but the structure and length of this wine tell the tale – a remarkable bottle in waiting. (Liked it so much I bought a case.)
1999 Alemand, Cornas Chaillot:
Regal, intense, complex and of its place; a great wine that is showing much but perhaps not all. Eric was very generous to bring this.
2012 Cowan Cellars, Ribolla Gialla:
A barrel sample that I put in 750, hand corked and applied a label for the sake of the rules; 11.8% alcohol; smells of apricots and cinnamon, has weight and texture in the mouth with hints of vanilla bean to accompany the apricot-like fruit, dry, somewhat tannic, lively acidity and drained quickly by the table. We will bottle this in August and then taste it over the coming months to determine a release date. About 100 cases.
(My first shot at skin-fermented ribolla and I am quite pleased with the result. I suspect this will improve with time in bottle and look forward to having Diane work up dishes that match.)
We don’t do this often enough, gents.
Best, Jim