Kinda curious. Don't never see nothing on the shelves from DavidBruce. I took a look-see at their WebSite and it's loaded w/ stuf from the '03-'09 vintages, but hardly anything of recent vintages. Looks pretty moribund there. Anybody know what's going on, first hand, at DavidBruce these days? I presume they're still in business?? Is David himself doing OK?? At one time, I think he had a son who was taking over the wnry? The WebSite scarcely mentions David himself on it.
I, of course, followed DavidBruce from the very start. He was a practicing dermatologist and started as a home winemaker in the early '60's makining wine from...gasp..Concord grapes, that reportedly people could not tell was non-vinifera. His passion was PinotNoir which he planted up on his Estate, which also included Cabernet/Chard/WhiteRiesling. Those wines back in the late '60's-late '70's were mightly impressive. His Pinots were very Burgundian in character which, I guess, is not a compliment these days if you're making Calif PinotNoir. He made amazing WhiteRieslings. Barrel fermented/barrel aged in toasty new Fr.oak...many people hooted & hollered at this perversion of the great German grape. He pushed the extract/alcohol boundaries w/ a series of '69-'71 Zin/Grenache/Carignane/PetiteSirah, mostly from MaryCarter's Gilroy grapes.
He held tastings on Sunday afternoons in his home around the dining room table, one of which I had the privledge of attending in the mid-'70's. His vnyd developed a problem w/ Pierce's disease and had to be completely replanted (boo hoo...no more Riesling). In the late '70's, he made a couple of GWT's from Mendocino grapes that were extraordinary...though w/ some oak to them. In the '80's the wnry sorta lost its way and the wines were not very exciting.
AnyHoo....anybody know what's going on at DavidBruce first hand?? Or is it just a wnry whose day has come & gone??
Tom