WA: Jeb's SBC Reviews
It was pretty predictible in the wines he liked & didn't like. He, of course, went off-scale for Manfred's wines, heaping
scores upon them in the 96-100 range.
What I found most amusing in the article was his review of BobLindquist's Qupe wines:
"While good, I found most of these releases from Qupe to lack depth and richness."
Well.....doh...these are Qupe wines, after all. They're not about power/extract/richness/blackness. They're about balance/finesse and ageibility.
He characterizes the Sawyer-Lindquist Viognier '13 (87) as "quaffable, focused and easy drinking that lacks any real character". This wine, to me, is almost of the level of the Failla AlbanVnyd Viognier, one of the best Viogniers being made in Calif. It (the Qupe) is restrained, relatively high in acidity acidity, and underwhelming...at this point in time. I have little doubt that, w/ 5-10 yrs of age, it will be mightly impressive. But is definitely not a DollyParton Viognier, which Jeb tends to like.
He gives the BienNacido Hillside Roussanne '11 all of 88 pts, dismissing it with "Where's the beef??". I think that Bob's BN Hillside Roussanne is, yr in & yr out, with age, one of Calif's greatest Roussannes.
He similarily deprecates the Sonnie's Syrah '11 (89) and the BienNacido X-Block Syrah '11 (89) as a wine that "could use additional ripeness" and admonishes you to drink them in the next 3-5 yrs.
I thought Jeb's reviews of Bob's wines to be a total and absolute joke and the work of a rank amateur who has little, if any, experience w/ the Qupe wines as they accumulate some age. Bob's wines are not about power & extract and over-the-top fruit, but of elegance & balance. They are, in most cases, not very impressive in their youth because of that, but, with age, evolve into some of the finest Calif Rhones that are being made and probably some of the best wines Bob has ever made. Not that I would know...I've only followed Bob's wines from the very start...the '82 PasoRobles Syrah...which was a smoking wine at 20 yrs of age.
Jeb also takes a few shots at AdamTolmach's wines for their lack of "richness and texture". He is also "disappointed in these new releases" by LarrySchaffer's Tercero wines, characterizing them as "mid-weight and superficial efforts".
There are a number of significant omissions fro Jeb's reviews: SeaSmoke, Ampelos, Palmina, ClosPepe, MartianRanch, Solminer, Tatomer..wineries that should be included in any serious discussion of SBC wines.
One of the other amusing things in Jeb's reviews is his incessant use of the term "smoking" in describing wines and wine values. That's not a commonly used term in the wine lexicon that I can recall.
All in all, Jeb is to be congratulated in this review of SBC wines in that the transition from the "ParkerPalate" to the "DunnuckPalate" appears to be absolutely seamless and folks who highly value the WA's review of SBC wines will not be disappointed.
Tom