Tried these three ystrday:
1. J.J.Prum WehlenerSonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (QmP; A.P.Nr. 2 576 511 10 89; EA) 1988: Deep golden color; intense Rheingau/buttery some Mosel valve oil/gout de petrol very complex classic oldRiesling nose; tart light Mosel valve oil/petrol buttery/oldRheingau very dry beautiful/complex flavor; very long/lingering honeyed/dried mango/buttery/oldRheingau some valve oil/gout de petrol bit austere/dried out rather tart/tangy finish; more like an old Rheingau than a Mosel; beautiful example of an oldRiesling but starting to dry out a bit. $13.50
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2. AustinCllrs SauvBlanc Botrytis SierraMadreVnyd/SBC (Hrvstd: 10/1.81; SaH: 34.5 Brix; RS: 13.2 Brix; 13.0%) P&B for AustinCllrs by FirestoneVnyd/LosOlivos 1981: Deep gold/bit browning color; intense pickle juice/dill/high VA slight vegetal bit apricotty/botrytis rather complex nose; slightly sweet tart strong pickle juice/dill/bit vegetal slight botrytis/apricotty/honeyed weird flavor; long slightly sweet strong pickle juice/dill/vegetal/earthy slight apricotty/botrytis strange/complex finish; not altogether unpleasant but on the weird side. $11.24/hlf
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3. FirestoneVnyd JohannisbergRiesling TheAmbassador'sVnyd/SantaYnezVlly SlctdHrvst (SaH: 44 Brix; RS: 23.5 Brix; 9.0%) 1981: Dark brown/PX-like color; intense botrytis/apricotty/peachy/honeyed some complex nose; tart rather raisened/pruney/PX-like strong botrytis/apricotty bit dusty complex quite sweet/syrupy flavor; very long/lingering quite sweet some raisened/pruney/PX-like strong botrytis/apricotty/peachy complex finish; a pretty classic old Calif TBA that's still quite delicious. $8.49/hlf
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. AustinCllrs: This wine was made by TonyAustin during hiis reign as Firestone winemaker. Tony was the founding winemaker at Firestone (Andre Tchelichev was consultant) and never gets the recognition he truly deserves for his pioneering work there. He left in the early '80's and AlisonGreen (-Doran) became the Firestone winemaker until around 2000. He started full time as AustinCllrs and then planted the AlisosVnyd up on AlisosCnynRd. Don't know the name of the vnyd now.
This wine has always been a very weird wine. From the start, it always had this strong dill pickle juice character. Not exactly high VA/fumey...just dill pickle juice. I hoped that it might eventually shed that character and the botrytis would come to the forefront. It has not and still remains a very weird wine.
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2. RS as Brix: It always annoys me when the specify the wines RS in degrees Brix. It's the % by weight that we sense sweetness on the palate. They do it because the Brix of the wine is simple to measure. There is a nomograph out there that, given the alcohol % and RS in Brix, you can read off the % of RS in the wine.
Tom