WTN: Preston Syrah-Sirah '87...(short/boring)

Also tried this last night at dinner from my archives:
1. Preston 72% Syrah-28% PetiteSirah DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (EB; 13.3%) LouisPreston/Proprietor, KevinHamel/Winemaker, JohnClendenen/VnydManager 1987: Dark color w/ slight bricking; beautiful/complex strong smokey/vanilla/Fr.oak/charred strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/licorice some smokey/roasted/Rhonish complex nose; bit tart strong licorice/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry very spicy strong toasty/charred/Fr.oak/pencilly/cedary/oldSyrah flavor w/ some gentle/drying tannins; very long/lingering strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/very spicy beautiful oldSyrah/cedary/pencilly smokey/roasted charred/Fr.oak finish w/ light astringent/drying tannins; a beautiful old Syrah nose but some dried out/tannic on the palate & dominated by charred Fr.oak. $11.70 (LM)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Back in the late '80's when KevinHamel was winemaker at Preston, the Preston wines were some of the finest wines made in the DryCreekVlly. After Kevin left, and LouPreston got more interested in bread than wine, the Preston wines went into a long decline. Lou was the first to plant Syrah in the DCV. Not sure where KevinHamel is these days.
The last time I was in the DCV, I stopped into the Preston tasting room. I thought, across the board, the wines were pretty quotidian and nowhere their former glory. Worse yet, the tasting room staff seemed totally uninterested in engaging my questions. But Lou's bread is first-rate.
Tom

I don't have your palate, Tom. I still enjoy the Preston wines. Compared to, say (to name names) Quivera, which claims to be pursuing the same philosophy, his Rhone wines still seem pretty fine to me.

Contrariwise, I am not so sure about the bread!. After a couple of days, I can see using it as a door stopper, a weight for bench press, or maybe an anchor for a small boat!

I don't have your palate, Tom. I still enjoy the Preston wines. Compared to, say (to name names) Quivera, which claims to be pursuing the same philosophy, his Rhone wines still seem pretty fine to me.

Contrariwise, I am not so sure about the bread!. After a couple of days, I can see using it as a door stopper, a weight for bench press, or maybe an anchor for a small boat!

Well, Brian...I'd have to say the Preston wines are, indeed, a step above the Quivera wines. But they could be, and once were,
even better. At one time, the Preston Zin was in the league of Carlisle/Bedrock/etc. I don't think it is anymore.

To tell the truth, I haven't had the bread in some 5-6 yrs now. It's certainly...dense...which is what I like. I was going to buy a loaf when I was there a month ago...but the folks in the tasting room seemed not particularly interested in selling me a loaf, so a bypassed it.

As for your first point, I would most certainly disagree. You probably don't have the history/background that I do...nor the ability to make stuff up!!! But I think your palate is every bit as good as most folks...maybe better.
Tom

LOL. Had the opposite experience vis a vis the bread...sorta. But I lucked out. It was the end of the day, and they just didn't charge me!

There is one young tall, very very thin man who is into cycling seriously, so I always have good conversations there. No problems otherwise, but not much serious rapport, either, otherwise.

I might by comparison look at Ridge, which has zero pretention, is in a beautiful building, and always seems like a lot of fun! They always bring out the extra stuff if one shows interest. Last time there was an older gentleman and his companion engaged in a full on episode...in a good humored, funny way...of The Lockhorns debate over where he had put a bottle of wine! Very funny and fun people!