Went 2 for 8 ysterday night:
1. Ridge Zin AlegriaVnyd/SonomaCnty/Calif (84% Zin/12% Alicante/4% PS; 14.9%; 33 brls; Bttld: Feb 96; Drk: 12/95-12/00-12/03: PD) 1994: Dark color w/ slight bricking; some cedary/pencilly/vanilla/Am.oak slight alcoholic strong blackberry/raspberry/Zin/spicy fairly dusty/OV some complex/matureZin quite attractive nose; soft bit alcoholic/hot rather spicy/blackberry/raspberry/strawberry/Zin fairly vanilla/Am.oak/cedary/pencilly/oldZin complex flavor w/ light/drying tannins; long bit tired/dried out spicy/raspberry/strawberry/Zin some dusty/OV strong vanilla/Am.oak complex finish w/ light/drying/astringent tannins; quite an attractive oldZin/cedary nose but drying out a bit on the palate; still offers up some pleasure but fading into the sunset. $28.00 (ATP)
________________
2. SeanThackrey Orion OldVines Calif Native RW (13.0%; Planted in 1905; mostly Syrah?) Bolinas 1993: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; rather peppery/earthy/old PS/spicy some dusty/OV quite complex slight toasty/Fr.oak no to slight eucalyptus lovely/complex nose; somewhat soft rather toasty/charred/Fr.oak light peppery/oldPS/earthy/dusty bit tangy/metallic/dried out complex flavor w/ light astringent/bitey/bitter tannins; very long some cedary/pencilly/oldRed rather soft earthy/dusty/OV bit peppery/PS some tangy/metallic complex finish w/ light drying tannins; quite an interesting old PS that's still clinging to life but on the downside; a bit like old Ridge YorkCreek PS w/o the vanilla oak; lost almost all its signature eucalyptus character.
_______________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Orion: This is Sean Thackrey's flagship wine. From 1986-1990, it was made from Syrah from Arthur Schmidt's old vine vineyard near Yountville. That was bout out from under him by ClarkeSwanson. So, from 1992 on, Orion was made from the old RossiRanch, which Sean thought to be Syrah. CaroleMeredith & others took a closer look at RossiRanch and determined it to be, in fact, PetiteSirah. The RossiRanch was purchased by JohnWilliams of FrogsLeap around 2010 after the last Rossi (Louise) died in 2007. Don't know if Sean still gets PS from RossiRanch or not.
This Orion displayed loads of eucalyptus character from Sean's open-air wnry in the his eucalyptus grove in Bolinas. Suprisingly, it had mostly lost that character.
Tom