Pulled out another case from my orphan stash. Eureka...a whole case (almost) of RobertBiale '92's. As I rummaged thru them, immediately my attention was grabbed by a....Refosco. So cracked that sucker open immediately:
1. RobertBialeVnyds Refosco Dyer'sFarm/NapaVlly (12.8%; 225 cs; 76 yr old vnyd near Napa; planted in 1916) Napa 1992: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; quite smokey/pungent/oak bit herbal/rosemary/thyme slight cedary/tobaccoy/pencilly some plummy/boysenberry/DrPepper/black cherry cola/licorice some complex nose; lightly tart some cedary/tobaccoy/oldRed bit dried out strong plummy/licorice/boysenberry/black cherry cola slight herbal/thyme flavor w/ light dried-out/astringent tannins; fairly long light smokey/oak some licorice/boysenberry/black cherry cola some cedary/tobaccoy/oldRed fairly complex finish w/ light dried-out/astringent tannins; showing its age & poor storage but some really interesting things still therein. $15.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Refosco or Mondeuse??: There was some confusion in Calif until about 10-12 yrs age over Refosco/Mondeuse. At one time, it was thought that Mondeuse annd Refosco were the same grape variety. It was shown, by DNA typing, that the Refosco that had been distributed in Calif for yrs by FPS was actually Mondeuse..which is not a bad thing.
Back in the 1880-1890 time frame, Prof Hilgard dredged up funding for four experimental vnyds, one in Jackson, others in Paso/Berkeley/SantaCruzMtns. The location of those last three is apparently lost...but the location of the Jackson vnyd, which was abandoned by UC in 1903, was known, tracked down by AustinGoheen in 1963 by researching the library report files at UC/Berkely, where the V&E program was originally located. These documents included a plant-by-plant variety identification map of that Jackson vnyd. Although the vnyd had been abandoned, many of the vines were still surviving. Usin that vine map, Goheen brought back a bunch of (virus-free) vines and propagated them at Davis, one of which was "Refosco". And it was sold for yrs by FPS as "Refosco". But, Goheen had miss-read the map and his "Refosco" was actually Mondeuse. At the present time, FPS does not distribute a true Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. The only planting of true Refosco in Calif that I'm aware is at SteveMatthiasson's home vnyd.
So what the heck is this Biale Refosco?? Obviously, it was planted well before Goheen's screwup. With that 1916 time frame, this plant material at DyerFarm could very well have come from the Jackson experimental vnyd. If so, that could very well be (sorta) astounding news. True old-vine Refosco in Calif.
Biale only made that Dyer'sFarm Refosco (and Zin) in 1992. Of got an inquiry into BobBiale iif the vnyd still exists and anyone I could contact for information. Interesting sleuthing going on here. Does anyone besides me give a rat's a$$??
One more btl left.
Tom