KenShultis allowed me to have free reign in his wine cellar last Sat. I eschewed the Lynch-Bages & Haut-Brion '66's and two Barolet red burgs from the '40's in favor of:
1. Martin&Weyrich Nebbiolo PasoRobles (13.6%) Winemaker: Craig Reed 1999: Med.color w/ some bricking; light floral/rose petal/lilacs/bit licorice some tarry/pungent/smokey pretty classic oldGattinara complex nose; bit tart some dried rose petal/pungent/tarry slight floral/lilacs slightly dried-out flavor w/ light bitey/astringent tannins; very long slight tart/dried-out very dried rose petal/pungent/light tarry slight floral/lilacs complex finish w/ light drying tannins; very much like an old slightly tired Gattinara but in remarkably good condition, all things given. $10.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. NickMartin released the first varietally-labeled Nebbiolo in 1982, made from CentralVlly grapes. His first PasoRobles Estate Nebbiolo was the '86 and gave the first indication that Nebb had potential in Calif. In the late '80's, Nick parted ways w/ his brother Tom and Weyrich bought into the operation. So this was (presumably) made from Estate grapes after Nick was no longer winemaker.
CraigReed started out mowing the lawn at MartinBros wnry when he was 17, whilst his Mom ran the tasting room. He started hanging out in the wnry (a whole lot cooler in there than out on the lawn) and then became AsstWinemaker under Nick. He now is winemaker at PacificWineCompany there in Paso.
After Nick departed, the M&W wines took a plunge in quality & I pretty much abandoned them. The Nebbs were hard as nails and showed little fruit. So I expected this wine to be pretty much shot. It was not. Clearly on the down side and a bit tired, it had a lot of character like an old Gattinara and was quite a pleasure to drink.
I also opened from Ken's cellar a M&W Moscato Allegro '98. Still quite sweet and pretty burnished bronze in color; it, too, was still holding fine and a real pleasure to drink...a bit like a lighter Muscatel de Setubal.
Tom