We tried last night (7/13/16) Some New White Wines:
1. DryCreekVnyd SauvBlanc DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (SaH: 23.8 Brix; Frmtd: 92% SS/8% barrel; 14.5%;
TA: 0.62; www.DryCreekVineyard.com) Healdsburg 2015: Light yellow color; very strong herbal/mineral/bit weedy/
aspargras/classic SB nose; fairly tart/lean rather herbal/weedy/aspargras/classic SB bit mineral flavor;
very long herbal/weedy/aspargras/classic SB bit mineral/stony; more towards the NZ SB spectrum. $nc (KS)/$18.00
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2. DryCreekVnyd Fume Blanc/SauvBlanc SonomaCnty (13.5%; Vine age: 17+ yrs) 2015: Med.light yellow color; lighter
less stony/herbal more figgy/melony/ripe light oak rather quiet/low-key more interesting nose; less tart some
figgy/melony/SB lightly herbal light oak slight tangy/metallic flavor; long somewhat figgy/melony/ripe/SB
lightly herbal finish; a more ripe quiet expression but more interesting SauvBlanc; quite a lovely SB at
a great price. $nc (KS)/$14.00
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3. DryCreekVnyd SauvBlanc Taylor'sVnyd/MusqueClone/DryCreekVlly (425 cs; 14.1%) 2014: Med.light color; very fragrant/
perfumed floral/SB/melony almost muscatty light toasty/oak quite lovely nose; softer/riper very lush very strong
floral/SB/melony slight muscat-like/floral light toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering ripe/lush/balanced
quite floral/melong/SB light toasty/oak finish; very perfumed almost muscat-like aromatics; a beautiful
rendition of Calif SB. $nc (KS)/$28.00
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4. HarborWnry Semillon LivermoreVlly (13.6%) WestSacramento 1989: Deep golden/burnished bronze color; intense
butterscotchy/caramel/honeyed/oldSemillon/nutmeg toasty/oak some oxidized/aldehydic nose; soft rather oxidized/
aldehydic caramel/butterscotch/oldSemillon rather bitter flavor; very long oxidized/aldehydic strong caramel/
butterscotchy bitter finish; pretty oxidized but not in a good way; very aldehydic & rather bitter.
$nc (DC)/$9.00 (CB)
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5. Tahbilk Marsanne (1927 Vines; 10.5%; www.Tahbilk.com.Au; www.Epic-Wines.com) Nagambi Lakes/Victoria 2005: Med.light
yellow color; very strong figgy/appley/pungent/waxy some valve oil/shellac/gout de petrol bit oaked very young
nose; very acidic/screechy strong figgy/waxy/appley/Marsanne light oaked/vanilla flavor; very long gout de petrol/
valve oil very waxy/figgy screechy/acidic/steely some vanilla/oak finish; a screechy/acidic white w/ absolutely
no redeeming features...now; should be a glorious old Marsanne w/ age, though; one just has to believe. $33.80 (CB)
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6. DryCreekVnyd Chard DCV Estate Block 10/RRV (100% barrel frmtd; 85% malolactic; 14.5%; TA: 0.62;
SaH: 23.7 Brix; 1253 cs) 2014: Med.yellow color; lovely perfumed light toasty/pencilly/oak very strong
ripe/melony/lemony/pear/Chard light spicy/nutmeg very attractive nose; rather lush/ripe very melony/
lemony/classic Chard bit spicy/nutmeg light toasty/pencilly/oak very balanced restrained flavor; very
long/lingering ripe/melony/Chard/pear/spicy light pencilly/toasty/oak finish; a beautiful balanced/
restrained/nuanced Chard at a great price. $nc (KS)/$24.00
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7. Els Bassots Dd'O: Conca de Barbera (13%; Lot 201307; www.IndieWineries.com; CheninBlanc; Natural)
Celler Escoda-Sanahuja/Catalonia/Espana 2013: Med.gold rather cloudy color; light CB/melony some funky/toejam
bit pungent/smoked hot dogs/SO2 maybe a bit phenolic very overripe apples very strange nose; rather soft very
overripe/rotted apples slight melony/CB some earthy tangy/metallic flavor; med.long rather funky/earthy/toe jam
slight melony/CB overripe/soft/rotted apples dreadful wet dog fur finish; not a good arguing point for natural
wines, way overrpriced at $41.00 (BergA)
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8. Michele Alois Caiati Pallagrello Bianco IGP: Terre del Volturno (L229; 13%; www.ViniAlois.It) Alois/
Pontelatone/Campania 2014: Med.dark gold color; quite fragrant/perfumed pear/peach/Viog-like bit earthy/metallic
rather complex/interesting nose; rather soft ripe/lush pear/peach/mango almost Viog-like/floral bit earthy/coarse
flavor; very long pear/peach/Viog-like/mango bit coarse/earthy finish; loads of Viog-like fruit; resembles a
Lodi Viognier more than anything; very fair price at $14.50 (Vino)
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9. LeMorette Mandolara Dd'OC: Lugana (12.5%; L257.15; ToscoWines; Turbiana or Trebbiano di Lugana grape)
Valerio Zenato/Peschiera del Garda 2014: Light yellow color; rather stony/earthy quite perfumed/fragrant floral/
mango/pineapple quite attractive nose; bit soft light stony/mineral/earthy/herbal very perfumed/floral/pineapple/
mango bit complex flavor; very long/lingering light stony/mineral soft/lush perfumed/floral/pineapple/mango
finish; one of the best Verdicchios I've had; very fairly priced at $25.00 (EVN)
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10. Patricius Tokaj Sarga Muskotaly Dry Q WW (13.5%; www.BlueDanubeWine.com; www.patriciustokaj.com/tokajiwines/)
Tokaj/Hungary 2009: Light gold color; quite fragrant muscatty/floral bit stony/earthy/mineral rather complex
lovely nose; quite dry lush/fruity/muscatty fairly tart slight tangy/metallic bit earthy/stony complex flavor;
very long/lingering rather floral/muscatty light stony/earthy lovely finish; not an in-your-face Muscat and
resembles some a Malvasia d'Istriana; very reasonably priced at $18.00 (CB)
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11. Brkic Zilavka Citlucka/MostarRegion/Herzogovina (12.8%; www.Brkic.ba; www.BlueDanubeWine.com) Josip Brkic/
Citluck 2014: Med.light gold color; some earthy/funky slight phenolic/skin-contact/resiny earthy/spicy complex nose;
somewhat tart/lean/austere rather phenolic/resiny/cidery quite dry/austere slight appley/stony flavor w/ light
astringent tannins; very long tart/lean/austere dry light appley some phenolic/resiny/cidery finish w/ light
bitey tannins; clearly a skin-contact white but more of a skin-contactLite; some like the Movias; quite an
interesting wine that badly needs food. $19.00 (BergA)
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12. Cotar Vitovska grgonja Dezelno Vino Primorska (12.0%; www.Cotar.Si; U) Branko & Vasja Cotar/Gorjansko/
Slovenija 2007: Deep golden/burnished bronze somewhat cloudy color; slightly oxidized very phenolic/resiny/
cidery/pungent very exotic/orangey/candied orange peel/lemon curd quite complex nose soft very phenolic/resiny/
cidery quite orangey/lemon peel/honeyed/lemon curd very complex/exotic flavor w/ strong tannic bite; very long/
lingering orangey/lemon curd/honeyed very phenolic/resiny soft/rich/lush finish w/ ample hard/tannic bite;
quite phenolic in character and badly needs food; a very exotic orange wine. $30.00 (Ord)
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More blatherings from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. FumeBlanc: According to the JancisRobinson book, DaveStare was the first person to name his dry SauvBlanc as
FumeBlanc, as in Pouilly-Fume. This is not correct. In '68, RobertMondavi made a dry (they'd been off-dry before),
barrel-frmtd SauvBlanc, but realized that marketing it could be difficult. So he coined the name Fume Blanc" to
denote this change in style. To his credit, he did not trademark the name and allowed others to freely use it.
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2. SauvMusque: This is a particularly aromatic clone that was "discovered" by DougMeador/Ventana, lurking on the
grape variety list of UC/Davis FPS. He planted it in Monterey & very much preferred its strong aromatic character.
It has been planted w/ greater frequency in Calif but seldom labeled as Sauv Musque. There is also a Chard Musque,
though I've never heard of a Chard made from this clone in Calif.
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3. DryCreekVnyds: I have, of course, followed DCV from the very start, when DaveStare released his '72 GamayBeaujolais.
I think now, under winemaker TimBell, DCV are consistently making the finest wines they ever have. Across the
full spectrum of varietals. And still reasonably priced.
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4. Tahbilk: I've had some 30 yr old Tahbilks that are utterly amazing. This is about the youngest Tahbilk I've tried.
At 10 yrs of age, it's showing hardly any evolution whatsoever.
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5. Els Bassot: I couldn't resist this wine at BergamotAlley in Healdsburg because I'd not had a Spanish CheninBlanc
before. This is a prime example of the dark side of natural wines; a wine that could lead a Monktown attourney
to a foaming-at-the-mouth rant and lead SweetAlice to ecstasy. It definitely has a bacterial problem. Makes one
wonder about the attraction of natural wine. I may get another btl as a poster child for natural wines.
Tom