WTN: Misc. Holiday wines + a very cool Cab.

Eight days with in-laws in far NW Ohio is my limit but we did have some few interesting wines:

2007 Turnbull Syrah; from Napa Co. plum and slight sage nose and palate, dark purple with slight bricking at edges. drying tannins, lots of grainy sediment, may smooth out further in 3-5 yrs. abv of 15.1%

2001 Pegau Res; my wine of the week tannins mostly resolved, lots of barnyard complexity (brett?) with some plum fruit, color dark amber/purple with some bricking on edges------wonderful!!

2005 Jacquart Brut Millesime; abundant tiny bead with a lacquer note and some apple fruit on its way to full maturity, very nice and will open another in 3 years

2015 Grow Chardonnay; from the Ruhl vineyard in Napa Co. I have a special affinity for this label. good acidity and style mid-way between crisp Chablis and tropical Cal. may become more interesting in 4-5 yrs. No bubble gum thank God! abv of 14.4

2015 Ginglinder-Fix Gewurztraminer;some slight rs, no rose petal ,nice spicey note, medium bodied hoping for more intersity

2005 Ailioto-Pier Napa Cabernet from Rutherford,.... good fruit but needs another 5+ years, a bit tight now

2013 Ledson Malbec from Dry Cr. Valley 14.5 %abv lots of brambly dark fruit, great intensity but 5+ yrs. from maturity

2014 Mondavi Napa Chard. med-straw color with light citrus/pineapple fruit, just above avg. Cal Chard. 14.5% abv

2014 Ch. St. Jean Chard. just O.K.

2014 Sueno Profundo Res. Napa Cabernet; very cool literally, we got home to S. Ohio after 8 days away and had not turned the geo-thermal furnace ON!! when we left. The whole cabin was at 34 deg.!!! We got our wood stove cranked up and are now finally up to near normal temp. We dodged a bullet as no pipes were broken. The Cab. was very nice but at least 5 yrs. from maturity.

To further celebrate our luck I opened a half bottle of NV "42" Fenn Valley Ice Wine from Mich. that I am told is made from Vidal grapes. The "42" refers to the latitude. dark amber in color with 22% rs and 10.9 % abv...poached/stewed apricots (not like botrytis at all) and with good acidity and very long viscous finish.

Tonight I will open a 2008 H. Blin Millesime Brut Champagne at midnight (or sooner) but will have to get back home promptly to feed the wood stove. Nothing like single deg. tempts to get my attention!................thanks for reading

Eight days with in-laws in far NW Ohio is my limit but we did have some few interesting wines:

2015 Grow Chardonnay; from the Ruhl vineyard in Napa Co. I have a special affinity for this label. good acidity and style mid-way between crisp Chablis and tropical Cal. may become more interesting in 4-5 yrs. No bubble gum thank God! abv of 14.4

Surprised you can find this back there, Jim. Made by MollyHill (Susan’s niece)/SequoiaGrove and LarsBjorkman (her husband)/Saddleback. A lovely well-made Chard.
Tom

Hey Tom, I bought some 2014 from Last bottle and liked it a lot and the label too. Bought a case of 2015 direct and traded e-mails with Lars. He was amazed that my last name was same as their winery. I liked the 2014 better but their 2015 may turn out to compete with it. my new house white!!