Served this last night as a mystery wine after a stunning tasting of BalancedWineSlctns whites:
1. Forlorn-Hope PetiteSirah LesDeuxMatieux Mr.T'sVnyd/SuisunVlly/SolanoCnty (14.7%) Calistoga 2006: Very dark/black color w/ no obvious bricking; strong toasty/oak intense peppery/plummy/classic PS/bit chocolaty light earthy/herbal/thyme rather spicy complex nose; bit soft/fat intense plummy/PS/blackberry/peppery some toasty/oak flavor w/ modest ripe/bit rough tannins; very long/lingering some toasty/oak intense plummy/PS/blackberry/peppery/bit chocolaty light earthy/herbal/thyme some complex finish w/ some ripe/bit hard tannins; still has yrs to go before the tannins are fully resolved; loads of intense PS fruit but avoids the oafish side of the PS grape.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The two Matthews are Matt Rorick & MattDees, winemaker at Jonata. They were buddies in Vit school and made this wine jointly. Not sure where in Calistoga it was made, though. Mr.T's vnyd refers to the TennbrinkVnyd, where MattR. eventually started making his wine afore his move to Murphys in CalaverasCnty. I think there was some problem that forced them to use Mr.T's...like the Tennbrink's fear it might sully the reputation of their vnyd or something.
This wine reminded me a lot of some of the old-timey Stags'Leap PS's, though maybe not the structure of those old ones. Starting to show a bit of complexity but still a pretty monolithic wine.
This wine was, I recall, from my first purchase of Matt's wines. Did I mention I followed him from the very start?? I have to thank JonBonne for the original mention of Forlorn-Hope in one of his columns.
I like many of the PS's that comes from the SuisunVlly. With all the cherrys they grow there, it would be a no-brainer to make, using PS rather than LaCrima, a Visciola. Ya listening Matt??
Tom