Tried these two over the weekend w/ Susan:
1. KingFamilyVnyds Viognier Estate/Monticello (Skin-contact; 14%; SmallBatchSeries; #34 of 2700; KingFamilyVnyds ) Crozet/VA 2017: Med.bronze color; strong phenolic/resiny/skin-contact/bit cidery some Viog/peach/pear/spicy/poached pears/canned peaches quite attractive nose; fairly tart/tangy strong phenolic/skin-contact/resiny some pear/peach/Viog/floral complex flavor w/ light bitey tannins; very long somewhat phenolic/resiny/skin-contact light pear/peach/Viog/poached pear slight grapefruity/citrusy some complex finish w/ light tannins; distinctly phenolic but a nice balance of floral Viog fruit; quite an attractive skin-contact white. $nc (BEB)/$35.00
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2. StinsonVnyds Wildkat Rkatsiteli Monticello/VA (skin-ferment; 12.9%; 75 cs; www.StinsonVineyards.com) Crozet/VA 2016: Golden/bronze color; modest phenolic/resiny/skin-contact some haymow/new mown hay/bit herbal some stony/Rkats/earthy/dusty quite interesting nose; bit soft somewhat phenolic/resiny/skin-contact somewhat earthy/stony/Rkats bit herbal/haymow/dusty quite interesting flavor w/ light tannins; very long light phenolic/skin-contact/resiny some stony/earthy/haymow/herbal rather unusual finish w/ light tannins; seems to have minimal skin-contact; not much floral fruit, typical of Rkats; shows the stony/earthy/mineral side of Rkats quite well; a quite interesting expression of Rkats. $nc (BEB)/ $28.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Over a week ago, a package arrived via UPS on my doorstep of "art supplies". These two btls were a gift from Boyce (BEB), knowing my penchant for skin-contact whites. I thought these two were as good as any of the skin-contact whites from Calif I've tried. Some/many of the skin-contact whites are quite austere & tannic and a bit hurtey to drink, particularly from Friuli & Slovenia. These two were not that at all.
I've had the MarthaStouman skin-contact Viognier, that I liked quite a lot. I think aromatic grapes like GWT/Viog/Riesling/Muscat make particularly good skin-contact whites because the aromatics come thru and are not dominated by the phenolics.
I've tried quite a few skin-contact Rkats from Georgia (the country) and find many of them painfully austere. Many show a lot of oxidation, especial if they've spent an extended time in qvervi. This Stinson was maybe one of the best skin-contact Rkats I've yet tried.
So thanks, Boyce, for widening my horizons.
Tom