Shared this last night at BacchusBadBoys:
1. SineQuaNon Twisted&Bent AlbanVnyd/SLOCnty (14%) elaine & manfred Krankl/Ventura 1997: Med.dark gold/burnished bronze color; strong charred/smokey/toasty/burnt/Fr.oak some oxidized/nutted/toasted hazelnuts/toasted coconut/ZagNut Bar old Rouss very complex fairly fresh/little fruit beautiful nose; quite tart/tangy intense smokey/toasty/charred/burnt/Fr.oak intense toasted hazelnuts/nutty/oxidized/old Rouss quite complex beautiful flavor; very long/lingering oily/textured/viscous very intense oxidized/nutty/toasted hazelnuts/oldRouss intense toasty/charred/burnt/Fr.oak/tobaccoy very complex fairly tart some oxidized complex finish; somewhat oxidized (in a good way) Rouss; surprisingly youthful; would be interesting to try alongside an Alban Rouss '97; pretty amazing wine that words fail you. $60.00/$800.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Not sure exactly what the composition is on this wine. Some sources indicate it to be Roussanne. Other sources label it as 60% Roussanne/40% Chard. I didn't think that JohnAlban's Chard was producing yet in '97. It tasted more of old Rouss to me than anything.
This was a pretty amazing wine. It was dominated by the charred oak and the oxidative/old Rouss character. But there was a lot of other things going on in it that words fail to describe. But certainly no recognizable fruit remaining.
Tom