Last Tues we went up to Sue's w/ Laura/P+F to take lunch, which is really just an excuse to wreak havoc in her cellar. We tried:
1. Karl Haidle Riesling Kabinett Pfeffer Stetten/Wurttemburg (VeganerWein; BioWein; A.P.Nr. 94601218; SchatziWineImprts; weingut-karl-haidle.de) Weingut KarlHaidle/Stetten 2017: Med.light gold color; fairly strong R/floral/mango/pineapple fairly mineral/flinty quite aromatic rather complex nose; fairly tart near dry (0.8%-1.0% r.s.?) fairly strong R/floral/mango/pineapple rather mineral/stony/flinty slightly tangy/metallic bit complex flavor; very long strong R/mango/pineapple/floral some mineral/flinty finish; quite an attractive R w/ good balance of R fruit & minerality at a good price. $24.00 (SFW&S)
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2. Woolridge Creek Viognier RogueVlly (12.5%) Winemaker: JF Guerrero; JacksonvilleWineCaves/Jacksonville/OR 1999: Light gold/brown color; rather nutty/oldViog light pear/Viog/floral slight sherry/oxidized rather interesting nose; bit soft rather bitter/oxidized some nutty/oldViog flavor; long rather nutty/toasted hazelnuts/oldViog slight pear/Viog rather bitter/oxidized finish; some interesting oldViog things therein, but a bit too oxidized/bitter, though not totally shot.
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3. Ezio Voyat Chambave Rouge (12%; PetiteRouge + GrosVien) EzioVoyat/Chambave/Valle d'Aosta NV (ca. 1978): Med.ruby color w/ some browning; rather earthy/dusty/loamy slight funky/fusty/mousey rather cedary/oldRed some oldRedBurg slight PetiteRouge/licorice rather interesting if decrepit nose w/ little obvious oxidation; rather cedary/pencilly/oldRed fairly earthy/loamy/dusty slight PetiteRouge/earthy/licorice bit tart/tangy somewhat tired flavor w/ light drying tannins; very long rather earthy/loamy somewhat tired finish w/ light slightly bitter tannins; clearly a wine beyond its prime but still speaks some of PetiteRouge & some interesting things therein.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Haidler: It's pretty rare to see a German wine from Wurttenberg, so I wanted to try this. I was pretty impressed & will try to find more of his wines. The founder, Karl, was a highly-regarded gymnast who would have been on the German Olympics team in the notorious 1936 Olympics save for a broken leg. Current winemaker is Moritz Haidler. The Pfeffer refers not to any "pepper" character, but the name of a local musician of some local fame.
From the Haidler WebSite, it sounds as if they follow the tenets of "natural" winemaking, though they don't explicitly declare themselves as "natural" winemakers. If so, this was one of the cleanest "natural" wines and no signs whatsoever of any natty character. I was rather impressed.
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2. Voyat: This is a very rare wine that I've heard of by reputation but have never seen in the real world. His wines are noted for their longevity. The wines are imported by NeilRosenthal.
MadRose/Voyat
They have no WebSite because daughter, Marilena, refuses to learn the technology.
When Bruce & Sue visited the Val d'Aosta in 1980 or 1982, they visited this estate and hand carried this btl back. When I saw this btl in Sue's cellar, I knew I had to try it. Though it had one foot in the grave, unlike I, it still had a bit of life to it and some interesting things therein.
Tom