Tasted these Penner-Ash wines over the last few days:
1. Penner-Ash Riesling OldVine HylandVnyd/McMinnville (12.4%; www.PennerAsh.com) Newberg 2019: Light yellow color; bright floral/mango/R quite mineral/chalky/stony very strong gout de petrol/Mosel valve oil/petrol very Germanic beautiful aromatic nose; very tart/tangy/bit metallic very fragrant/R/floral/mango very strong petrol/Mosel valve oil some mineral/stony/slatey very Germanic/Mosel totally dry beautiful flavor; very long/lingering very strong R/floral/mango very strong Mosel valve oil/petrol/stony/mineral very Germanic finish; an absolutely beautiful very Germanic/Mosel expression of R; one of the best American Rieslings I've had in quite some time; should go out at least 10 yrs; pretty much a dead-ringer for a good Mosel or Wachau R. nc (NE)/$35.00
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2. Penner-Ash Viognier OR (14.5%) 2019: Med.light yellow color; quite aromatic Viog/pear/floral/gardenias/spicy slight cardamon lovely perfumed nose; ligtly tart strong Viog/pear/ripe peach/floral/gardenias slight mineral/chalky beautiful aromatic flavor; very long/lingering perfumed/pure Viog/pear/ripe peach/gardenias/spicy rather tart/tangy slight mineral/chalky lovely finish; a very pretty floral/perfumed Viog that is way far away from DollyParton territory; reminds some of the Cedarville Viog or the Ampelos Viog, or maybe a bit of the old EdStJohn Viogniers; a really lovely expression of Viog in a very stylish way. $nc (NE)/$30.00
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3. Penner-Ash Viognier OR (14.4%) 2020: Med.light yellow color; much lighter some pear/floral/Viog/ripe peach very slight pungent/smokey more complex less intense varietal nose; more tart/tangy quiet Viog/pear/floral/gardenias/peach/spicy light smokey/pungent/Fr.oak some complex flavor; lightly tart bit restrained/quiet some Viog/pear/peach/floral/spicy slight smokey/Fr.oak/pungent bit complex finish; not quite as intense perfumed Viog fruit and a slight degree of pungent/smokey character that actually resembles like it's seen some toasty/Fr.oak, which I'm sure it has not;a bit quieter but more interesting/complex in character; resembles a bit the Guigal LaDoriane Condrieu but not as intense in Viog fruit and a lot less oak; I liked this Viog just as much as the '19. $nc (NE)/$30.00
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4. Penner-Ash Syrah OR (14.9%) 2018: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry/ripe light cold-climate/black pepper modest toasty/Fr.oak/pencilly slight Rhonish/whole-cluster bit complex quite aromatic lovely nose; lightly tart very strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy/ripe/boysenberry light toasty/Fr.oak slight Rhonish/roasted/w-c bit c-c/black pepper some complex flavor w/ modest tangy tannins; very long/lingering bright/aromatic Syrah/blackberry/bit ripe/boysenberry fairly structured bit peppery/c-c bit w-c/Rhonish/roasted finish w/ modest bitey tannins; can use another 3-6 yrs; reminds a bit of the EdmundStJohn Bassetti Syrahs but not intensely black pepper or structured; a really lovely expression of Syrah much better than much of the crap outta WashState. $nc (NE)/$36.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. A couple of months ago, I got an e-mail from NolanEllis. He was driving down to Houston from OR & wanted to stop thru LosAlamos & meet me & get my advice on wines at Kokoman's. I was more than agreeable to do that as long as there was wine involved. So a couple of weeks ago, we met up on a Sat for lunch at Pig+Fig to share some wine & chat awhile. Wound up lasting well over an hour. We then adjourned down to Koko, I recommended a bunch of wines to him, and then we bid adieu.
Nolan, who is the CellarMaster at Penner-Ash, brought me these four wines from P-A, plus two of his own project, a botrytis Riesling from HylandVnyd. I've not yet tried that one yet, but will soon.
I had had a few P-A Pinots over the yrs & liked them quite a lot, but was never compelled to pursue trying them. Nolan, knowing of my likes in wine from WineBeserkers, put together this selection of current P-A wines. I was pretty much blown away by all four. Particularly the Riesling, one of the most Germanic R I've had from the US in ages, because of its strong petrol/Mosel valve oil signature.
I was also quite impressed by the two Viogniers. I gather from Nolan that there was some question on whether to release the '20 because of smoke-taint issues. It was not as intense/fragrant as the '19, but it had a light smokey character that resembles Viog aged in toasty Fr.oak rather than loads of smoke wafting over the vnyd. I thought it was quite an interesting Viog that I actually liked quite a lot.
And the Syrah was absolutely wonderful, in a bit of a Rhonish style.
Tom