Tried these three older Rhones Mon night at DinDin:
1. Jaffurs Viognier SantaBarbaraCnty (14.3%) Craig Z.Jaffurs/SantaBarbara 2003: Med.gold color; somewhat nutty/toasted hazelnuts/bit oxidative fairly strong Viog/peach/pear fairly floral/carnations rather complex nose; bit soft fairly strong floral/Viog/carnations/peach/pear bit nutty/oxidative/toasted hazelnuts slight tangy/metallic bit honeyed fairly rich/lush slightly off-dry some complex quite interesting flavor; very long/lingering soft slight metallic/tangy some oxidative/nutty fairly floral/Viog/peach/pear rather complex finish; in amazing condition for am 18 yr old Calif Viog.
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2. Tallulah Syrah DelRioVnyd/OR (15.0%; www.TallulahWines.com) SantaRosa 2004: Quite dark color w/ some bricking; some smokey/oak fairly strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy some cedary/pencilly/oldRed slight graphite/Rhonish/Cornas-like/pungent rather complex nose; fairly tart/tangy rather cedary/pencilly/oldRed some Rhonish/Cornas/pungent bit blackberry/Syrah/spicyslight peppery flavor w/ light tangy tannins; long fairly strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy bit cedary/pencilly/oldRed bit complex finish w/ light tangy tannins; starting to show its age but in pretty good shape for 17 yrs old; nothing that shouts OR in this Syrah.
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3. Tallulah Syrah SonomaCoast (14.5%) 2004: Slightly less dark color w/ light bricking; strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy light toasty/oak bit earthy/Rhonish/smokey/pungent more youthful bit c-c/black pepper some complex nose; rather tart slight cedary/pencilly/oldRed strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy some black pepper/c-c bit Rhonish/pungent/smokey/roasted some complex flavor w/ light bitey tannins; very long/lingering fairly tart fairly strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy/black pepper bit Rhonish/pungent finish w/ light drying tannins; rather more interesting & some c-c/black pepper character; starting to show a bit of age but still holding together well for 17 yrs of age.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Jaffurs: This was a a classic DollyParton Viog in its youth, intense Viog/floral huge fruit. The folklore would tell us that this wine should be dead & gone. Those folks feeding us folklore are not always right. This was a very interesting fully mature Viog in amazing condition w/ still loads of Viog fruit.
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2. Tallulah: This was a real trip down memory lane. This was a wnry run by MikeDrash, originally of DeLoachWnry. He was making his wines at the custom-crush facility in SantaRosa where MikeOfficer originally made his wines. I first met MikeDrash there on a visit w/ MikeOfficer & he suggested I try the Tallulah wines, which I did & liked them. These two were all I have remaining from that original purchase.
Somewhere around 2014, Mike moved to Minnesota to make wines at ChankaskaCreekWnry. He continued part-time to make his Tallulah & Aratas wines but I think he has dropped those labels as best I can tell.
Both these Syrahs showed some of their 17 yrs of age but still hanging in there pretty well.
Tom