Dipped down into a case of Novy '02 reds over the last few days with low expectations:
1. Novy Zin RRV (16.0%) 2002: Med.light color w/ some browning; strong cedary/pencilly/oldZin/bit tired slight blackberry/RRV peppery Zin fairly complex nose; soft rather pencilly/cedary/oldZin slight peppery RRV Zin/blackberry rather tired flavor w/ light gentle tannins; long strong cedary/pencilly/oldRed fairly tired finish w/ light tannins; rather on the tired side w/ little fruit but still clinging to life.
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2. Novy Syrah NapaVlly (15.7%) 2002: Dark color w/ some bricking; fairly strong blackberry/boysenberry/ripe Syrah some pencilly/Siduri oak slight cedary/pencilly/oldRed rather complex mature Calif Syrah quite interesting nose; soft fairly rich/lush ripe Syrah/blackberry/boysenberry rather pencilly/cedary/old Red fairly complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long some ripe/Syrah/blackberry/boysenberry pencilly/Siduri oak finish w/ light tannins; a fully mature & then some Calif Syrah that still has some Syrah fruit & still offers up some pleasuer; a quiet little ole lady fading into the sunset of her yrs but still a bit of spunk to her.
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3. Novy AlderSpringsVnyd/MendoCnty (15.0%; 45% Grenache/32% Mourvedre/15% Counoise/8% Syrah) 2002: Med.color w/ some bricking; strong strawberry/Grenache bit earthy/dusty/spicy some cedary/pencilly/oldRed fairly complex nose; lightly tart/tangy some cedary/pencilly/oldRed bit strawberry/Grenache light earthy/dusty slight MendoCnty/tomatoey/bit herbal bit tired flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long lightly tart some strawberry/Grenache/plummy rather cedary/pencilly/oldRed bit tired fully mature finish w/ light whispy tannins; fully mature & a bit past its prime but still offers up some pleasure & not totally dead.
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4. Novy Syrah Gary'sVnyd/SantaLuciaHighlands (15.1%) 2002: Dark color w/ some bricking; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/ripe Syrah some graphite/mineral/grapefruity rather Rhonish/roasted/smoked meats quite complex very attractive nose; lightly tart strong ripe Syrah/blackberry/boysenberry/very spicy rather tart/citric/grapefruity/bit herbal some Siduri/oak strong Rhonish/roasted/smokey/smoked meats very complex flavor w/ some ripe/chewey tannins; very long/lingering very ripe Syrah/boysenberry/blackberry/spicy some toasty/Siduri oak rather Rhonish/smoked meats complex finish w/ some ripe/chewey tannins; a lovely fully-mature example of SLH Syrah at or a bit beyond its peak.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Cracked into these four w/ low expectations. They were actually not as far gone as I was expecting them to be and they did offer up some pleasure. The Gary's Syrah was by far the best of this lot.
By the next day open on the counter, they were all pretty much dead & gone and had turned a dark murkey brown color as the took their last crippled sprint down the drain.
Tom