Had these for din/din the other night:
1. Jaffurs Roussanne StolpmanVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (14.0%) 2003: Med.dark gold color; strong nutty/toasted hazelnuts/bit oxidative strong honeyed/Rouss/honey grahams/honeycomb light smokey/oak quite complex beautifully mature Rouss nose; soft big/rich/lush toasted hazelnuts/oxidative/honeycomb/Rouss/toasted oatmeal light toasty/oak quite complex mature Rouss flavor; very long/lingering nutty/toasted hazelnuts/honeycomb soft rich/lush quite complex finish; a beautiful example of a fully mature Calif Rouss.
__________________
2. RosenblumCllrs Zin SamselVnyd/Maggie'sReserve/SonomaVlly (14.3%; 88 yr old vines; 3% AlicanteBouschet; U/U) Alameda 1991: Med.dark some browning color; quite cedary/pencilly/oldZin bit oxidized rather tired slight blackberry/boysenberry/Zin complex nose; soft rather tired/cedary/pencilly/oldZin fairly dried ut/astringent slight boysenberry/Zin/peppery/dusty/OV complex flavor w/ light astringent tannins; very long tired/astringent/cedary/oldZin finish w/ light tannins; offers you a glimpse of its once greatness thru the veil of old/tired/oxidized Zin.
__________________
3. AlcinaCllrs PinotNoir RRV (14.5%; www.AlcinaCellars.com) Sebastopol 2006: Med.light some browning color; some musty/dead leaves rather tired/dried out no fruit somewhat oxidized fairly cedary/pencilly/oldRed nose; fairly tart rather tired/astringent/oxidized cedary/oldRed no fruit flavor w/ light dried out tannins; long rather oxidized/tired/astringent finish; pretty much dead & gone before its time.
__________________
4. Jaffurs Syrah MelvilleVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (14.7%) 2002: Very dark color w/ some bricking; some earthy/dusty rather c-c/black pepper/blackberry/Syrah/ripe boysenberry rather toasty/smokey/Fr.oak some Rhonish/roasted/smoked meats fairly complex nose; fairly tart/tangy/bit metallic strong c-c/black pepper strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy fairly strong toasty/oak bit drying/astringent some complex flavor w/ light drying tannins; very long/lingering c-c/black pepper somewhat Rhonish/smoked meats strong blackberry/spicy Syrah strong toasty/oak rather complex finish w/ light drying tannins; a lovely rather Rhonish/c-c complex Syrah that has started to turn the corner & dry out a bit but still offers up pleasure.
_____________________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I was not expecting much of the old Roussanne & thought it might be a bit tired. It was not. It was a magnificant example of a fully mature Rouss. In fact, two days later it was still in fine fettle, though the toasty/oak was starting to dominate.
__________________
2. The Maggie's Reserve was KentRosenblum's flagship wine. It was always the best one in his tableau. I didn't expect much of this relic & it delivered all of that. I would really like to know where the Zin grapes go from this old vnyd. I've not seen any VD Zins from Samsel since Rosenblum was sold.
__________________
3. AlcinaCllrs is the wnry of Greg Piatigorski. Made at the custom crush facility up in Graton. This wine was closed by StuYaniger's NeoCork plastic cork, which was known to not be a good closure after it was used for a number of yrs. Most wines under NeoCork have now expired long ago. I haven't seen much of anything of GregP or Stu out on the InterNet Wine Boards in a number of yrs.
Tom