Tried these two at dinner last night:
1. Solminer SunHoney SantaBarbaraCnty (12.5%; 55% GrunerVeltliner/30% Riesling/15% Viognier; cofrmtd on skins) 2021: Honey/burnished bronze rather hazy color; some phenolic/VM/resiny some earthy light GV/floral/honeyed some herbal/Kansas hay mow quite interesting bit complex nose; quite tart/tangy/some metallic fairly rich rather VM/resiny/phenolic some honeyed/honeycomb bit GV/white pepper some tangy/austere/bit tannic rather interesting flavor; very long/lingering some phenolic/VM/resiny/skin-contact light GV/peppery/floral/slight herbal rather honeyed/honeycomb finish w/ light tannins; a very nicely done VM w/ nice balance between GV fruit & VM character; should get better & more interesting over the next 3-6 yrs. $34.00
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2. Drew Syrah ValentiVnyd/MendoRidge (14.2%; 50 cs) Elk 2008: Dark color w/ some bricking; strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/ripe some toasty/Fr.oak bit cedary/pencilly bit c-c/black pepper some w-c/Rhonish/roasted/smokey rather complex nose; lightly tartstrong cedary/pencilly/bit metallic some Syrah/blackberry/spicy some toasty/Fr.oak bit drying out/astringent slight w-c/peppery/Rhonish complex flavor w/ light drying/astringent tannins; very long some cedary/pencilly/metallic some blackberry/Syrah/spicy some drying out/astringentsome w-c/Rhonish/roasted complex finish w/ light drying tannins; lots of w-c/Rhonish character but a bit drying out/astringent on the palate & only going downhill from here; still offers up some pleasure.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I rather liked the SunHoney. Nice balance of VM character & GV fruit. The next day after being opened all night, the VM character had really faded and leaving mostly GV fruit. Not a profound VM, but rather interesting. A bit of a lightweight.
Tom