We tasted these three from the Costigan stash at Pig+Fig ystrday:
1. Matela Teroldego LeBonClimatVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (13.5%; www.BevelaWines.com) SantaMaria 2011: Very dark color; lovely Tero/black cherry cola/RCCola/quite spicy/licorice light pencilly/oak rather complex beautiful nose; lightly tart licorice/black cherry cola/RCCola/spicy light pencilly/oak rather complex flavor w/ light bit tangy tannins; very long/lingering strong black cherry cola/RCCola/Tero/very spicy fairly complex finish w/ light tannins; a beautiful expression of Teroldego never the level of the basic Foradori but w/o the earthy/mineral character; not showing any signs of its age but probably nowhere to go from but down; a beautiful Teroldego. $40.00 (vSC)
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2. Unti LaCrima DryCreekVlly (14.2%; 50 cs) UntiVnyds/Healdsburg 2017: Very dark color; very strong very peppery/black pepper/licoricevery spicy light earthy light pencilly/oak quite comlex beautiful nose; fairly tart/tangy strong very peppery/black pepper/licorice/pungent very spicy slight earthy some complex flavor w/ light chewey tannins; very long/lingering quite spicy/licorice/black pepper/pungent light pencilly/oak rather complex finish w/ light chewey tannins; reminds a lot of the Lucchetti Lacrima but w/o the earthy/rustic character; a beautiful expression of Lacrima. $35.00 (vSC)
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3. Lagier-Meredith Mondeuse MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.8%; 40 cs) 2010: Very dark/near black color; intense Mondeuse/herbal/very spicy/rosemary/thyme/pungent some toasty/oak very complex beautiful nose; lightly tart/tangy very strong Mondeuse/herbal/thyme/rosemary/pungent/very spicy light toasty/oak slight earthy/rustic rather complex flavor w/ light smooth tannins; very long/lingering strong pungent/herbal/Mondeuse/thyme/rosemary/very spicy rather complex finish w/ light tannins; a beautiful expression of Mondeuse; very much like Mondeuse from Savoie but w/o the rather earthy/mineral/rustic character thos display. $42.00 (vSC)
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A more faustospittle from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Bevela: This is the wnry of Marisa & Kris Beverly. Marisa is the niece of JimClendenen/ABC, where she started working for her uncle in 2008. Jim planted Teroldego quite a few yrs ago and produced the first Teroldego in Calif. It was good, but just that. Spoke more of JimClendenen than Teroldego, with nary a nod to ElisabettaForadori, the iconic master of Teroldego. Jim turned over the Teroldego program to Marisa and the wines now speak much stronger of Teroldego. When you drink this Matela, you can close your eyes and even think you are in Mezzocorona. A very good expression of Teroldego. I was impressed by how well it has evolved since I first tried it.
My understanding is that Bevela Wines is no longer in business. I would be interested in knowing where Jim's Teroldego grapes now go.
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2. LaCrima: LaCrima de Morro d'Alba is the home of the LaCrima grape. The DNA doesn't appear to have be done relating it to any other grape varieties.
I am very fond of LaCrima from Marche, particularly the Venosi & Lucchetti labels.
Some yrs ago, GeorgeUnti visited the Marche region of Italy and fell in love with the grape. He brought some stick home in a tube labeled as fishing poles and planted them at Unti. Unfortunately, the plant material was badly virused in the planting has since been pulled. What a shame. It's a variety the should be planting all up&down the coast of Calif. I believe that FPS has virus-free LaCrima but I don't know that anybody has planted it.
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3. Mondeuse: This is one of the great reds from the Savoie. One of my favorite varietals. It was first planted in Calif in the 1880's at the Jackson Experimental Station of UC/Berkeley. Thirty yrs ago or so, when they took cuttings from the abandoned Jackson to propagate at FPS, they misread the old map of Olmo's they found in the UC library and thought they had Refosco. They sold that "Refosco" for a number of yrs until they did the DNA and found they actually had Mondeuse.
Since Syrah is Dureza X Mondouse Blanche, Steve & Carole were interested in planting Mondeuse (Noire) on the MtVeeder property. Steve refers to it as Syrah's bastard uncle. Their Mondeuse is probably about the best one being produced in Calif.
Some yrs ago, when PieroAntinori was planting their AtlasPeak/Antica vnyd; they planted the FPS "Refosco" for its Italian background. The produced a AtlasPeakVnyds Refosco for a number of yrs. Some of which was produced as a CortiBros Reserve by BobTrinchero. After the DNA indicated what they had was actually Mondeuse, they decided to graft the vines over to....gag...Merlot. The last crop of that "Refosco" was made for CortiBros and labeled Refosco/Mondeuse (with the Mondeuse printed on the label upside down). It was an outstanding expression of Mondeuse.
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4. These three reds came from SteveCostigan's recent sell-off from his wine cellar. The prices we paid were 50% off the indicated prices.
Tom