When CaseyHartlip visited us last week, he brought some older wines that he had grown the grapes for at Eaglepoint & VllyFoothillsVnyd:
1. Cowan Cllrs AndersonVlly PinotNoir 2013: Dark color; rather toasty/Fr.oak/pencilly very attractive/mature/pencilly some cherry/black cherry/PN rather complex fairly perfumed nose; tart some cedary/pencilly/mature some toasty/Fr.oak fairly mature PN/black cherry complex flavor w/ light smooth tannins; very long mature/black cherry/PN/toasty/Fr.oak bit cedary/pencilly complex finish w/ light gentle tannins; showing a little bit of drying on the palate but probably at its peak or a bit beyond; a lovely fully mature AV PN.
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2. Navarro Mendocino EaglePointRanch Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 (en magnum): Dark color w/ fair amount of bricking; beautiful cedary/pencilly fully mature light toasty/oak old Cab complex nose; bit soft smooth/gentle/graceful quite cedary/pencilly little fruit slight earthy quite complex flavor w/ light slightly drying tannins; long quite cedary/pencilly/oldCab some earthy fully mature/complex finish w/ light gentle/drying tannins; nothing much left but cedary/pencilly/smokey/oldCab character but still in pretty good shape & not greatly dried out.
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3. Sean Thackery Aquila EaglePointRanch Sangiovese (en magnum) 2003: Med.light rather browning color; strong eucalyptus/herbal fairly bright/cherry/Sangio/very spicy complex perfumed nose; fairly tart/tangy/slight metallic strong Thackery/trademark/eucalyptis some cherry/Sangio/spicy bit rustic slight toasty/Fr.oak slight earthy/rustic bit Chianti-like complex flavor w/ light bitey tannins; very long light/cherry/Sangio strong eucalyptus bit toasty/oak complex finish w/ light sharp tannins; loads of the trademark SeanThackery eucalyptus but still plenty of classic Sangio/cherry fruit; slightly drying on the palate but a very attractive mature Calif Sangio.
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4. Copain Cllrs EaglePointRanch Syrah 2006: Dark color w/ some bricking; slightly funky/earthy some Rhonish/smokey/roasted fairly toasty/Fr.oak light Syrah/blackberry/peppery surprisingly youthful complex nose; soft bit drying/tired strong toasty/Fr.oak slight blackberry/Syrah bit Rhonish/roasted/smokey some complex flavor w/ light astringent tannins; long somewhat drying/tired slight blackberry/peppery/Syrah finish w/ light drying tannins; still some interesting Rhonish things therein, particularly in the nose, but starting to dry out & somewhat tired on the palate; expected a bit more.
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5. Sean Thackery Sirius EaglePointRanch Petite Sirah 2009: Very dark/near black color w/ little bricking; fairly intense blackberry/PS/blueberry rather spicy bit licorice/peppery slight cedary/pencilly nose w/ a sligt hint of eucalyptus; somewhat soft fairly strong PS/blueberry/peppery/licorice light toasty/oak flavor w/ light/soft bit bitey tannins; med.long some PS/blueberry/peppery/licorice bit earthy/rustic rather soft finish w/ light tannins; very little signs of the trademark Thackery eucalyptus; a PS that has lost much of the tannins but doesn't show much in the way of evolution or complexity; a PS that's probably going nowhere but still shows some PS fruit.
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More murplespurt from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. As Casey likes to say "behind every great wine is a guy on a tractor". He was that guy, but had no part of the winemaking. These were from his stash of wines the winemaker gifted him a case of when they bought his grapes. He was a bit worried that many of them would be dead & gone, but they all showed surprisingly well. The big surprise was the Navarro Cab '92. Not a producer you normally associate w/ Cabernet. It was probably the most over-mature of the lot, but still offered up some pleasure of a fully mature cedary/pencilly old-timey Calif Cab, and not at all completly shot, just clearly pretty mature.
Tom