Tried these three from the archives last night:
1. JosephSwanVnyds Zin StellwagenVnyd/SonomaVlly (12.5%) 1991: Med.dark/murky bit browning color; quite cedary/pencil shavings slight raspberry/oldZin slight SonomaVlly/peppery rather complex nose; lightly tart very slight metallic quite smooth/elegant/delicate/quiet strong cedary/pencil shavings slight peppery/SV complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long fairly cedary/pencil shavings slight raspberry/Zin/SV peppery complex finish w/ light gentle tannins; in remarkably good shape for 31 yrs of age.
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2. SQN Papa Calif Syrah (14.9%) 2003: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; strong ripe/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry slight alcoholic rather complex slight Rhonish/Cornas very healthy complex nose; fairly strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/slight peppery strong toasty/smokey/Fr.oak fairly smooth/lush some Rhonish/complex flavor w/ modest ripe tannins; actually showing some evolution & complex; quite a lovely healthy Syrah, but probably not going to get much better.
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2. ShenandoahVnyds Zin Port Lot 3 AmadorCnty (18.5%) Plymouth NV: Very dark rather murky color w/ tons of sediment; very strong blackberry/ShenandoahVlly briary slight alcoholic very much Porto-like fairly complex nose; fairly sweet some Zin/briary/spicyquite Porto-like bit alcoholic bit Am.oak/vanilla fairly complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long/lingering fairly Porto-like finish; in remarkable shape & shows some character reminiscent of an older Porto but w/o the burn of the higher alcohols those often show.
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More jailersmock from TheBloodyPulpit:
1.Bill&Jane Easton were in town this week & asked Susan & I over for dinner, plus two of their long-time friends that now like here in SantaFe. Bill asked me to bribg an older red, so this is what I came up with.
I took the Swan as a throw-away wine, confident that it would be dead & gone. I was totally wrong. Joe (and Rod) made Zins in rather an old-world style that aged quite well, thank you. Joe had died several yrs afore, so this was one of Rod's early wines. The wine had lost much of its impact, but not showing any signs of going South. Just a quiet little old lady in the twilight of her yrs, fading away into the sunset w/o a whimper.
The SQN style of wine is much like the Albans, and unlike the Qupes, that sorta shed a bit of their tannins but don't lose much intensity. This Syrah, surprise/surprise, whas showing some evolution & developed some Rhonish complexity. Something the Qupes do on a routine basis.
The ShenandoahVnyds was also in much better shape than I expected. This is one of LeeSobon's early Ports and probably is about circa 1980 is my guess. Lee's Ports were always very similar to strong Ruby Ports w/ a strong Zin signature, but this had evolved into something very Porto-like. It was probably fortified w/ pure ethanol because it lacked the burn of the higher alcohols you get in Portos.
Tom