We had these three Rhone Red Blends from Donkey&Goat Wed at Pig+Fig:
1. Donkey&Goat Four Thirteen RW ElDorado (U; 14.3%) 2008: Dark color w/ some bricking; rather cedary/pencilly/oldRed some plummy/Mourv/licorice bit Rhonish earthy/mushroomy/ElDCnty somewhat tired bit old CdR nose; fairly cedary/pencilly/oldRed very slight Grenache/plummy pretty tired/dried out old CdR flavor w/ light drying tannins; resembles on the nose an old CdR but pretty tired/dried out on the palate; has seen its better days. $32.00
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2. Donkey&Goat Five Thirteen RW ElDorado (47% Grenache/21% Syrah/16% Mourv/10% Counoise/6% Cinsault; 14.1%; U) 2010: Dark color w/ some browning; stronger plummy/strawberry/Grenache slight Rhonish/roasted some ElD/mushroomy/earthy nose w/ still plenty of lush Grenache fruit; lightly tart fairly strong Grenache/strawberry/plummy/spicy light ElD/earthy/mushroomy bit Rhonish/CdR-like slight complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long some complex rather CdR/Rhonish finish w/ light tannins; still plenty of lush Grenache/strawberry fruit & probably going to start to fade; drink up. $24.80
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3. Donkey&Goat FiveThirteen ElDorado RW (U; 13.5%; 34% grenache/32% syrah/23% mourvedre/6% counoise/5% cinsault) 2011:Med.light color w/ slight bricking; rather strong Grenache/strawberry/plummy fairly lush some earthy/mushroomy/ElD light pencilly/oak slight Rhonish/CdR rather attractive fairly youthful nose; fairly tart rather earthy/loamy/mushroomy bit metallic/funky some strawberry/Grenache/plummy bit tangy slight pencilly/oak bit complex flavor w/ light tangy tannins; resembles some a good CdR w/ a bit of age on it; still plenty of Grenache fruit & probably as god as it's going to get; very attractive drinking Rhone blend. $32.00
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More grubleirk from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. These three reds are Rhone blends made by Tracey & Jared. The 4/13 & 5/13 refer to the number of varieties out of the 13 varieties allowed in CdP of France.
All three spoke strongly of ElDCnty fruit. The '08 was pretty much on its last legs, but the other two were still in quite good shape.
Tom