We tried last Thurs at Pig+Fig at Laura's Lindquist/Verdad winemaker dinner:
1. Qupe BienNacido Cuvee SantaMariaVlly (13.5%; 50% Viognier/Chard; Dedicated to the memory of Hank Kievit, Godfather of Qupe 2/16/21-6/16/07) 2013: Med.dark color; quite fragrant Viog/floral/pear bit melong light pencilly/oak bit complex lovely fresh/youthful nose; lightly tart fairly rich/lush strong Viog/pear/peach/floral slight melony/Chard slightly complex flavor; a very rich/lush white dominated by the Viog perfume; quite youthful and should still go another 10 yrs.
750ml from Stacey from her Dad's collection
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2. Qupe Roussanne BienNacido Hillside SAntaMariaVlly (14.5%; EB) 2005: Med.gold color; beautiful honeyed/honeysuckle/ripe Roussanne some pencilly/oak very complex perfumed nose; lightly tart rich/lush very honeyed/honeysuckle/bit gardenias/floral/Roussanne some pencilly/Fr.oak very complex flavor; very long/lingering rich/honeyed finish that goes on forever; not yet showing any of the nutty/toasted hazelnuts character of an old white Rhone varietal; a beautiful example of how Roussanne can age and will probably go another 10 yrs easily.
Magnum from Bob's Library
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3. Qupe Syrah BienNacido Hillside Select SantaBarbaraCnty (12.5%; EB) SantaMaria 1994:Dark color w/ some bricking; beautiful classic Qupe Syrah some blackberry/peppery very pencilly/smokey slight Rhonish/smokey very complex quite perfumed nose; lightly tart classic Qupe Syrah smokey/pencilly very smooth/silky quite complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; shows no signs of age or emminent decline but probably not going to get any better & just continue to lose fruit; a great shape & a classic maqture Qupe Syrah.
750ml from Larry, Bob's first Hillside Select
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4. Qupe Syrah BienNacido Reserve SantaBarbaraCnty (12.5%) 1994: Dark color w/ slight bricking; very similar to the Hillside '94 in character but a bit tarter/leaner on the palate; beautiful aromatic classic Qupe Syrah smokey/pencilly nose; a bit lighter & more mature & starting to show a bit of its age but still in amazing condition; not quite the pedigree of the Hillside Select but still a beautiful fully mature Qupe Syrah.
Magnum from Larry
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5. Qupe Syrah BienNacido Hillside Estate SantaBarbaraCnty (13.5%; EB) 1995: Dark color w/ slight bricking; a bit less fragrant strong pencilly/smokey blackberry/Syrah/peppery classic Qupe Syrah not quite as mature as the '94; lightly tart classic Qupe smokey/pencilly Qupe Syrah/blackberry/bit peppery very complex flavor w/ light graceful tannins; a bit more youthful than the '94 Hillside but probably not going to get a whole lot better and not showing any signs of fading away.
Magnum from Tom
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6. Qupe Syrah BienNacido X-Block "The Good Nacido" (13.5%; EB; 20'th Anniv/20'th Vintage) 2001: Very dark color w/ no signs of bricking yet; beautiful peppery/OV Syrah/blackberry slight pencilly/smokey oak very complex rather youthful nose; lightly tart strong blackberry/peppery/Syrah some pencilly/oak/bit Rhonish fairly youthful rather complex flavor w/ modest smooth/ripe tannins; clearly the most youthful and the best of these Syrahs; still has yrs to go yet.
Magnum from Tom
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More quidderferkel from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Last Thurs, Bob Lindquist & Louisa Sawyer-Lindquist came up to WhiteRock (recently named happiest small-town in the USofA) to do a WineMaker dinner at Laura's Pig+Fig restaurant. Pig+Fig is one of the major reasons WhiteRock is the Nation's happiest village.
The special meal featured the wines of Lindquist Family Vnyds & Verdad, paired w/ some of Laura's fabulous/creative food. Alas, I was so focused on enjoying the company/wine/food that I took no TN's. But the wines were outstanding & paired well w/ Laura's courses.
Many of us have followed Bob at Qupe for a good many yrs. Hence, some of our libraries run deep for Qupe wines. So several of us dug down into our archives for a flight of older Qupes to precede the meal. The TN's above are a bit slender but should provide the gist of the wines.
Bob makes several high-end Syrahs. The BienNacido Reserve used to be his flagship Syrah. In '94, he started making the Hillside Select which comes from his Hillside block planted way above on the ridgetop above the wnry. Several other winemakers also get grapes from this Hillside block. It was planted by the Millers at Bob's request because he though they were too lazy at farming grapes down on the flats. This Hillside block is where he also takes his Roussanne from.
He also takes Syrah grapes (mostly all of them, but Morgan Twain-Peterson/Bedrock also gets some) from the X-Block. This is down on the flats where the BN vnyd starts to rise up towards the Hillside block. It is the oldest Syrah planting in SBCnty now since the ZacaMesa Bear Block fell to disease. It was originally planted to own-rooted Riesling that was grafted over to Syrah at Bob's request. It's now going on to 30 yrs.
And then he also makes a Syrah from the EdnaVlly ranch that he (at one time) farmed w/ Louisa across the road from John Alban. This is a Demeter-certified BioDynamic vnyd.
This was an incredible tasting of Qupe wines. Bob makes his wines with much more restraint than the guy across the road from where he lives. That said, because of their balance, they routinely age incredibly well...much better than those of the guy across the road. Truly an extraordinary winemaker. And he continues now under the Lindquist Family label.
Tom