Had some friends over for cheese & wine at Susan's ystrday & tried a few older wines:
1. TablasCreekVnyd Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc Estate/PasoRobles (13.5%; 65% Roussanne/30% GrenacheBlanc/5% PicpoulBlanc) PasoRobles 2008: Med.dark gold color; very stronghoneyed/honeysucklw/mature Rouss very floral/carnations/Rouss light pencilly/toasty/oak quite complex some Rhonish/smokey beautiful nose; lightly tart very rich/lush very honeyed/honeysuckle/mature Rouss slight vanilla/nilla wafers very Rouss/floral bit smokey/toasty/Rhonish slight caramel/butterscotch quite complex flavor; very long/lingeringfloral/smokey/honeyed finish that mirrors flavor; a beautiful very complex white Rhone that should go another 5-10 yrs; no signs of oxidation or overage whatsoever & as fresh as can be.
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2. Jaffurs PetiteSirah ThompsonVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty Archibald Cuvee (15.9%) SantaBarbara 2008: Very dark/black color w/ some bricking; very strong toasty/Jaffurs Fr.oak very intense peppery/PS/blackberry very peppery smokey/licorice classic Jaffurs/oaked complex nose; lightly tart very intense licorice/blackberry/PS/very peppery very strong toasty//smokey/Jaffurs Fr.oak rather dusty/OV classic Thompson very spicy/peppery complex flavor w/ light chewey tannins; very long/lingering PS/blackberry/peppery finish that mimics flavor; drying out slightly on the palate but still an amazing example of mature PS.
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More millosprat from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. The Esprit de Beaucastel was the name until they changed it to Esprit de Tablas.Same wine, different name. The blend changes from yr to yr.
The Jaffurs PS is consistently one of the great PS's of Calif. This btl is one of the very rare Archibald Cuvee. It's starting to show a slight amount of age but still in wonderful shape.
When the first crop of PS became available from the ThompsonVnyd, Dave Yates took the grapes & made the first PS under his own label, Cane Felice. But it was shown at a pre-release barrel tasting open house at Jaffurs and people were so blown away by the wine that Craig highjacked the wine for his own Jaffurs label. Since then, it has been a stalwart of the Jaffurs lineup. One of Calif's truly great PS's.
Tom