We had a real taste of history when Larry brought this mystery wine to our Cab tasting at Pig+Fig:
1. SantaFeVnyds CabSauv NM (12%) 2004: Dark color w/ cosiderbale browning; rather earthy/rustic/loamy some blackberry/herbal/CS/bit vegetal some bretty/rustic/volatile/unclean/somewhat tired nose; some tart some herbal/CS/vegetal rather earthy/loamy bit oxidized/tired rather rustic/tired flavor w/ light astringent tannins; pretty much a Cab nearing the end of its life but still shows some Cab/herbal fruit.
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More rittlefreck from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. SantaFeVnyds was a wnry founded by Len Rosignana in 1982. Born & raised & married in SantaFe, he had moved to CA where he & his brother Harry leased a dilapidated/ramshackle barn on TeslaRd between Livermore & Pleasanton that had some old abandoned vnyds on the property. They founded there the Stony Ridge Winery at Ruby Hill, using mostly grapes from there on the property. The wines were interesting, but just that, given the primitive winemaking facility. Len eventually sold the wnry & returned to SantaFe to make wine. The old barn eventually caught fire & burnt to the ground. Later, Randall Graham bought the RubyHill property for the old vines & had plans to plant a vnyd on it in which the vines were planted in a huge spiral. He was convinced that a spiral planting would endow the grapes with some celestial annointment. Another RG crackpot idea that never materialized.
His first winery was located just South of SantaFe beyond the National Guard facility. He then built his winery between Nambe & Espanola where the bldg still stands w/ the name "Winery" emblazoned on the sign. Len died from a brain tumor in 1999 & the winery limped along under the then winemaker for a few yrs & then closed up shop. The brand SantaFe Vnyds was subsequently purchased by Black Mesa, but they've not used that label for a number of yrs.
Len was very instrumental in the founding of the New Mexico Vine & Wine Society and very important in pushing the NM wine industry to where it is now. Alas, nobody in the current NM V&WS has a clue as to the important contributions he (and others) made.
I don't believe Len ever planted vnyds here in NM. He had a few demonstration vines at his last wnry. But I think most of his grapes were purchased, mostly down around Belen I recall.
The wine was clearly old & beyond its day. It showed a bit of EA/volatility. But, of course, it had not turned to vinegar. Old wines don't turn to vinegar unless they were already volatile going into the bottle.
Tom