We tasted these two oldies from Blair's cellar, compliments of Stacey at our tasting at Laura's Pig+Fig:
1. Caparone CabSauv TepusquetVnyd/Lot2/SantaMariaVlly (13.5%; U/U) DaveCaparone/PasoRobles 1980: Med.dark w/ some browning; very strong unclean/bretty earthy/dusty bit Bdx-like rather herbal/vegetal/Cab unattractive nose; very tart/metallic rather sour quite bretty/unclean/funky bit herbal/vegetal very unattractive flavor w/ light tired tannins; a pretty classic bretty/unclean/funky Caparone. $nc (BSvSG)/$9.95 (K)
2. Eberle Syrah FralichVnyd PasoRobles (13.3%) 1993:Med.color w/ slight bricking; lovely very fragrant floral/Syrah/violets/blueberry slight Rhonish some pencilly/Fr.oak fully mature lovely elegant Syrah nose; soft smooth/balanced/elegant rather violets/blueberry/Syrah slight Rhonish/roasted rather pencilly/oak complex balanced flavor w/ light smooth tannins; ; very long/lingering smooth/elegant finish that mocks flavor; starting to dry out slightly on the palate but still a lovely/balanced Syrah at 33 yrs of age. $nc (BSvSG)
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More frikkerboo from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Dave Caparone founded his wnry to specialize in Italian varietals. I believe he released Calif's first Sangiovese. He planted his Estate vnyd to Italian varieties, but, for cash flow reasons, started out making Cab/Merlot/Chard from Tepusquet vnyd down in SantaBarbara, the first vnyd planted in the SantaMariaVlly by Louis Lucas. It was planted to grapes that would sell...Cab/Merlot/Chard. This was in 1971. They eventually figured out that this was not a good Site for Cab. They were terribly vegetal/herbal in character. The vnyd was eventually sold to Jess Jackson & folded into the CambriaVnyds property. Eventually, the Cab was pulled in favor of Rhone varieties.
Caparone started out w/ a bang. His Cab & Merlot were deeply extracted/black and won lots of raves for that character. But eventually poor winemaking caught up with him. The wines were unclean & loaded w/ brett. When he released his first Italian varietals, they were more widely accepted because this character is what you expect from Italian wines. They specialize in Nebbiolo/Sangiovese/Aglianico. I've not tried any Caparone wines in quite a few yrs, so don't know what they're like now.
This Caparone Cab was in much better shape than I expected. It was not a very good Cab when Blair this btl. It's still not a very good wine but, at 45 yrs, it was not utterely revolting as I expected.
2. Gary Eberle was the first to make a credible Syrah in Calif about 1976. When I first visited Gary at EstrellaRiverWnry about 1977, he was getting a lot of notice for his Cabs & Chards. He showed me a few of these wines & I liked them a lot. But then I told him I was there because I wanted to try his Barbera & Syrah. He gave me this rather puzzeled look as if to say "what kind of nut case to I have on my hands here". Little did he know. I hope I've risen in his esteem some since that first visit.
I was quite taken by the barrel sample of Syrah he showed me. It was not at big & extracted as I was hoping for, but it had a beautiful strawberry/cherry/floral fragrance to it not too unlike a NRhon Syrah. Gary's Syrahs have never been particularly big & extracted, but show great balance & restraint. Because of their balance, they tend to age quite well. I was expecting this Syrah to show very well & it did not disappoint.
Tom