Tried these w/ EasterDinner on Fri:
1. Failla Viognier AlbanVnyd/EdnaVlly (14.5%) 2005: Med.gold color; lovely fragrant/
perfumey/peachy/V/ripe slight minerally light toasty/oak nose; rich/ripe/V/peachy
slight minerally/steely light toasty/oak tart structured flavor; long ripe/peach/V
light toasty finish; lots of ripe V fruit but the structure to take it out 2-5
yrs. $42
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2. HopKiln Zin RussianRvrVlly (15%) 1982: Dark color w/ slight browning; very strong
bretty/horse poop/barnyardy Beaucastel-like slight licorice/blackberry complex nose;
soft aged/cedary/pencilly/oak rather bretty/barnyardy slight licorice/pungent/black
berry/Zin pungent/cedary/oak flavor; long very bretty/barnyardy slight licorice/
pungent/spicy slight tannic/dried-out finish; still very alive & well but waaaay
too bretty. Next morning: slight horsecollar/leathery charred/toasty/pungent/oak
slight blackberry/peppery nose; slight bretty/horsecollar attractive peppery/
licorice/pungent some charred/pungent/oak smooth slightly dried-out flavor.
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3. SanSakanaCllrs Syrah LasMadresVnyd/Carneros (14.5%) 2004: Dark color; beautiful
smokey/roasted/pungent/charred gamey/meaty very Rhonish some blackberry/Syrah/pepper
slight earthy complex nose; tart very spicy/peppery/blackberry/Syrah rather roasted/
Rhonish/pungent/smokey beautiful/rich flavor; very long roasted/Rhonish/gamey strong
blackberry/Syrah some tannic finish; needs another 2-5 yrs. $32
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. HopKiln: Back in the good/old days of the late '70's/early '80's, by crackey,
the HopKiln folks made some very impressive wines; Zin, PetiteSirah, Marty Griffin's
BigRed. They made the first Calif Zin labeled as Primitivo; but it was not actually
made from Primitivo clone and merely labeled that for marketing reasons. They actually
trademarked the name Primitivo; but I assume that trademark has not stood up to
legal scrunity. Marty gave up the winemaking there about 1984 and I rapidly lost
interest in the wines. The last few I tasted were pretty underwhelming.
I was expecting this this Zin to be pretty much dead & gone. It was not. It has
lost much of the original fruit but still has plenty of life. Right out of the
btl, the intensity of the brett and horse poop was waaay too overwhelming. But by
the next morning in the decanter, most of that had gone bye-bye and it was a very
tasty example of an old Zin.
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2. SanSakana: This is a wnry to watch. When I first had this LasMadres Syrah early last
Fall, I liked it a lot but thought it a bit clunky. It has really come around in the
last few months and now is a beautiful example of a rather Rhonish Calif Syrah.
Killer wine. And I think the '05 version of LasMadres and their new WhiteHawk Syrah
are probably even better wines.
TomHill