We tasted last week (7/27/07) Some New Navarros plus a few others:
1. NavarroVnyds Mendocino Chard (13.6%) 2005: Light gold color; very attractive appley/
melony/Chard clean/bright bit simple nose; tart bright/clean/zippy pleasant Chard/
appley/melony flavor; med.long clean/zippy/bright appley/melony/Chard finish; a bit
on simple side but very clean/bright Chard at a good price. $14.00
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2. NavarroVnyds AndersonVlly/Mendocino Chard PremierReserve (13.6%;
http://www.NavarroWine.com) 2005: Med.light gold color; some caramel/butterscotchy/oak
ripe/melony/Chard spicy/nutmeg lovely nose; rich/textured/lush butterscotchy/creme
brulee/oak ripe/melony/Chard quite spicy/nutmeg flavor; very long ripe/melony/Chard
butterscotchy/oak finish; ripe & lush but good acidity and right touch of oak; very
good value at $19.00
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3. NavarroVnyds AndersonVlly/Mendocino PinotGrigio (13.5%) 2006: Pale yellow color;
fragrant appley/clean/fruity rather simple nose; tart/clean/simple rather fruity/
appley slight earthy/minerally flavor; med.short clean/simple/fruity appley slight
earthy finish; rather simple but better than most Italian PG in this price range.
$12.00
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4. NavarroVnyds Mendocino TW Edelzwicker (13.5%) 2006: Light gold color; lovely/fragrant/
perfumed very floral/aromatic very strong nose; soft very strong floral/perfumed/
lychee/GWT lush off-dry spicy slightly bitter flavor; med. very floral/spicy/GWT
lush/soft finish; lovely perfumed nose but a bit non-deliverer on the palate;
very/very good value at $10.00
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5. Adelsheim Auxerrois WillametteVlly (13.7%; GouaisBlanc X PinotNoir; RibbonSpringsVnyd;
http://www.Adelsheim.com) 2005: Pale gold color; very attractive floral/piney/spicy rather
perfumed nose; soft/weak/dilute floral/piney bit dull flavor; very short/almost no
lightly floral/piney finish; very nice nose but delivers hardly anything on the
palate. $20.50
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6. DomaineEhrhart PinotAuxerrois Val St.Gregoire (12.5%) 2004: Med.gold color; very
floral/spicy quite fragrant/perfumed/GWT-like/Muscat-like beautiful nose; soft/fat/
flabby some floral/perfumed/spicy/Muscat-like weak flavor; short light/floral/
Muscatty weak soft/fat finish; very lovely nose but doesn't come thru on the palate.
$16.95
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7. NavarroVnyds AndersonVlly/Mendocino WhiteReisling (13.4%) 2005: Med.yellow color;
very attractive floral/JR/pineapply slight minerally/spicy nose; tart minerally/lean
dry very floral/pineapply/spicy/JR slight stoney flavor; long stoney/minerally
very floral/JR/pineapply dry finish; lovely aromatics and nice minerality on the
palate; very attractive price at $15.00
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8. NavarroVnyds Mendocino TW Rose (13.5%) 2006: Light copper/pink/salmon color; very
attractive Pinot/cherry/juicy/watermelon slight earthy nose; tart light/zippy
watermelon/cherry/PN bit spicy/earthy flavor; med. bright/zippy cherry/PN/watermelon
slight earthy finish; very nice/dry rose at a fair price. $13.50
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9. Domaine Joel Delauney AC Touraine Gamay (12%) 2005: Med.dark color; rather earthy/
dusty bit smoked meats quite fruity/minerally some Gamay/fruity interesting nose;
tart rather earthy/dusty/minerally light/Gamay/fruity/cherry flavor; med.short
earthy/dusty light/fruity/cherry/Gamay/candied finish w/ little tannins; quite
nice/interesting Gamay w/ that Loire terroir. $13.00
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10. MarshalFamilyWines SonomaCnty "OldVine" GamayNoir (13.5%; http://www.MFWines.com) 2004:
Med.color; rather toasty/cinammon/oak earthy/tobaccoy slight cherry nose; soft bit
bitter/tannic lean/thin rather cinammon/tobaccoy/oak bit bretty little fruit flavor;
med. lean/hard/tannic tobaccoy/earthy/oak finish; lacks Gamay fruit and rather hard
and tannic. $11.00
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11. Pietroash FeteascaNeagra/Black Maiden SpecialReserve (12.5%) Dealu Mare-Merei/Romania
1999: Light color; badly corked/TCA/musty no fruit nose; harsh/rough corked/musty
flavor; much too corked to tell much. $11.30
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12. Kalecik Karasi Kavaklidere (12.5%; http://www.Kavaklidere.com) Ankara/Turkey 2001: Med.
light slight bricking color; rather unclean/goat pen/hot climate some Musar-like
low fruit bit bretty not very attractive nose; light bit toasty/oak rather hot-
climate/goat pen/Morroccoan-like thin slight aged-Pinotish flavor; mercifully short
unclean/bretty/goat pen/hot climate slight tired/Pinotish finish w/ little tannin;
rather unclean & hot climate in character; way overpriced at $33.80
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13. NavarroVnyds Mendocino PinotNoir (13.7%) 2005: Med.color; pretty black cherry/PN/
licorice/ruhbarb spicy/mushroomy slight earthy/dusty light toasty/oak nose; rather
earthy/dusty some cherry/PN/ruhbarb light toasty/oak flavor; med. earthy/dusty
light cherry/Pinot finish w/ light tannins; pleasant Pinot at a good price but lacks
the bright fruit of good AndersonVlly Pinot. $15.00
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14. NavarroVnyds Mendocino CabSauv (14.4%) 2002: Very dark color; bit musty/damp
basement/Kansas root cellar earthy/dusty slight herbal/blackcurrant/Cab nose;
rather herbal/dusty/earthy fairly hard/tannic little fruit some toast/charred/oak
flavor; med.long hard/tannic earthy/dusty low herbal/Cab/fruit finish; pretty hard
and tannic and needs age but lacks fruit. Easy pass at $26.00
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15. Domaine du Granit Reserve LesCaves Moulin a Vent (13%; VeillesVignes; MeBalP; Eleve
in fut de chene) Alfred Gino Bertolla) 2003: Dark color; rather toasty/oak black
cherry/violets bit earthy/dusty slight bretty nose; tart earthy/dusty some toasty/oak
rather strong black cherry/violets/floral bit tannic flavor; med.long some hard/
tannic some floral/cherry light toasty/oak finish; needs several yrs; quite an
interesting Beaujolais.
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1. NavarroVnyds GWT AndersonVlly/Mendocino ClusterSelect/LateHrvst/Sweet (10.0%;
RS: 21.4%) 2001: Med.dark gold color; some volatile/EA intense peachy/apricotty/
botrytis complex nose; very sweet very intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty tart
loads of botrytis flavor; very long/lingering intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty
quite sweet finish; probably will go another 10-15 yrs; huge botrytis but good
acidity underneath; terrific TBA. $26.00/hlf
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And the usual BloodyPulpit:
1. Kavaklidere: This Turkish wine is grown in the Anatolia region on the outskirts of
Ankara. It is made from the Kalecik Karasi grape, an indigenous Turkish variety
that was once on the verge of extinction. The WebSite, which has an English version,
makes for some absolutely fascinating reading. I was underwhelmed by the wine
(purchased at the behest of Darrell Corti), it reminded me of Ch.Musar a bit, and
had a lot of hot-climate character like Algerian or Morrocoan wines I've had. In
typical LosAlamos fashion, extrapolating from a data point of one (sometimes we
even extrapolate from NO data points), I see little point in pursuing Kalecik
Karasi as a great wine grape variety outside of Turkey. Or inside Turkey.
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2. MarshalFamily: This old vines GamayNoir comes from a vnyd near Calistoga just across
the border into SonomaCnty. It lacked Gamay fruitiness and may not actually be
Gamay but Valdiquie or PinotNoir from what I could taste. Lacks the fruit you find
in SteveEdmunds true GamayNoir.
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3. Navarro: These were all Howard&Rhoda's pre-release shipment. As always, the Navarro
wines represent particularly good values. With an order of 10 cs or over, the 20%
discount, plus shipping at < $2/btl; you can get some really good summertime
drinking at great values. They consistently do better w/ Alsatian varieties than
anyone in Calif. The PinotGrigio was a bit of a letdown for me; not nearly as good
as the PinotGris they've made in the past. And, of course, when it comes to BA/TBA
wines; Navarro is about as good as it gets.
Tom