July 26, 2006

PINOT NOIR - BLIND

Excellent tasting held here July 8th in Orange County at Gerry and Debbie Frayer's - and probably the first time we've held with bagged bottles. Even though we were inside most of the time, it was a real scorcher outside, so some of the wines were probably not at optimum temperature. But, a good time was had by all, and there were som eye-openers.

We were asked to bring the bottles already bagged, and Debbie Frayer would give them numbers (out of our eyesight) when we arrived. Excellent idea, because this would further "blind" us to the bottles, especially our own. But, there was a small tipoff - bottles were numbers with an alpha designation wherever someone multiple bottles. hence, there were a's and b's and sometimes c's and d's of a particular number. Gracious participants, no?

Bottle #1a - ripe and spicy, with a slight vegetal/herbal quality. Interesting touch of beet on the palate, nice balance, bit of heat on the off-sweet finish. Kind of weird.
Wine: 2004 Radio Coteau Las Colinas Syrah. Yep,a syrah. What a bush league thing to do to us.

Bottle #1b - nose with lots of citrus, light spice, and nice cherry fruit. Good acidity and balance - seems like Russian River fruit to me. Very nice.
Wine: 2004 Belle Glos Clark & Telephone, Santa Maria Valley. RRV? Good thing I didn't bet on it.

Bottle #2a - very, very ripe in the nose; almost Zin-like in ripeness. Somewhat better in the mouth, but still quite ripe. Not too fond of this one. Gotta be '04, but from where?
Wine: 2002 Faivley Clos de Corton. Wow, whatta smackdown. Difficult to believe this was French. Maybe I got the wrong pour??

Bottle #2b - ripe nose, good dark fruit, with a nice black cherry aromas. Lost of acids on the palate, with just a touch of citrus. Very nice. Okay, this one has to be from the Russian River.
Wine: 2002 Arcadian Dierberg, Santa Maria Valley. Okay, my ego is taking some torpedoes.

Bottle #3 - ripe and slightly hot in both nose and mouth, moderate fruit, decent balance, but weak finish.
Wine: 2002 Harmonique, Anderson Valley.

Bottle #4a - big and intense in the nose, lots of dark fruit throughout, crisp acids, amazing fruit, long full finish. Ex-cellent! Wild guess: this was some dark intense stuff - either Cargasacchi or Clos Pepe fruit.
Wine: 2002 Clos Pepe Estate "VS"

Bottle #4b - tight and a bit brooding, again with the dark fruit, but not too forthcoming. Mouth seemed similarly tight.
Wine: 2002 Clos Pepe Estate

Bottle #5 - nice light citrus and strawberry - smells like Russian River. Lovely balance and fruit, very good fruit-filled finish.
Wine: 2004 Merry Edwards Olivet Lane, RRV. Finally!

Bottle #6a - surprisingly light in color, with a little bricking at the edges. I think we all felt this had some serious age on it - what, maybe a '91? Nice aromas and flavors, good balance and finish. Still has lots of fruit going for it.
Wine: 2001 Whitcraft Melville, Sta. Rita Hills. Say what, 2001? What the heck happened to the color?

Bottle #6b - Wow! Beautiful dark fruit in the nose and mouth, amazing balance, long deliciously chewy finish. Really nice package here. Not at all overextracted, yet seems packed with fruit. Arcadian...Williams Selyem?
Wine: 2004 Ambullneo Solomon Hills/Hudson Vnyd. Yikes, what a stunner. And what an appellation - half Santa Maria Valley and half Carneros...a mutt!

Bottle #7a - nice ripeness throughout, bit of spice in nose and mouth, excellent balance, and very nice fruit profile.
Wine: 2004 Radio Coteau La Neblina, Sonoma Coast

Bottle #7b - ripe raspberry nose, nice spice and more of a wild strawberry/cherry in the mouth. Nice.
Wine: 2002 Willakenzie, Emery. Interesting, I'd have expected to noted more "earth" on this.

Bottle #7c - funky and sufficiently stemmy nose to have me thinking a young Brewer Clifton, or Oregon. Very nice - just so much different from all that came before.
Wine: 1999 Tori Mor, Yamhill Co. Cool!

Bottle #7d - big nose, tons of fruit and a bit of spice. Concentrated mouthfeel, excellent balance, long finish. Not a clue, but I like it!
Wine: 2003 Peay, Sonoma Coast.

Bottle #8a - controversial bottle. A couple of us said "corked" immediately - others thought not, only to come around later and think so. Some of the original "corked" folks said "maybe not," still others said "no way." Go figure.
Wine: 2002 Daniel Lenko, Niagra Peninsula, Ontario. Hmm. Maybe it was the fact that this was Canadian that threw everybody off. What's that all aboot, eh?

Bottle #8b - somewhat restrained nose, nice flavors and balance - more to the black cherry side of fruit, very good finish. Nice, if a little unmemorable.
Wine: 2004 Mellville Clone 5, Sta. Rita Hills.

Bottle #8c - big and slightly ripe nose - 2004? Lovely balance, nice concentrated fruit, not quite as ripe in mouthfeel, nice finish.
Wine: 2004 Melville Verna's, SBC.

Bottle #9a - killer nose! Gorgeous dark fruit, nearly perfect balance, fabulous mouthfeel. Just a complete package!
Wine: 2001 Miner Garys', SLH.

Bottle #9b - ripe nose, good balance overall, but seems to have a hole in the mid-palate. Nice flavors and finish.
Wine: 2001 Loring Garys', SLH

Bottle #10a - smells too overripe and pushing singed, with a background note of funk. Decent flavors and balanced, but this either comes from a hot climate or has been heat damaged.
Wine: 2003 El Molina, Rutherford. Rutherford? Ruth-er-ford? That's Napa! What the....

Bottle #10b - nice nose of lightly spiced red and black fruit. Excellent balance, very nice flavors profile. Has all the earmarks of a go-to Pinot.
Wine: 2004 Kenneth Crawford, Babcock Vnyd.

 

July 17, 2006

TWO CENTRAL COAST VISITS

Visits to Tensley and Kaena wineries

Tensley Wines - While attending the 1st Annual Sta. Rita Hills Wine and Fire Celebration in June, we knew we'd have a break between events and had arranged a couple of Sunday visits in the area (waste not, want not).

First stop, Joey Tensley's operation in Buellton. Joey's work at Beckmen gave him an affection for Rhones, and he makes several bottlings of Syrah as well as a few white wines.

In addition, a few other wines/winemakers are on the premises, and we were fortunate enough to try them as well. As well as his own label, Joey makes the Carina lineup for David Hardee, and Joey's wife, Jennifer, is now making her own wine under the Lea label. Also, wine enthusiast Tim Grubb is now making his own wine as well, under the Departure label. Finally, Joey's assistant winemaker, Lino, is making his own Cleb label here.

2005 Carina Rancho Arroyo Grande Viognier - 30% ML gives this a nice pear, peach. apricot aroma, with a lightly sweet hit on the back end. Good acids and balance, and it seemed a bit hot initially, but at 13.7% probably just needs some time to come together.

2004 Cleb Alisos/Black Oak Syrah - huge dark fruit, with lots of tar and leather accents, this Phelps Noir clone Syrah is thick meaty - just the thing to have after some whiney Viognier. Kidding, but this is a heafty mouthful of wine.

2005 Cleb Clover Creek Syrah - slightly reduced, this was recently sulphured. Certainly had tons of fruit throughout, and we were beginning to get the impression that Lino liked big wines.

2005 Departure Tierra Alta Syrah, Clone 1 - 5% co-fermented with Viognier. Really nice aromatics, punched up a bit by the Viognier - but not all that noticable.

2005 Departure Tierra Alta Syrah, Clone 1 - no co-fermentation on this barrel sample, and it did seem meatier in scent and taste. Both of these wines were very well balanced - even a bit high-toned in structure.

2005 Departure Tierra Alta Syrah, Clone 877 - okay, now this is even meatier than the previous clone 1 sample. Quite tasty, with lots of structure, but lovely approachable fruit.

2005 Departure Tierra Alta Syrah - Tim created a blend of the three wines above, as a sample of what might be his final blend. Though very good, quite frankly I liked the 877 on its own best, and hope he backs off some of the Clone 1 in the final belnd.

2005 Tensley Camp 4 Blanc (65% Grenache Blanc; 35% Roussanne) - nice acids and crispness, with just a hint of sweet fruit makes this deliciously drinkable.

2005 Tensley Camp 4 Roussanne - aromas of light floral and wheaty notes, with a nice waxy mouthfeel and excellent balance.

2005 Lea Tierra Alta Rose of Syrah - lovely nose and fruit, nice and meaty in mouthfeel, with just the right amount of crispness throughout. Very nice!

2004 Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah - lots of black and red fruit in the nose, big and rich mouthfeel, with terrific balance and long almost sweet-sour finish.

2005 Tensley Turner Syrah, Clone 7 - this cool-climate Syrah is from the Sta. Rita Hills, and the bluer more peppery fruit comes through in both nose and mouth. Very nice!

2005 Lea Turner Pinot Noir - terrific light cola quality to the dark cherry and herb. Very nice mouthfeel, and nice balance and finish.

2005 Tensley Thompson Syrah - lots of black fruit, with excellent acidity throughout, and a very nice long lightly herbed finish. Missing - that light chocolate I'm used to tasting in Thompson Syrahs - but this is very nice.

2005 Tensley Tierra Alta Syrah - fascinating combination of what seems to be both warm and cool climate characteristics, with both strawberry-cherry red fruit and blueberry-black fruit. Excellent balance and finish.

2005 Tensley Three Creek Syrah - this was a "wow" for me! Packed with fruit, fabulous balance and a lovely chalk/minerality throughout. Terrific!

2005 Tensley Tierra Alta Late Harvest Syrah - imagine blackberry-blueberry pie in a glass. Now you've got this. Smooooth!

2005 Cleb Viognier - nice flavors and balance, and certainly bigger framed than the Tensley version (Lino likes big wines).

2004 Cleb Thompson/Colson Syrah - very dense, with an interesting blend of textures. Nice stuff.

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Kaena Wines - Next stop, Mikael Sigouin's Kaena Wines. Mikael's originally from Hawaii, hence the name and Hawaiian motif to the label. Interestingly, both Mikael and Joey worked with Steve Beckmen at about the same time, with Mikael leaving his assistant winemaking job at Beckmen last year to take on the associate winemaking job at Fess Parker, working with Blair Fox. We were also joined by Sloan and Loren, whom we'd met the day before at the Sta. Rita Hills event.

We'd arranged to meet Mikael at the Fess Parker facility located near the Santa Maria airport, just a stone's throw from the Central Coast Wine Services (CCWS). This is one of two Fess Parker winemaking facilities, and actually acts more as a barrel room and storage location for case goods. It's a huge place, and unlike CCWS, we had it all to ourselves.

2005 Kaena Camp 4 Mourvedre - nice funky and gamey nose, with plenty of fruit, chewy mouthfeel, and nicely ripened fruit on the finish.

2005 Kaena Camp 4 Grenache - loaded with nicely ripened raspberry fruit, nice concentration, and very good balance.

2005 Kaena Tierra Alta Grenache - more complex and gripping than the Camp 4 bottling, with darker fruit, very good blance, really nice mouthfeel and textures.

2005 Kaena Tierra Alta Syrah, Clone 1 - slightly hig-toned nose of dark fruit, with very good balance and a bit of edginess in mouthfeel that smooths out during long finish.

2004 Kaena Syrah, blend of Tierra Alta, Larner, and Camp 4 - nice fruit and balance, and high on the yummy factor, this blend seems to show the best of each of these vineyards.

2004 Kaena Tierra Alta Syrah, 50% whole cluster - interestingly, I thought this might have some quality that screamed 'whole cluster' to it, but no, it's just delicious, and the light hit of chocolate on the back end is like perfect end to a meal.

2004 Kaena Larner Grenache - the slightly newer oak on this wine seemed to make it a bit "showier," with enhanced aromas and textures. Nice stuff!

2004 Kaena Tierra Alta "Hopa" - a blend of 65% Syrah and 35% Grenache, this seems to have it all - excellent balance, beautiful fruit throughout, and the Grenache adds some nice edges to the wine.

2004 Kaena Tierra Alta/Camp 4 Syrah - somewhat 'warmer' in style, with a bit of tar/asphalt, very nice balance and long finish.

2003 Kaena Camp 4 Grenache - raspberry and black raspberry fruit, this wine attacks well in the beginning, but really comes on at mid-palate and through the long finish. Really nice!

2003 Kaena Hearthstone Syrah - slightly sweet nose of ripe fruit, with a briary character and some tar and asphalt notes. Seemed to have less of what I call a 'warm climate' quality. Very nice!