Edmunds St. John 2005 “Rocks and Gravel” (California) – One of the most complete young versions of this wine I’ve tasted; like the Wylie-Fenaughty, whatever he’s doing to make these wines more immediately appealing without sacrificing structure (or maybe it’s just the vintage), it’s working; this is a brilliant, well-knit, deceptively soft expression of California Rhônishness, with restraint applied to the usual stew of old-growth herbs and dried-out soil, lightly animalistic notes, well-baked red fruit, and a fine dusting of seed pepper. What a terrific wine! It might not have the pure aging potential of other vintages (though these wines can be deceptive, and I may well be wrong), but certainly many ever-shifting years lie ahead of it. (5/08)
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