Browse Tag

california

7×5

[label]Marietta “Old Vine Red Lot Number Thirty-Five” (California) – Somewhat beyond mature, but still hanging in there, with crisp red fruit, rich soil dust, and a tinny enclosure of structure. It needs quiet, but it’s still a decent drink. (11/07)

Lytton Hewitt

[map]Ridge 1998 Lytton Springs (Dry Creek Valley) – Draper’s note suggests to drink this nowish, and I think he’s right, though the spicy coconut oak hasn’t faded as much as one might like in a “mature” Lytton Springs. The fruit is clearly drying up, and while it’s still a warm and tasty festival of dark berries, the cracks and seams are unquestionably showing. (11/07)

Robles wobble

[map]Ridge 1999 Zinfandel Paso Robles (Paso Robles) – From the Dusi Ranch, though not the Dusi bottling. It’s odd to find a Ridge label confusing, but this one always has me shaking my head…not that I don’t understand it, I just find it a triumph of marketability (“Paso Robles”) over the usual Ridge site-specificity. Anyway…this is powerful and zingy, with razor-slashes of edgy dark-berry fruit that sizzle and spark as they pass. I’m sure it can age longer, but it’s in a really exciting place now. (11/07)

They’ve come to snuff the rooster

[vineyard]Gallo Family’s “Gallo of Sonoma” 2002 Syrah “Reserve” (Sonoma County) – Corked. (11/07)

Gallo Family’s “Gallo of Sonoma” 2002 Syrah “Reserve” (Sonoma County) – Heat-damaged, with the fruit caramelized into unrecognizability. (11/07)

Gallo Family’s “Gallo of Sonoma” 2002 Syrah “Reserve” (Sonoma County) – Fat’n’happy blueberry, with a little bit of strappy leather but roundly devoid of structure. It’s enjoyable to drink nonetheless, but it’s certainly not going to get any better. (11/07)

Turn on the red light

[label]Tablas Creek 2003 Roussanne (Paso Robles) – This wine is always more angular than I expect given the grape and the region, though it’s capable of responding to food by a little more self-assertion. Waxy stone fruit blows around a windy desert catacomb, the tan earth etched and buffeted by a certain desiccation, yet the finish remains strong (if a very slight bit hot). A strange wine. Maybe it’s just closed? (11/07)

[bottle]Stryker 2004 Cabernet Franc Angeli (Russian River Valley) – Woody and herbal, with a decent enough cabernet franc not quite able to emerge from the oak overlay. Fruit skins provide both character and mild bitterness. I’ve tasted worse. But I’ve tasted much, much better. (11/07)

[bottle]Stephen Vincent 2005 “Crimson” (California) – Soft, with a cloth texture to the fruit (from the syrah, perhaps). It’s entirely pleasant, but far too affable for its own good; a nice party wine, utterly devoid of complexity or personality. There’s a definite place and need for such a wine, but I’ve already expended more words on it than it merits. (11/07)

[bottles]Hobo 2005 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – Almost a throwback, with almost frothy wild berry fruit and a generally non-aggressive demeanor. However, the middle’s hollow. Perhaps filling that gap is what leads to the more modern, somewhat overdriven style. Not bad, not great. (11/07)

Not resting on any

[label]Laurel Glen 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma Mountain) – 12.5%. Vegephobes and those with a childhood fear of anything green will hate this. I, on the other hand, think that cabernet shorn of all leafy or verdant notes is probably overripe. Certainly this has green – leafy, vegetal, and peppery – to spare, but it’s quite balanced, pure, and moving along to its maturity on pace. Other mixed peppers (the seedy kind) are present, as well as firm tannin, good acidity and a black, spiky earthen foundation. This is the kind of cabernet that’s just not much made anymore, and I kinda love it. (7/07)

It’s me, Margaret

JB Cellars 2005 “Margaret Anne” Arneis/Tocai Friuliano (Mendocino) – Made by Marietta. It’s clean, pure fun, with intense sauvignon-like greenery (but on the ripe side) aromatized by a perfumed, almost lush top note of freshly-crushed lilies. Really, really nice. (8/07)