Browse Tag

red

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)

Valentin’s day

[label]St. Michael-Eppan “Sanct Valentin” 1997 Pinot Nero (Alto Adige) – Beginning to round into maturity, with earthier elements entering the otherwise beet-dominated palate. Red berries are in evidence, but they’re the minority partner. If there’s a quibble, perhaps it’s that the overall impression of the wine is slightly fetid. Nonetheless, there’s much to like here. (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)

Spanish Xarmada

[bottle]Albert de Sangenis “La Xarmada” 2001 Conca de Barberà Criança (Cataluña) – A blend of syrah, cabernet sauvignon and mourvèdre. Good, if basic, and done in the international style, with all the required elements present. It’s pretty dull, but it’s at least wine on some sort of mindless level. (10/06)

The Font of all knowledge

La Viña la Font de la Figuera “Sequiot” 2004 Tempranillo (Valencia) – Horrid, undrinkable, over-manufactured swill. After a few sips, this gets poured down the drain. (10/06)

Cluster bomb

[bottle]Wyndham Estate 2003 Shiraz “Black Cluster” (Hunter Valley) – This is the first release of a wine intended to be “iconic,” from older vines. There is no ’04, but there is an ’05 and there will be an ’07 (thought to be the best of the bunch thus far), while a decision on the ’06 had not yet been made at the time of this tasting. Here is a much more serious style of shiraz, though still commercially accessible, with deep fruit showing blackberry, blueberry, plum and apple-crisped acidity, dark earth redolent with black truffle, and a little meat and leather in the picture as well. Very solid and nicely done. (9/07)

Show me, don’t tell me

[bottle]Wyndham Estate 2004 Shiraz “Show Reserve” (South Eastern Australia) – Aged in American oak, and it shows in the soft coconut wood influence. It’s big. Strawberries and plums are prominent, with chocolate and a warming, spicy component that turns to oak dominance on the finish. This is a well-made wine, but not my style. (9/07)

Hollywood phone numbers

[bottle]Wyndham Estate 2005 Shiraz “Bin 555” (South Eastern Australia) – This is Wyndham Estate’s biggest seller, and the goal is a “ripe” character…one that I don’t think they achieve. I also have a bit of a history with this wine: a negative note many years ago on one of the online wine fora caused a blizzard of hate mail from one dedicated but obviously underworked 555 lover. And now? Chocolate-covered paper, flat and dull, then turning soupy on the finish. Tannin is a minor component. This wine just isn’t interesting, at all. (9/07)