Browse Tag

sonoma county

Hope, eternal

Ridge 1987 Zinfandel Lytton Springs (Sonoma County) – 13.4% alcohol. Does that even count as wine in California anymore? Sweaty, dark, and dusty. Minted plum with a hint of smoke. Lightly-tarred tannin. Very slightly volatile. Structured, long, and still quite intense. This is in the prime of its maturity, and absolutely delicious. (3/05)

The powerlessness of 3

Ridge 2007 “Three Valleys” (Sonoma County) – 76% zinfandel, 8% petite sirah, 7% syrah, 6% grenache, 3% carignane. 14.3% alcohol. Monotone berries, ranging from deep red to deeper black, dusted with a bit of black pepper but otherwise fairly anonymous. A heavy wine…not hot, but ponderous and lifeless. Boring. (1/09)

Martin

Marietta 2005 Zinfandel (Sonoma County) – 15.3%. Stylistically and varietally anonymous, but I don’t think this wine has aspirations to anything else. A bit heavy and alcohol-laden, and though the latter isn’t expressed as heat so much as it is sheer palate-deadening weight, I’ve certainly tasted brawnier and more whiskey-like wines. There’s a good deal of fruit, of both small- and large-berry varieties, but they too are rather gravity-stricken. Maybe some age might help, but I’m not convinced it has the structure to support it. (12/08)

She’s upgraded from her web

[charlotte’s home vineyard]Rodney Strong 2006 Sauvignon Blanc “Charlotte’s Home” (Sonoma County) – Wind-blown grass, lemon, and lime with a touch of spice from the wood. Big, juicy, clean, and simple. Good persistence. (2/08)

Dangerfield

Rodney Strong 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon “Reserve” (Sonoma County) – Dark fruit with some wildness to it and fine, solid tannic structure. The initial wash of fruit, though, eventually gives way to blueberry-vanilla milkshake, though it’s not as overdone as one sometimes finds in California reds, and it soaks up its wood (French) fairly well. (2/08)

Silicone

Kalin 1987 Pinot Noir “Cuvée DD” (Sonoma County) – Beautifully structured, with crisp red fruit in reserve, and a fine foundation of brown earth and morel. Mostly, though, it’s about the structure at the moment. (2/08)

Little Marie

[label]Marietta 2005 Zinfandel (Sonoma County) – 15.3%. A little hot and sticky, with fire-roasted dark berries, twisted and wild, in a forest of slightly charred trees. There’s a lot of flavor here, but it’s formless, and at the core is…not much. (6/08)

Old unfaithful

Ridge 1994 Geyserville (Sonoma County) – This is tight and flailing away at any attempt to make it less so, with primary wood and a not-altogether-pleasant liqueur character dominating all else; it’s a combination of fairly prominent alcohol and syrupy fruit (though just what that fruit is remains fairly opaque, even if a few of the famed ollalieberries make their presence known in a brief, shy encounter). There’s also unmistakable balsamic on the finish, which I just do not want to taste in my zin. And then, the tannin whips the palate, the acid pokes a bony finger forth, and the coconut wood covers everything in a blanket of shaved tropicality. This is a strange performance vs. the last bottle I tasted, which was much more complete and generous despite being quite primary itself. Ah, the mysteries of bottle variation. (8/07)

After Luke

Edmunds St. John 1997 Syrah Durell (Sonoma/Carneros) – Man, is this good. An intricately-plucked funk bass line propels low-toned, leathery fruit though a series of earthy, fruit-scowl verses and leathery, whip-strap choruses to a rousing climax of fruit-stained saddle, black trumpet, and a hurricane of pepper dust. I’d be inclined to drink this now, whatever it’s future. (6/08)