Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Last night a few of the WinePals and the staff of Restaurant 808 held what I hope to be a regular Monday night drop in social "wine sampling" night. As my cellar is getting too full with samples, the opportunity to try wines and get a variety of people's opinions sure helps me thin out the racks of wines that I'm not paying for, and which I feel, duty bound to open in short order so they get considered for reviews...Besides, how else can I keep you all apprised of the better wines hitting the shelves real soon. I know, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.....
2002 Shadow Canyon Viognier
I tasted this wine a few months back when it was still in the barrel and was impressed then, and am even more impressed now. This newcomer making wine southwest of Paso Robles on the way to Morro Bay and Cambria has been growing fruit and selling it off to bigger name producers the past few years. Now, with a few years of winemaking under their belt, the winery is turning out handcrafted, elegant and well made wines that are already showing that they're on the right path.
The 2002 Viognier is a small lot production of fabulous fruit. Showing full well that good product and good winemaking means great wine, the grapefruit, pineapple and tangerine flavored wine is loaded with lime and orange peel notes, with a long, almost 30 second long finish.
2002 Orfila Vineyard Coastal California Gewurztraminer
While not the best climate to grow the spicy grape of Alsace, Leon Santoro has made a pleasing wine that has the aroma and early palate weight of a California style Gewurztraminer. While the finish is rather short and light, the very quaffable white wine offers up a rose petal, lychee nut and hyacinths bouquet. On the mouth you can't help but notice the warm honeydew flavor.
1999 Orfila San Pasqual Valley Estate Sangiovese
A touch of chocolate is your first hint that Leon Santoro, the very personable winemaker of Orfila, has more than a clue about Sangiovese, the grape that powers so many of Italy's Chianti wines. Full of fresh cherry flavors, this wine is certainly as fine an example of one will find from San Diego County wineries. Sadly most people dismiss the wines from Orfila on the sheer basis of geography. This wine can easily pass muster of almost any of the Italian restaurants in the county alone, and if for no other reason other than supporting the locals, belongs on some of their lists. But, if that's not enough, the wine has a wonderful almost tannicless fruit base and a very nice and complex finish.
2001 Stolpman Santa Ynez Valley Sangiovese
Sashi Moorman, the young winemaker at Stolpman made this wine in his first vintage there after joining the winery. His passion for wines from Italy easily shows through with this 490 case release from the longtime Santa Ynez based vineyard that in the late 90's started to make wines of their own. A dense, dark ruby red color gives you the indication this is not a wine simply to sip down. The bright cherry cola nose gives way to more cherries and plums on the palate, as the very well balanced, fruit layered red finishes up with cherries, raspberries, cinnamon and a hint of Cuban tobacco. Sinfully good now, I suspect the wine will be better in a year.
2001 David Hill Willamette Valley Estate Pinot Noir
At under $15.00 retail, this Oregon producer is making value priced Pinot Noir that can grace the table of most restaurants. A perfect match up with Firecracker Salmon, the red raspberry and black cherry wine is a near term, easy drinking wine that offers up a nice middle core of fruit and a fresh cherry and black cola finish.
1999 David Hill Willamette Valley Reserve Estate Pinot Noir
With an initially closed nose, this wine took some time getting started, but since when was Pinot Noir ever well behaved. Once it opened, after being in the glass for about an hour, the wine became earthy, with scents of truffles and mushrooms, bright fruit cocktail like cherries, boysenberry and blackberry. A bigger and more elegant wine than its younger sibling, this is certainly a wine that can put a winemaker like this on the map with lovers of well priced, well made Pinot Noir.
2001 Laurel Glen Terra Rosa Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker Patrick Campbell has done it again with his under $10.00 Cabernet. Sourcing the best grapes he can find near the Chile/Argentina border, he continues to turn out a wine that drinks well past its price point. Showing off flavors of black licorice, black cherry and tarry plum fruit, the high mountain fruit is more Bordeaux like in structure than California. Here's a great red for backyard BBQ's this summer.
2002 Laurel Glen ZaZin Lodi Zinfandel
In very good years Campbell takes the best of the fruit that goes into the perennial low priced favorite "Reds" and save the Zin fruit to make something special. This year, his ZaZin, priced at a paltry for California Zins of this quality, $15.00, he's nailed it, making a voluptuously rich, decadently thick, glycerin filled red wine. Jam packed with black currants, cherries, plums, cassis, carob and raspberry, this better than very good black pepper scented red sets a new bar for low priced Zins to match up to.
2001 Shadow Canyon York Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
An easy to drink, elegant, but still evolving Cabernet, the new release form Shadow Canyon has nice black raspberry, cherry fruit flavors. A tad light, the wine clearly needs time in the bottle to become more complex.
2001 Shadow Canyon Syrah
I had this wine from barrel a few months back and know how good it can be. This bottle was nice and fresh, but lacked the big, lip smacking taste that the wine offered up at the April Rhone Ranger's event in San Francisco. While it may have been bottle shock, I think it was more of being closed down which Syrah occasionally does. Showing some nice blueberry and black pepper flavors, the wine is well made, has a very long finish, but still shows that it's just tight. Give it a few months and try some the next time you see some.
2000 Orfila Vineyards Estate Syrah
A more open and approachable Syrah, the blueberry flavor is pie filling rich, the blackberry flavor ripe and hints of herbs and black pepper in the finish. Well made, like the Orfila Sangiovese, it's easy to see why Santoro has been awarded medals for this wine.
2000 Bedford-Thompson Santa Barbara County Mourvedre
If hedonistic, old school style, Bandol like Mourvedre are your style, this wine hits that mark. The tell tale young Mourvedre bouquet of a rubber band aid blows off and reveals a peppery, blackberry and black raspberry flavor profile, with a very chunky, almost gravel like base. Flavors of coffee and Asian tea, Provencal herbs make this wine a winner.
Cheers,
Andy Abramson
2002 Shadow Canyon Viognier
I tasted this wine a few months back when it was still in the barrel and was impressed then, and am even more impressed now. This newcomer making wine southwest of Paso Robles on the way to Morro Bay and Cambria has been growing fruit and selling it off to bigger name producers the past few years. Now, with a few years of winemaking under their belt, the winery is turning out handcrafted, elegant and well made wines that are already showing that they're on the right path.
The 2002 Viognier is a small lot production of fabulous fruit. Showing full well that good product and good winemaking means great wine, the grapefruit, pineapple and tangerine flavored wine is loaded with lime and orange peel notes, with a long, almost 30 second long finish.
2002 Orfila Vineyard Coastal California Gewurztraminer
While not the best climate to grow the spicy grape of Alsace, Leon Santoro has made a pleasing wine that has the aroma and early palate weight of a California style Gewurztraminer. While the finish is rather short and light, the very quaffable white wine offers up a rose petal, lychee nut and hyacinths bouquet. On the mouth you can't help but notice the warm honeydew flavor.
1999 Orfila San Pasqual Valley Estate Sangiovese
A touch of chocolate is your first hint that Leon Santoro, the very personable winemaker of Orfila, has more than a clue about Sangiovese, the grape that powers so many of Italy's Chianti wines. Full of fresh cherry flavors, this wine is certainly as fine an example of one will find from San Diego County wineries. Sadly most people dismiss the wines from Orfila on the sheer basis of geography. This wine can easily pass muster of almost any of the Italian restaurants in the county alone, and if for no other reason other than supporting the locals, belongs on some of their lists. But, if that's not enough, the wine has a wonderful almost tannicless fruit base and a very nice and complex finish.
2001 Stolpman Santa Ynez Valley Sangiovese
Sashi Moorman, the young winemaker at Stolpman made this wine in his first vintage there after joining the winery. His passion for wines from Italy easily shows through with this 490 case release from the longtime Santa Ynez based vineyard that in the late 90's started to make wines of their own. A dense, dark ruby red color gives you the indication this is not a wine simply to sip down. The bright cherry cola nose gives way to more cherries and plums on the palate, as the very well balanced, fruit layered red finishes up with cherries, raspberries, cinnamon and a hint of Cuban tobacco. Sinfully good now, I suspect the wine will be better in a year.
2001 David Hill Willamette Valley Estate Pinot Noir
At under $15.00 retail, this Oregon producer is making value priced Pinot Noir that can grace the table of most restaurants. A perfect match up with Firecracker Salmon, the red raspberry and black cherry wine is a near term, easy drinking wine that offers up a nice middle core of fruit and a fresh cherry and black cola finish.
1999 David Hill Willamette Valley Reserve Estate Pinot Noir
With an initially closed nose, this wine took some time getting started, but since when was Pinot Noir ever well behaved. Once it opened, after being in the glass for about an hour, the wine became earthy, with scents of truffles and mushrooms, bright fruit cocktail like cherries, boysenberry and blackberry. A bigger and more elegant wine than its younger sibling, this is certainly a wine that can put a winemaker like this on the map with lovers of well priced, well made Pinot Noir.
2001 Laurel Glen Terra Rosa Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker Patrick Campbell has done it again with his under $10.00 Cabernet. Sourcing the best grapes he can find near the Chile/Argentina border, he continues to turn out a wine that drinks well past its price point. Showing off flavors of black licorice, black cherry and tarry plum fruit, the high mountain fruit is more Bordeaux like in structure than California. Here's a great red for backyard BBQ's this summer.
2002 Laurel Glen ZaZin Lodi Zinfandel
In very good years Campbell takes the best of the fruit that goes into the perennial low priced favorite "Reds" and save the Zin fruit to make something special. This year, his ZaZin, priced at a paltry for California Zins of this quality, $15.00, he's nailed it, making a voluptuously rich, decadently thick, glycerin filled red wine. Jam packed with black currants, cherries, plums, cassis, carob and raspberry, this better than very good black pepper scented red sets a new bar for low priced Zins to match up to.
2001 Shadow Canyon York Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
An easy to drink, elegant, but still evolving Cabernet, the new release form Shadow Canyon has nice black raspberry, cherry fruit flavors. A tad light, the wine clearly needs time in the bottle to become more complex.
2001 Shadow Canyon Syrah
I had this wine from barrel a few months back and know how good it can be. This bottle was nice and fresh, but lacked the big, lip smacking taste that the wine offered up at the April Rhone Ranger's event in San Francisco. While it may have been bottle shock, I think it was more of being closed down which Syrah occasionally does. Showing some nice blueberry and black pepper flavors, the wine is well made, has a very long finish, but still shows that it's just tight. Give it a few months and try some the next time you see some.
2000 Orfila Vineyards Estate Syrah
A more open and approachable Syrah, the blueberry flavor is pie filling rich, the blackberry flavor ripe and hints of herbs and black pepper in the finish. Well made, like the Orfila Sangiovese, it's easy to see why Santoro has been awarded medals for this wine.
2000 Bedford-Thompson Santa Barbara County Mourvedre
If hedonistic, old school style, Bandol like Mourvedre are your style, this wine hits that mark. The tell tale young Mourvedre bouquet of a rubber band aid blows off and reveals a peppery, blackberry and black raspberry flavor profile, with a very chunky, almost gravel like base. Flavors of coffee and Asian tea, Provencal herbs make this wine a winner.
Cheers,
Andy Abramson
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