Going thru a box of older wines, I cracked this last night:
SaucelitoCanyon Zin ArroyoGrandeVlly/SLOCnty (EB; 14.5%) ArroyoGrande 1994: Med.color w/ some bricking; bit alcoholic/fumey strong ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin/spicy/briary fairly dusty/OV rather complex nose; rather soft bit alcoholic/fumey quite ripe/Zin/boysenberry/blackberry/very spicy light toasty/oak fairly dusty/OV complex flavor w/ light smooth/ripe bit drying tannins; very long slight fumey/alcoholic quite ripe/boysenberry/blackberry/Zin/very spicy some dusty/OV finish w/ light smooth/ripe tannins; rather on the ripe side but not raisened/pruney/late hrvsty; still plenty of ripe boysenberry/Zin fruit and not dried out or tired, with fully resolved tannins, but not gonna get any better.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
Been quite awhile since I done did have a SaucelitoCnyn Zin. The vnyd, located way in the upper reaches of the ArroyoGrandeVlly, was originally planted in the 1880’s. In the '80’s, this abandoned vnyd was brought back from the dead by BillGreenough. Originally, their Zins we only from this Estate vnyd. Since then, they’ve expanded their tableau of wines quite a bit. Haven’t tried any of their mordern lineup.
But for a 24 yr old Zin, this was in remarkably good shape.
Tom
Thanks for the note, Tom. I probably bought a bottle of this wine but drank it many years ago. I used to go taste at Saucelito Canyon when they shared a tasting room with Talley at the old Rincon Adobe, before Talley built their current tasting room. I’ve been to Saucelito Canyon’s tasting room in Edna Valley 2-3 times since then but it’s been quite awhile.
Here’s the old Talley Rincon Adobe - it was fun tasting there back in the day.
I drank a lot of the early Estate wines from here when I was consulting at Diablo Canyon. That and the Mastantuano “Centennial” from the Dante Dusi Vineyard were some of the best examples from there then.
True, Doug…then. Those early Mastantuanos were, like the SaucelitoCanyon, loaded w/ ripe boysenberry Zin fruit.
Pat Mastantuono becme, over the yrs, more interested in his golf game than making good wine. He finally sold it in 2007.
Last time I was in there, the tomato sauce was the highlight of my tasting there.
And, for old times sake, then there was Pesenti…and tasting from their Reidel whisky glasses!!
Tom
"The Mastantuono Winery, set on a five-acre Templeton property, has been sold for an undisclosed sum to Ron Donati of the Donati Family Vineyards in Paicines, Calif. The Donati Family Vineyards consist of approximately 1,000 acres in San Benito County, and the family will change the name of the Templeton property to reflect the Donati name.
"Winemaker for Donati Family Vineyards is Paso Robles native Dan Kleck, owner of Silver Stone Wines, and consulting winemaker to more than half a dozen other local wineries. Kleck is currently assessing the production capacity at the Mastantuono facility and will eventually move some of his production to that location.
“Pasquale Mastantuono, who is retiring from the business after 30 years, will move to his home on the Spokane River in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho…”
"This limited-edition wine comes exclusively from a three-acre block of Zinfandel vines that was planted in 1880. These noble vines are among the oldest in California, producing Zinfandel fruit with rich flavors, natural complexity and a sense of mature intensity. Please enjoy this wine as a rare and remarkable taste of our heritage vineyard.
“Due to its small production and high demand, the ‘1880 Zinfandel’ is offered first to our Club SCV members who opt to purchase it, with limited quantities also available in our tasting room…”
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. When I worked ITB retail in college, I sold the heck out of every bottle of Saucelito Canyon I could get my hands on. When the 1995s came along, we had to keep them in the back and allocate them almost as tightly as Silver Oak.
Those were about the only Zins I ever really loved.
I made it up to the Saucelito winery just once; off the beaten path to say the least. It is far easier to just go to the tasting room in Edna Valley. FYI…Talley still does some tasting out of the old tasting room, just not the normal daily tastings. The old place was fun, but got too cramped for the amount of visitors.
The 2-3 times I’ve been to the new Talley tasting room (guess it’s not all that new anymore) it has been more crowded than I ever saw the old tasting room - I was often the only person there when I visited the old place.
A memorable exception to that was when this group rolled up to the old tasting room while I was there, and they had given no advance notice to the winery. The place was too small to accommodate them so they turned around and drove away, but not before I snapped a photo of their cars.
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