TN: DavidBruce WhiteRiesling '79...(short/boring)

WINE TALK
1

Tried this wine from Blair’s stash last night:

  1. DavidBruce WhiteRiesling SantaCruzCnty (16.2%) LosGatos 1979: Deep amber/oloroso sherry bit murky color; very strong old German auslese/cedary strong toasty/pencilly/smokey/Fr.oak slight gout de petrol/Mosel valve oil quite complex very interesting w/ no overt oxidation (sherry/VA/or acealdehyde character); slight alcoholic slight nuttu strong toasty/cedary/pencilly/smokey/Fr.oak some petrol/Mosel valve oil rather astringent/bitter some old German auslese quite complex flavor w/ some bitterness; very long/lingering somewhat bitter/astringent rather cedary/pencilly/toasty/smokey/oak some old German auslese/gout de petrol/Mosel valve oil finish w/ some bitterness; quite an exotic/bizarre/complex old white with an interesting melange of flavors & aromas; a bit too bitter astringent/bitter on the palate but a very exotic/bizarre nose.

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. This was interesting in that it carried a SantaCruzCnty designation rather than a SantaCruzMtn designation. Don’t know if this has a signifigance or not.
    When David planted his vnyd up on BearMtnRd, he put in PinotNoir and Chard (of course), but also CabernetSauv and WhiteRiesling. Those wines of his in te '60’s-'70’s were always about new Fr.oak. The WR was always like no other Riesling in the World. High in alcohol and loaded w/ new Fr.oak. Yet is still had that floral R character coming thru. Though bizarre, I always sorta liked the wine as a unique expression of R from David. Much like I find Quasimodo a rather endearing creature. But it was the kind of wine that would drive Riesling purists into the hills screaming in terror. Sometimes purists miss out on some of the better things in life with their fixation on how a wine “should be”.
    I was expecting this wine to be totally dead & gone, riddled w/ VA/acetic/acetaldehyde. It was not at all. Just an old white w/ a bizarre melange of flavors & aromas, but still a unique expression of Dr.Bruce’s take on WhiteRiesling.
    Tom
2

I’ve told this story before -

First time I met David Bruce, late 70s, was at his house, and I was a monster fan of his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The house was full of people, and David handed me a glass of white wine at the door. I went on and on over how much I loved his Chardonnay, waxing on how great this Chardonnay in the glass was. Then David replied in front of everyone - “…uh, that is my Riesling…” - Open mouth, insert foot -

3

“Wines and Winemakers…” confirms this was estate fruit. Remember, this would have been released before there was a Santa Cruz Mountains AVA.

4

Yup…no surprise there, Thomas. His winemaking style was to pretty much dominate the varietal character.
Story that I’ve heard was that when David first started making wine as a home winemaker, when he was only
a dermatologist, he made his first wine from Concord. And that nobody was able to tell it was a Concord wine.
He used to also make GWT in the middle '70’s from MendoCnty. The first ones were hit w/ a ton of new oak
and very much in the DavidBruce style. But about the last one, the '77 I believe, he lightened up on the Fr.oak
and it was one of the best Calif GWTs I could recall, very Alsatian in style.
Tom