We tasted tonight (4/3/19) Some More New Wines:
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terragena Riesling WileyVnyd/AndersonVlly (13%; Plntd: 1976; #417 of 1320; www.TerragenaVineyard.com)
ChrisBuchanan/MeyersFlat/HumboltCnty 2017 : Light gold color; quite fragrant pineapple/mango/R/slight
floral light chalky/flinty/mineral quite attractive R nose; quite tart slight herbal/new mown hay fairly
strong R/mango/pineapple light chalky/mineral almost Germanic flavor; very long chalky/mineral/stony slight
herbal/new mown hay some R/floral/pineapple finish; a bit Alsatian in style but more like a Sudtirol R;
reminds a bit of the old Husch R but more bright & high-toned; quite an attractive Calif R. $26.10
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Arnot-Roberts OldVine WW HeinsteinVnyd/SonomaVlly (13.1%; 5 brls; 64 yr old Sylvaner/Riesling + others)
Healdsburg 2017 : Light yellow color; somewhat fragrant earthy/chalky/perfumed talc slight herbal rather
light grapey/Sylvaner somewhat light/tight/lithe nose; rather tart/tangy/bit metallic rather earthy/chalky/
perfumed talc light floral/Sylvaner totally dry/bit austere quite tasty flavor; very long/lingering
somewhat grapey/Sylvaner rather chalky/perfumed talc/earthy lightly floral/apple blossom finish; not a lot
of nose but a very interesting flavor that speaks of Sylvaner; a bit like an Alsatian Sylvaner, more like a
Franken Sylvaner; bit pricey at $40.00.
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rootdown PinotBlanc RivinRanch/MendoCnty (12.3%; 22nd root) Mike Lucia 2017: Light yellow color; quite
fragrant PB/floral/appley/carnations light stony/chalky/earthy/perfumed talc quite attractive nose; fairly
tart/tangy somewhat floral/carnations/PB/apple blossom bit rich light chalky/earthy/perfumed talc slight
spicy/cardamon flavor; med.long somewhat tart floral/PB/apple blossom light chalky/perfumed talc bit spicy
finish; quite an attractive expression of PB; not the lean/angular character of Alsatian PB but more like
Sudtirol PinotBianco. $29.00
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terragena PinotGris AbiquaWindVnyd/OR (“Will, I Am It” Blend; 11.8%; own-rooted vines; Plntd: 1978;
20% new Hungarian oak; #583 of 1488) 2016 : Med.light gold color; strange some SO2/reductive rather cabbagey/
boiled brussel sprouts/bit dirty feet very slight floral/PG some earthy rather bizarre nose; some tart/tangy
rather sour somewhat cabbagey/brussel sprouts/reductive bit metallic slight PG/floral/carnations strange
flavor; med.long rather cabbagey/boiled brussel sprouts very slight floral/PG rather tart/sour finish;
speaks of PG in a whisper that’s dominated by the cabbagey character; may eventually blow off but not very
attractive now. $18.90
4a. terragena PinotGris 2016 : Retasted the following morning after being left out on the sideboard: Rather
low-key/quiet floral/PG/carnations/bit spicy light chalky pleasant nose; fairly tart/tangy some floral/PG/
carnations slight metallic some chalky/earthy flavor; med.long quiet/PG/floral/carnations/apple blossom
somewhat tart/tangy/bit metallic finish; lost all that cabbegy character and now speaks of PG but not in
a very loud voice; pleasant enough PG but just that.
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terragena PinotNoir WileyVnyd/AndersonVlly (12.8%; Clones 37 & 115; w-c frmtn; #510 of 600) 2017 : Med.light
color; quite fragrant cherry/bright/PN/bit CherryHeering some earthy/dusty slight Burgundian/peppery/spicy
light pencilly/oak quite attractive/perfumed nose; fairly tart/tangy bright/cherry/PN/cherry cordial light
earthy/Burgundian slight pencilly/oak bit peppery/w-c quite pretty flavor w/ light gentle tannins; very long/
lingering bright/cherry/CherryHeering bit earthy/Burgundian slight peppery/w-c light pencilly/oak finish w/
light tannins; a pretty classic AndersonVlly PN that reminds some of the Novarros but w/ less oak & more
high-toned character. $35.10
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Ser PinotNoir SantaCruzMtns (12.5%; 160 cs) 2014 : Med.light color; strong black cherry/PN slight volatile bit
smokey/oak somewhat earthy/dusty/bit loamy slight Burgundian nose; bit soft slightly metallic/tangy some bitter
rather earthy/PN/black cherry bit rustic light smokey/oak interesting flavor w/ some bitey/bitter tannins;
long rather bitter fairly earthy/rustic/PN/black cherry light toasty/oak finish w/ light bitter tannins;
an interesting rather earthy/rustic PN but the bitterness stands out. $38.00
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Ser Syrah CoastviewVnyd/MontereyCnty (13.7%; 65 cs) 2015: Very dark color; strong blackberry/Syrah/black
cherry cola bit spicy/w-c/peppery light toasty/oak bit earthy/herbal fairly attractive nose; bit tart/tangy
somewhat earthy/herbal/rosemary/pungent strong blackberry/Syrah some toasty/oak flavor w/ modest somewhat
bitter tannins; med.long strong blackberry/Syrah bit herbal/rosemary some toasty/oak finish w/ light bitter
tannins; a rather interesting Syrah but doesn’t have the strong herbal character of SantaLuciaHighlands
Syrah and the bitterness is distracting. $36.00
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Boheme Syrah OccidentalHills/EnglishHillsVnyd/SonomaCoast (14.3%; Hrvstd: Sept.30; 3 brls; 40% whole-cluster;
28 mo. in Fr.oak) 2015 : Dark color; slight metallic strong blackberry/Syrah/dusty/bit eucalyptus some w-c/
black pepper some toasty/smokey/oak bit complex nose; fairly tart/tangy blackberry/blueberry/Syrah some
w-c/spicy/peppery some smokey/oak slight herbal/eucalyptus bit complex flavor w/ some hard tannins; very long
strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah slight eucalyptus/herbal some w-c/Rhonish/pungent bit complex finish w/
modest chewey tannins; needs 3-6 yrs; not a lot of c-c/black peppery character but plenty of blackberry
Syrah fruit; very good Syrah at a very good price. $36.50
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Lagier-Meredith Mondeuse MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.7%) 2016 Very dark/near black color; classic Mondeuse/herbal/
thyme/rosemary/very spicy light pencilly/toasty/oak very spicy beautiful nose; lightly tart quite herbal/
Mondeuse/thyme/rosemary/blackberry very spicy some toasty/oak bit complex/sauvage flavor w/ some tangy
tannins; very long/lingering very strong blackberry/Mondeuse/herbal/thyme/rosemary/pungent some pencilly/oak
very spicy finish w/ modest tannins; seems not as intense & structured, a bit more polished, than previous
L-M Mondeuses, maybe a bit more rustic & Savoie-like; classic MtVeeder spice; this is world-class Mondeuse.
$38.25
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Bedrock OakvilleFarmhouse Oakville/NapaVlly RW (14.5%; Oldest vnyd in Oakville; Negrette/PS/Mondeuse/Zin/
Carignan + Colombard/Semillon/CheninBlanc + BlackMuscat) 2017: Very dark color; strong pencilly/oak rather
peppery/blackberry/DrPepper/spicy bit complex nose; bit soft rich/lush spicy/blackberry/boysenberry/DrPepper/
RCCola some toasty/pencilly/oak some dusty/OV fairly attractive but not very distinctive flavor w/ modest
ripe/gentle tannins; very long blackberry/boysenberry/bit spicy fairly dusty/OV modest pencilly/oak bit
complex finish w/ soft/gentle tannins; a quite pleasant NapaVlly red but not particularly interesting/
distinctive and a bit underwhelming, given the price. $65.00
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Ryme Aglianico LunaMattaVnyd/PasoRobles (13.6%) 2015 : Very dark/near black color; very strong herbal
rather Shinola/shoe polish strong ripe/grapey bit volatile rather toasty/oak bit rustic rather interesting
nose; fairly soft strong grapey/herbal/shoe polish/Shinola/some plummy/ripe rather toasty/oak fairly rustic
interesting flavor w/ ample hard/gritty/astringent tannins; very long herbal/Shinola grapey/plummy/ripe
rather toasty/oak somewhat rustic finish w/ ample hard/gritty tannins; a somewhat coarse/rustic rather herbal
Aglianico w/ pretty hard tannins; needs 3-8 yrs of age; shows the rustic character of Aglianico. $38.25
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Ryme Aglianico CaminoAltoVnyd/ElDorado (13.4%) 2017: Very dark color; fairly classic ElD/mushroomy/earthy/
bit loamy/dusty strong grapey/bit plummy/Mourv-like/bit licorice bit rustic nose; fairly tart/tangy strong
plummy/grapey/Aglianico bit rustic/coarse fairly earthy/mushroomy/bit loamy light toasty/oak interesting flavor
w/ some rough/coarse tannins; very long somewhat tart strong plummy/grapey/Aglianico/bit licorice light toasty/
oak bit earthy/loamy/dusty/rustic bit complex finish w/ modest rough tannins; shows lots of the ElDorado
character and the rustic/coarse bit Italianate side of Aglianico; needs ago but not sure where it’s gonna go;
quite an interesting red. $42.00
More piccourdle from TheBloodyPulpit:
- Terragena: This is a new wnry to me until recently. Located up in MeyersFlat, in the vast nowhereness of
HumboltCnty, on the edge of HumboltRedwoods State Park. ChrisBuchanan reached out to me on our NEB WebSite to
let us know he was making Nebb from a vnyd even further out in the no-where of HumboltCnty that used to go to
FieldbrookWnry. Any wnry making Nebb in Calif is right there on the cutting edge. So I thought I’d try some
of his other wines as well. Chris lives down in Ukiah, so it’s a journey for him to make wine. His Riesling
and Pinot Noir, both from Wiley vnyd in AndersonVlly I liked quite a lot. The OR PinotGris has some sort of
problem. When we did a PoP of the PG, the wine was dominated by a strange cabbagey character. I suspected this
was something that would blow off. I left the btl out overnight & retried it the next morning w/ my Wheaties.
It had lost that cabbagey character and had turned into a fairly pleasant PG that reminded me some of PG from
the VipavaVlly I’ve had. Chris suspects I happened to just have gotten a bad btl of it.
- rootdown: This is the wine of Mike Lucia, whose background is at Goldeneye and Copain. The focus is on lesser
known varieties from single vnyds. www.rootdownwinecellars.com
- Ser: This is the label of NicoleWalsh, winemaker at BonnyDoon. I had tried her Graciano and CabernetPfeffer &
liked them quite a lot, so I bought some of her others to try. She originally started out in the Michigan
wine biz and had a short stint in NewZealand. Ser is a Spanish word that means “expressing one’s origins”.
- OakvilleFarmhouse: Given its price (though…it is NapaVlly), I was expecting great things from this wine.
The capsule was a very hard white plastic dip-capsule. Managed to slice open my hand trying to break thru the
capsule to the cork. The wine was a quite decent red, but just not very interesting.
- Boheme: The previous OccidentalHills Syrah was a blend of EnglishHill and QueSyrahVnyd Syrahs. Since Kurt
lost access to the QueSyrah grapes when it was aquired by the Arnot-Roberts folks, the current OccidentalHills
Syrah contains only EnglishHills Syrah, which isn’t very close to Occidental.
- Ryme: These two Aglianicos were quite different, yet showed that somewhat rustic/coarse side that characterizes
Aglianico. I think the ElDorado terroir works a bit better w/ Aglianico, giving it a bit of Italianate character.
This is Ryan & Megan’s first Aglianico from other than LunaMatta.
Tom