TN: Three Ojai Dessert Wines....(short/boring)

TomHill · June 16, 2019, 11:22pm

Tried these two Ojais this weekend:

TheOjaiVnyd Viognier RollRanch/Calif (9.0%; 6 brls made) 2007: Deep golden/bronze/some browning almost redish color; very intense peachy/apricotty/grapey rather passito slight earthy bit herbal quite complex nose; quite sweet very tart/tangy/bit acidic some botrytis/apricotty/peachy quite grapey/passito/late htvst some earthy fairly complex flavor; very long/lingering intense grapey/passito/peachy/apricotty/slight botrytis bit earthy quite complex finish; not the degree of botrytis of the '05; a beautiful complex botrytis/passito dessert wine.

TheOjaiVnyd Viognier RollRanch/Calif (11%; 6 brls made) 2003: Med.gold/bronze/burnished bronze color; interesting smoked/roasted green chiles/pungent/herbal/thyme very strong passito/grapey light botrytis/apricotty bit pencilly/oak/cedar bit herbal fairly complex nose; quite sweet bit soft very strong grapey/botrytis quite exotic roasted green chile/smokey/pungent/herbal very light botrytis/apricotty/peachy bit complex flavor; very long slight oxidative/nutty strong passito/grapey slight peachy/botrytis slight pungent/roasted green chiles quite sweet bit soft finish; very attractive fully mature passito w/ no Viog character whatsoever; not quite as intense & botrytis as the '07.

And from my TN’s of last Thurs:

Tom:

TheOjaiVnyd Viognier RollRanch/Calif (6 brls made; 10%) 2005: Dark brown/bronze/almost red color; beautiful complex some botrytis/apricotty/peachy some cedary/pencilly/oaky very complex nose; quite sweet strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty very tart bit cedary/pencilly very complex flavor; very long/lingering strong botrytis/peachy/apricotty bit cedary/pencilly quite sweet rather tart/tangy very complex finish; a beautiful complex dessert wine that’ll go on for another 10 yrs, though little Viog character; terrific wine.

A wee BloodyPulpit:

Ojai: I was pretty much blindsided by how good this wine was. Adam’s RollRanch dessert Viogniers are often made as freezer ice wines, which tend to remain very sweet but seldom show much evolution or complexity. I don’t recall this wine in its youth showing much, if any, botrytis character. But it is definitely there now. A stunning dessert wine, despite the brown color, w/ no signs of oxidation.

All three of these wines were quite similiar. Again, I still don’t recall any botrytis in them when young and thought they were freezer ice wines. If that was correct, then I have to recalibrate my thought that freezer ice wines don’t evolve much w/ age. I’ll check w/ Adam/Fabien on exactly whet these dessert wines were.
Of these three, the '05 was my slight favorite. But the '03 showed slight hints of fresh green chiles being roasted over the fire, a beautiful smell that permeates SantaFe come the Fall, that’s very distinctive.
Tom

TomHill · June 17, 2019, 12:07pm

Adam sez that these three were all freezer ice wines. No botrytis whatsoever. Not in Ojai. Shows what I know!!
So…I’ve long contended that freezer ice wines just stay sweet and don’t ever show any evolution or development of complexity. These three prove just how wrong I am.
Jeez…us old folks have a hard time changing our long-held opinions. But I still say the world is flat and windmills cause cancer.
Tom

GregP · June 17, 2019, 7:33pm

Tom,

Back in 2001 Greg LaFollette froze some late picked Gewurtz, IIRC Londer Vineyard, since no one at the winery knew what else to do with it. Great flavors, but just too much sugar at that point. We simply bagged the fruit (large garbage plastic bags) and drove it to a commercial storage place in the middle of Sebastopol, right near where The Barlow is today. Resultant wines were some of the best stickies I have tasted, really balanced with good acidity, and plenty of complexity, with incredible aromatics.