Could not resist and got a case from their latest sale, I mean who can resist Paloma at $35. Finally got the wine and had to open one. Well, there is a reason for this sale, the wine is maturing fast. It is still very good, and for those who appreciate mature notes of leather with no noticable tannins and somewhat muted fruit, this may be an ideal wine. And if I had the wine with a nice steak at a restaurant, it would show better.
But I had half last night, and half today as a siping wine. It is a good wine, but a bit overly acidic, and muted fruit for my taste.
Anyway, depends on your palate preferences.
Also, make sure you decant the wine through some filtering system.
I don’t think so John, bought some of these a couple years ago and they were heading downhill, lost their fruit. I do like them young though, but their heyday was 1997-2002 IMO, they seemed to have more of everything for a Merlot.
I bought some Paloma last year - 2012, 2013, and 2014 vintages. I have had one of each, and would agree with Otto that they are aging really fast. Much faster than the ones I had from 2000-2005, which were amazing. I actually liked the 2002 better than the 2001.
Yeah, I visited Jim and Barbara in 2001 and was going deep on the wines in the early years. The syrah was actually my favorite, but it created farming problems for them. They may have made some later with purchased fruit. This is one list I regret dropping off, but things seemed very uncertain after Barbara passed. Is the son making the wines??
The Son is making the wine I believe. Tried a 2013 a few months ago and it was nothing the caliber of the late 90’s early 2000’s. Everything Otto mentioned was on point. Muted fruit with higher acid.
Last really good Merlot I’ve had was 2016 Freemark Abbey, 2016 Andrew Will and 2016 Hudson Phoenix.
Thanks for the memories. Paloma was a wine board favorite in the late '90s. Their Syrah was excellent and the Merlot was great as well. I visited them at their home on Spring Mountain in 1999 or 2000. Their home was near the top, and I recall it was quite foggy up there. Jim mentioned the rattlesnakes in the vineyard. The Richards were very nice people.
Memory lane Asher. On one of our visits Barbara said she needed to get some work done after we had finished tasting. We said our goodbyes and she got out her quad with a gun on her hip to go down to the vineyard below her house. I asked her what the gun was for and she said “rattlesnakes”! At least that is how I remembered it!
Jim and Barbara were salt of the earth people. Those of us who have met them, loved them. But they are gone and son Sheldon is running things now. I didn’t get as good of a deal as Otto did. I paid $40 not $35. But I did open one last week and with a little air time, it was very good. I won’t hesitate to open the rest of them over the next year or two.
Sheldon is indeed making the wines there now. I never made it up there when his folks were alive, though I bought them starting with the '97 after Florida Jim opened a '96 at a gathering in North Carolina. Finally got up there to meet Sheldon a couple of years ago. I have some '13 cab and merlot in the cellar, and am a bit distressed to hear that they are aging prematurely. This calls for research.
Looking at my inventory, where I used to buy every year, after 2008 I only bought 2010 and 2013. I bought more '13 than normal, though, due to the reputation of the vintage and my then fairly recent visit up to Sheldon’s place. My tastes these days tend more to the classic style, so most my Cal Cab dollars go south to the SCM rather than to Napa, so '13 was already going to be my last hurrah but it’s a bummer if they are declining early on top of everything else. I will have to check out at least the '10 in the coming months.
I’d check in soon, I still remember trying Paloma for first time at Queen City Grill in Belltown, and drinking a great bottle at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen…both places are now gone sadly, but Paloma links a memory.
Those Palomas from the turn of the century were really great. They could impress a lot of other wise Right Bank enthusiasts. I think I finished my last bottle up maybe ten years ago?