Chris Murphy & Renee and Dave Kammerer & Leslie were in SantaFe, so we got together to taste a few wine & some appetizers. Three that I brought & wanted to try were:
Idlewild Cortese FoxHillVnyd/MendoCnty (12.5%; www.IdlewildWines.com; partial skin ferment) 2017: Light gold some hazy color; some stony/earthy bit floral/carnations light phenolic/resiny/skin-contact quite interesting nose; lightly tart some phenolic/resiny light floral/carnations bit earthy/stony/Cortese flavor w/ little tannins; very long some floral/carnations light rsiny/phenolic bit earthy interesting complex finish w/ light tannic bite; a bit on the quiet side for the Idlewild Cortese but should age well & put on weight; a nice balance of Cortese fruit & phenolic. $40.00
Castelli RossoValverde Estate Red Blend RRV/SonomaCnty (14.2%; Cabernet/Sangiovese; www.CastelliVineyards.com; 30 cs) 2014: Very dark color; very strong herbal/blackcurranty/Cab strong plummy/cherry/Sangio light toasty/oak lovely nose; rather tart bit lean/angular strong cherry/Sangio/blackcurranty/Cab/plummy bit herbal light toasty/oak bit earthy flavor w/ modest brisk tannins; very long bit tart/lean strong cherry/Sangio/blackcurranty/Cab/plummy/light herbal bit toasty/oak finish; speaks both of Sangio & Cab; suggests a bit of a SuperTuscan blend but a bit harder/leaner & not as ripe; should age for -8 yrs; quite an interesting red at a great price. $24.00
LaVrille Vuillermin DOC: Valle d’Aoste (13.5%; EB; www.LaVrille.it) 2016: Dark color; very strong floral/peppery/very spicy bit pungent/ozone some licorice/blackberry/bit Syrah-like light smokey/toasty/oak almost Mondeuse-like quite complex/interesting nose; fairly tart/tangy intense floral/lilacs/pungent/peppery/blackberry/plummy bit earthy/mineral slight pungent/ozone quite complex/mineral very interesting complex flavor w/ ample hard tannins; very long/lingering intense floral/lilacs/peppery/cold-climate/licorice bit earthy/mineral finish; reminds some of Savoie Mondeuse but not as earthy/rustic and more high-toned; a beautiful complex interesting Alpine red. $88.00 (EVN)
And today’s wee BloodyPulpit:
Cortese: This is one of the more interesting whites that Sam makes. It’s rather different from Piemonte Cortese but I think it’s a worl-class expression of that variety. He makes it somewhat differently. The south-facing side of the row gets more sun exposure and colors up a bit, so he harvests them separately and makes as a skin-contact white to capture those phenolics. The north-facing side of the row is made conventionally as direct-to-press. The two wines are then blended together. I’ve found this Cortese ages very/very well.
Valverde: Emilio’s vnyd is in the GreenVlly area just East of Occidental…a pretty cold-climate growing area. He has a tiny bit of Cabernet that ripens here w/ great difficulty. He only makes this SuperTuscan blend in the few yrs he can ripen the grapes. This is the first one I’ve had and liked it quite a lot.
Vuillermon: This is a variety that is indigeneous to the Val d’Aosta. It is a offspring of the Fumin grape and some other unknown parent. It was thought to be extinct until a few vines were identified in the 1980’s in some old vnyds. Planted in only tiny amounts.
This is a new wine that Parissima recently got into EnotecoVinoNostro. Easily the best Vuillermin I’ve ever had (out of maybe 6-8). Clearly a grape they should be planting all up&down the Coast of Calif.
Tom
Chris & Dave also brought a stash of wines to share, but I was too busy chin-waggin’ to take TN’s. Had my first Sonkin wine, a Calif Syrah, that was impressive. The Bedrock Hudson Syrah ‘12 was also outstanding. Morgan doesn’t get the recognition for his Syrahs that he deserves. And a Bedrock Heritage that was dynamite.
Thanks for sharing those wines, Chris & Dave. We’ll Do it again sometime, I suspect!
Tom
Nice notes Tom, always a good read. Enjoyed the Idlewild Cortese recently at the Open House - Pick Up. I have found the serving temperature is especially important with skin contact whites. the aromatics and flavors come through much better when the wine is poured closer to room temp rather than cellar temp.
I have a 12 Bedrock Hudson in the queue, looking forward to opening it soon.
It was a fun night, you did have a pad of paper on the table, but no one took any notes, too busy tasting all the wines! The Bedrock Hudson Syrah was the ‘09, the Bedrock Heirloom was the ‘10, and the Sonkin was the ‘14 Persona. The ‘09 Bedrock Hudson was a replacement bottle after I had a cellar shelf failure and lost several ‘09 Bedrock Syrahs. Outstanding customer service from Morgan and Chris replaced several of those Syrahs.
You also opened a 81 White Reisling that was very interesting, and drank very well.
Yup, Chris…I had the best of intentions to take TN’s…but I turned into a slacker that night. The TN’s on these three I took the next morning w/
my Wheaties.
But I was mightly impressed by the Vuillermon red.
The dessert wine I served was the Felton-Empire LateHrvst Riesling TBA '81 from TepesquetVnyd in SantaBarbaraCnty. Originally a vnyd planted in the early days
by LouisLucas. Now called the CambriaVnyd.
I noticed the cork was loose in the btl, but brought it anyway. The wine was quite a murkey brown, but no signs of oxidation. Very intense botrytis on the nose
& taste and quite sweet. Pretty typical of those old Calif TBA’s…all botrytis and not much else.
Did you or Dave gave me an AnthillFarms PinotNoir to take home. I found it on my kitchen table the next day &
couldn’t figure out where it came from. Things that night were a little hazy when I got home.
It was a fun tour at the Bradbury on Tues. I enjoy babbling on about the stuff I do. But I always choke up a bit when I
get to the RichardFeynman part. He was an amazing guy. EdwardTeller…not so much.
Tom
That was Dave’s Anthill Pinot, great QPR, especially the Syrah that we had that night. We all enjoyed the Bradbury tour, the scientists and the non scientists alike! We could not find a copy of the coloring book that you mentioned However, will need to look for it!!
We had the Jaffurs PetiteSirah last night. The famed “Archibald Cuvée”, of course. Killer juice. Yours will probably be the first ArchibaldCuvee tasted outside LosAlamos.
Tom