TN: DavidBruce White Riesling Estate '79...(short/boring/bizarre)

WINE TALK
1

Tried this wine from Blair’s cellar w/ Stacey&David last weekend:

  1. DavidBruce WhiteRiesling SantaCruzCnty (16.2%) 1979:
    Ullaged to just below shoulder level; cork loose in the neck; deep golden brown/light PX/Oloroso sherry color; some old R/honeyed/old Rheingau Auslese slight nutty/oxidative/old sherry complex rather interesting nose; very tart/astringent/very bitter slight honeyed/old R/old Rheingau Auslese some oxidative flavor; long very astringent/bitter/tart some oxidative complex finish w/ slight wet dog fur far in the backtaste.
  1. Nuther btl/same wine/better fill: Pretty much the same nose w/ some honeyed/old R character; bit softer less astringent/bitter less oxidative flavor; not nearly as astringent/bitter on the palate.

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. This wine was made when DavidBruce was in his heyday from the Riesling planted on his Estate in the SCM. Thru the '70’s, David was pushing the boundaries of winemaking in Calif and often made over-the-top wines. This was one of those. Obviously late-harvest R grapes, barrel-frmtd & barrel-aged in new Fr.oak. No botrytis present. I was expecting this wine to be totally dead. It was not. Clearly some oxidative character, not very pleasant on the palate because of the bitterness. But it still had some hints of an old Riesling lurking in there.
    When this wine was released, there was a huge hue&cry raised by Riesling fans in Calif. “This is not Riesling”!! It was a wine that would drive DavidBeuker apoplectic. I (and obviously Blair, we have two btls remaining) rather liked this wine for its bizarre excess. Loaded w/ Fr.oak, it did speak in a quiet voice of Riesling. Alas, David’s Estate succumbed to Phylloxera and the Riesling was not replanted.
    Not a great experience, but a nice trip down memory lane.
    Tom
2

These notes are the best thing about this very good website. [worship.gif]

3

I’ve told this story before, but on one of my first trips to Santa Cruz (1980?), we went to David’s house for a reception he was having. At the time Bruce’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were my absolute favorite wines coming out of California and I was just a monster fan of David Bruce. As we entered his house, I was given a glass of white wine, and I proceeded to go on and on about how David made the best Chardonnay in California and that this wine was just amazing! David then said “…this is my Riesling…” to my incredible embarrassment. Everyone is looking at me like “…who is this dorky kid from Minnesota…”

4

Yup, Thomas… because of the heavy oak, it was easy to mistake for his Chard. If you knew it was Riesling, you could pick that up buried underneath all that oak.
He made a '77 Mendocino GWT that was one of the greatest GWTs made in Calif. Not particularly oaked. A Z-H before they became famous.
Don’t worry about the “dorky” label… some of us never outgrow it!!
Tom

5

I wish I still had bottles left of the '80 and '81 Pinot Noirs. They were big and probably wouldn’t have aged well, but they are etched in my memory as two of the greatest California Pinot Noirs I have tasted. On that first trip to Santa Cruz is when I discovered Duane Cronin as well, another great name from back then. The Chardonnays from him were also otherworldly.