Tried these two last night from my latest Solminer shipment:
- Solminer Viognier Serena San Marcos Vnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (13%; 48 cs) 2019: Light yellow color; fairly fragrant Viog/pear/fresh peach somewhat quiet/low-key slight perfumed talc quite attractive nose; fairly tart/tangy light Viog/pear/peach slight perfumed talc pleasant quiet flavor; med.long light/bright/quiet Viog/pear/peach bit mineral/perfumed talc finish; a rather pretty/quiet/low-impact Voig much like the Cedarville or Cuilleron LaCote CollineRodannies Viog; quite pleasant but just that; would like a bir more intensity & impact. $32.00
- Solminer St.Laurent RicciVnyd/Carneros (11.1%; 210 cs; www.Solminer.com) 2019: Rather dark color; strong rather earthy/loamy strong St.L/plummy/blackberry/black cherry/quite grapey lovely fairly intense nose; fairly tart/tangy very strong plummy/St.L/blackberry/black cherry fairly earthy/loamy bit bright/Pinotish some complex flavor w/ light bit tangy tannins; very long/lingering strong black cherry/plummy/St.L fairly earthy/loamy bit Pinotish finish w/ light tangy tannins; a dead-ringer for a Burgenland St.L because of its earthy/loamy character & unusual for Calif; reminds a bit of the Moric St.L but less oak; a lot of the Rosi Schuster St.L; quite a delicious St.L. $38.00
A wee BloodyPulpit:
- St.Laurent is an indigenous grape to Burgenland, the result of a natural crossing of a member of the Pinot family & an unknown grape.
The Ricci was the first vnyd in Calif to plant St.L and MattRorick the first to make one from their grapes down in the Carneros.
I was quite surprised how much I liked this wine. At 11.1%, I was expecting a rather lean/eviscerated red. It was not that at all. It just goes to show that you can make a low-alcohol wine in Calif that still is packed with flavor…something a lot of the IPoB crowd never figured out.
Tom