Tried these two over the last few days:
- Forlorn-Hope MilAmores DeWittVnyd/AmadorCnty (50% Touriga/25% Tempranillo/25% TintaCao; 13.6%) Fairfield 2010: Rather dark color w/ no bricking; strong grapey/fruity/bit Porto-like some Amador/briary light pencilly/oak light earthy/rustic bit complex nose; soft rather rich/lush some earthy/rustic/pencilly/oak strong grapey/fruity/plummy/Port-like some complex flavor w/ light gentle/ripe tannins; very long/lingering quite grapey/plummy/fruity/bit Port-like/floral/cherry some earthy/dusty/rustic light pencilly/oak bit Amador/briary bit complex finish w/ light ripe tannins; reminds a lot of a mature DuoroVlly dry red; probably near its peak or a bit beyond.
- Forlorn-Hope Deux Mathieux PetiteSirah 10BrinkVnyd/SuisunVlly (15.9%) SuisunVlly 2009: Very dark/near black color w/ light bricking; very strong earthy/dusty/OV/bit loamy coarse/rustic/PS/plummy/old timey bit toasty/oak light peppery not very complex mose; soft quite coarse/rough/tannic old-timey/PS/earthy/loamy bit toasty/Am.oak slight peppery bit hot/alcoholicslight peppery flavor w/ ample rough/coarse tannins; med.short very rough/coarse/earthy/dusty/OV/loamy slight peppery/PS/plummy finish w/ ample coarse tannins; a pretty massive PS that’s going nowhere fast and will probably never outlive the tannins; will unlikely to ever be a pleasurable wine; shows the old-timey oafish side of PS.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
- Deux Mathieux would be MattRorick & MattDees, winemaker at Jonata in SantaBarbara. They went to school together at UC/Davis and this was a joint effort from the TennbrinkVnyd in Fairfield, which they were not allowed to use on the label, so 10Brink was the scam to get around that.
This is one of the very first wines made by MattRorick. At release it was a massive PS w/ massive tannins; black as the ace of spades. The massive extraction level suggested a PS that would live forever. It probably will, but never be of much pleasure to drink. Doesn’t seem to be coming together gracefully.
Tom