So big! It’s wine concentrate. Add water to get regular wine. Opened 2 hours before dinner, but better at 4 hours. Inky black color. No signs of age. Typical Alban nose of blackberry, beef blood and asphalt. Intense black cherry on the palate. The finish goes on and on. The tannins were resolved a long time ago. How long can wine like this last? I have one more
bottle. Should I enjoy it now on hold for 5 to 10 years to see what happens?
Awesome note, my friend. How might you compare this with a SQN of a similar age? And did this have any of the ‘rubber tire’ notes upon opening (reductive qualities) that integrated as the wine opened?
These wines always take one on a journey and truly do evolve over a number of hours.
Cheers.
It was really not reductive. I’ve had all of the Alban wines and I think the petroleum, rubber tire thing is a sign of youth (like the Cayuse funk, but not as pronounced). I’ve learned not to touch Seymour’s or Lorain for at least 10 years. At 16 years old, this is fully mature. Everything in the nose and palate was balanced, nothing stood out or overwhelmed.
If you’re going to look at anything similar to Alban for concentration and intensity, it would be SQN. My oldest SQN in the cellar is 2008 so I can’t do a direct comparison, but this Alban seemed more intense than any SQN I’ve had though they are very close. I did have my last JFTLOI when it was about 14 years old and it seemed a little tired. Not something I would have noticed if I had not had it before, but I’m guessing Seymour’s will hold longer. My ambition is have a blind horizontal tasting with Alban, SQN and maybe Saxum and/or Booker.
I had the 04 Seymour’s about two years ago and it was also still massive. These wines either age at a glacial pace, or maybe they just don’t evolve much at all.
Isn’t that the same as SQN reds? That’s kind of what I was asking above . . .
Cheers
I had the 05 Seymour’s alongside the 03 Reva this summer and both were classically Alban in the ways described by others above (black-fruited, loads of iron ore, meat and olive notes throughout)—I felt both could go another 3-5 years pretty easily. The big monster of the dinner was 09 Pandora—that one is quite far from ready, hoo boy. If anyone is interested, the 02 Tithings and 10 Roussanne are in primo spots right now, IMO.
-Michael
Pleasantly surprised to see this post as I just tried my first Seymour last week - also the ‘05. Alban made me a believer in SoCal Syrah, as I will never forget my first Reva (the ‘07 that I drank “young” in ‘12 - so deep, dark…). So later that year I bought a mixed vintage case (‘05-07) of Lorraine (still haven’t tried) and Seymour at auction. Those all sat in storage until I went hunting for a Seymour last week. It delivered spectacularly - Reva on steroids. Drank over 3 nights and it was still going strong. I grade wines with a simple A-F system, where I award As only to wines that blow me away (looks like about 2% of my consumed are As). This Seymour was an easy A.
I still have some 04-06 Roussannes which I will probably sit on longer. To me, Roussanne is up there with some of the best wines John makes - and he has an uncanny ability to bottle nearly 16% alcohol versions that truly are ‘not hot’ when consumed at cellar or even room temperature. Amazing stuff . . .
Cheers.
If you haven’t seen his “wine star” talk from the 2017 NY Wine Experience, seek it out. He was introducing 13 Reva then, but his talk was really about the whole Alban philosophy. He is an excellent speaker and a snappy dresser. An excerpt of the talk is on youtube.
Larry: I recently had my last 2007 Roussanne and I thought it was fully mature, not tired at all, and had developed the honey/nutty character. I’ve always felt his Roussannes are his best wines, but the reds get all the attention.
Yes, as those of us old enough to have attended the HdR’s during the height of the CA syrah boom, we all know that he is charismatic, entertaining, and I guess, a “snappy dresser”. When not wearing a pink tutu.
When not sporting a dyed-white Beavis haircut.
I have about five Seymours, five Pandora’s, and a boatload of Reva’s, Lorraines, and Grenaches from '99 through '05 in my cellar. Then to use the parlance of a recent thread, I threw in the towel.
I love the Alban funk and the only domestic wine I have had that equals it is Cayuse. I have had quite a few SQN’s and while they might have similar extraction, they have none of the funk.
I think Manfred owes John something for inspiration from the Seymours and Pandora bottlings with similarly creative and marketable packaging.
To me, Alban funk is far more than mere mercaptans. I believe it to be the result of clones, soil, and climate but maybe that is romantic fantasy.
My friend Tom Hill has been on a reveal-the-emperor-is-naked vent as to Alban and age of late.
I have a slightly different view-that by and large CA syrah, like pet, just does not evolve much. It is the vinous equivalent of the computer acronym WYSIWYG.
So as much as I love the Alban funk and blast of delicious power, it is by and large one-note, stagnant, non-food-friendly, and not worth the coin, every word of this post being nothing more than my highly subjective and biased worthless take.
And last, I agree his Roussannes are overlooked gems and are age worthy. Not so much the viogniers.
This thread piqued my interest, so I just picked up an '04 Reva. I’ve only had young Patrina, so I’m looking forward to this.
If you got it from Benchmark then I just picked up the other one 
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15 year old Lorraine was one of my woah wines when first getting into wine. That funk and pepper in it was amazing.