TN: A TrousseauGris & A Leon-Millot...(short/boring)

These were my wines at DinDin last night:

  1. WindGap TrousseauGris Fanucchi-WoodRdVnyd/RRV/SonomaCnty (11.8%; Plntd: 1981; Frmtd: concrete tanks;
    www.WindGapWines.com) Sebastapol 2017
    : Med.gold/burnished bronze color; some appley/earthy lightly floral/carnations vaguely fruity slight fragrant rather undistinguished nose; quite tart/tangy/lean bit eviscerated bit appley/earthy slight floral/carnations quite undistinguished vaguely fruity flavor; med.short rather tart/tangy light appley/earthy/floral/carnations msomewhat bland/eviscerated finish; a thoroughly undistinguished white w/ no obvious skin-contact; reminds a bit of the old Gus Sebastiani GrayRiesling. $26.00

  1. Novy LeonMillot WillametteVlly/OR (13.6%; not many cases) 2007: Rather murky/somewhat browning color; quite earthy/loamy rather rustic/hybridy/grapey some Siduri oak/pencilly rather interesting nose; rather tart/tangy/metallic earthy/loamy rustic/coarse some Siduri oak bit astringent/tannic flavor w/ light metallic tannins; very long quite tart/tangy/metallic fairly eaarthy/loamy/rustic rather grapey/hybridy some Siduri oak finish w/ light tannins; lots of grapey/rustic/loamy/hybridy character but much better than I expected; not at all dead or tired. $19.50

More fokkeretter from TheBloodyPulpit:

  1. TrousseauGris was long ago planted in Caalif & went under the name of GrayRiesling. It pretty much died out because it made such boring/uninteresting wines, but now is seeing a slightly renewed interest because the DNA indicated GrayRiesling was actually TrousseauGris. This WindGap is exactly why the variety disappeared in the first place.

  1. Novy: Whatta surprise this wine was. I was expecting it to be totally dead/shot. It was not. Not a wine filled w/ much hedonistic pleasure, but, given its low-class background, much better than it had any right to be. As I recall the story, this 2007 vintage, he was taking Pinot from the AmberRidge Vnyd & they happened to have some extra LeonMillot that was unspoken for, so he brought a ton down with his Pinot.
    Apparently Leon-Millot has somewhat of a sweet spot in OR & a number of vnyds have it planted. Apparently because it is a somewhat popular (if illegal) grape in Alsace. Go figure.
    Tom