was my good fortune to visit Forestville and Arnot-Roberts again, this time with friends after a bit of Carlisle commerce this past Saturday. Nathan Roberts gave us a lot of his time, and some of his knowledge, as well as letting us taste and frankly drink thru the current releases!
Arnot-Roberts has three SV Syrah wines and a nice blend in 2007, also a 2006 Bugay Cab Sav was poured as well as the new Chard which has not been bottled yet and was a bit cloudy in the glass. we also got to barrel taste a 2008 Cab Sav sourced from a Santa Cruz Mtn vineyard that is a wedge from Ridge according to Nathan.
i’ll only speak about the bottled wine here. we got to taste 2 of the 3 SV Syrah wines missing out on 07 Griffin’s Lair but both The Hudson and Alder Springs Syrahs were better than simply impressive. each $60 and worth the price IMO.
Hudson had incredible aromatics with both minerals and meat, and yes - BACON! this wine is so much more approachable than it was in 2006 while still having a very strong tannic structure and serious mouthfeel. was easy to buy a bottle and i think i will seek out some more even though this is a wine in need of a 5-10 year rest IMO. that being said i feel i’ll drink the 07 prior to the 2006!
07 Alder Springs was super yummy, like the 2006, with a very bold and delicious, dark taste profile while not having as amazing a nose as The Hudson. again mouthfeel superb with an elongated finish without any off-putting note, i bought 3 bottles. sadly there will be no 2008 Alder Springs b/c of the difficult vintage.
the 07 Syrah blend is the replacement wine for the glorious Clary Ranch which could not be made as a SV wine in this cool vintage. some fruit from Clary Ranch was used here as were two other sites; @ one of these sites the Syrah was co-fermented with Viognier and the final blend of the 07 bottle may have ~5% Viognier in there. @ $35/btl this would be an eye opening wine for folks not quite buying the upper echelon Syrah wines from CA or Washington. even though this bottle is unfortunately oversized i bought 3 of them. FWIW the 06 Clary Ranch was $40/btl, if memory serves, and the label for the new 07 Syrah is nowhere near as beautiful as the elegant design the Clary Ranch sported last year.
the 2006 Bugay Cab Sav is grown on Mark West/Porter Creek Rd and would show favorably among a line-up of serious Napa Cabs IMO, tasted blind of course! sweet fruit with background, subtle tannins and a sustained finish that is lighter on your tongue and belies the dark color of this wine. i revisited this wine several times enjoying every taste. $80 and i bought some.
Nathan gave us the complete “Barrel 101” class and everyone enjoyed learning from a master cooper. he and Duncan Arnot are making ~ 1100 cases this year and i find it very easy to support their efforts. 1st class wines