Boardwide Tasting: Dusi Vineyard Zinfandels June 5-8

Update: The date will be June 5-8th, to coincide with our real world Dusi tasting!
See Friday, April 3rd post for details.


Is anyone interested in doing a board virtual of Dusi Vineyard dryfarm zinfandels? Tom Hill gave me the idea, and I’m planning on tracking down and collecting a representative sampling of Dante and Benito Dusi vineyard releases for a late March/early April tasting. I know that quite a few of you have Turley’s Dante Dusi fruit in your cellar. Any interest in a virtual tasting to coincide with the physical offline?

Dates yet to be posted … last weekend of March or first weekend in April, possibly HdR. I will firm up the board virtual dates as details for the offline come together.

So far, our participating reviewers and their wines will be:

  • 2001 Ridge, Dusi Ranch ~ Errol Kovitch
  • 2002 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Jeb Singleton
  • 2002 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Donal Silverman
  • 2003 Stephen Ross, Dante Dusi Vineyard ~ Dave Morris
  • 2003 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Jeff Bloom
  • 2004 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Aaron DeMello
  • 2005 Four Vines, Dusi Vineyard ~ Joe Hauck
  • 2005 Ridge, Dusi Ranch ~ Steve Eisenhauer
  • 2005 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Dave Morris
  • 2005 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Humberto Dorta
  • 2006 Ridge, Dusi Ranch ~ Bruce Hubbard
  • 2006 Ridge, Dusi Ranch ~ Scott Butler
  • 2006 Turley, Dusi Ranch ~ Yoni Ovada
  • 2007 Ridge, Dusi Ranch ~ Chris Beacham
  • 2007 J. Dusi, Dante Dusi Vineyard ~ Brian Grafstrom, Seeker of the Eclectic

Other Interested Participants
Mark Jahnke
Dick Krueger
Zachary Lang, lovelorn lawyer
Jeff Tomas
Chris Whetstone
Bob Wood

Feel free to post here if you are interested in participating.

Mary…I’d love to “virtually” partake. I’ll see what I have.

I’d be up for it. I have Ridge and Turley, at least a couple of vintages for both.

I wonder if I could get Doug to part with any of our old Dusi stuff from his library. Maybe you could help me twist his arm. [bye2.gif]

Is Benito invited? I wish I could turn back the clock and open a '92 Ridge Dusi. That and the '92 Pagani Late Picked were real benchmarks in zinfandel for me.

Beni won’t come, he’s too shy … but I bet I can arrange for a tour of both vineyards on Dusi Ranch. I’ll post a list of attendees after details are confirmed.

Paraphrasing The Great Communicator . . . if you’ve seen one grapevine, you’ve seen 'em all. That said, if they’re anything like some of the old head-pruned vines I’ve seen in the Dry Creek Valley - with trunks the size of power poles - it would be worth it.

I’ll see what I can stir up locally. WineX usually has a wide variety of the Ridge bottlings so I’ll check and see if they have the current Dusi. [cheers.gif]

The only “Dusi Vineyard” I have is the 2006 Turley, so I’ll join as well.

Pretty sure I have a 2002 Turley Dusi. I’ll be more than happy to partake and display my wicked good 8-year-old-like TN’s.

I have a 2005 Turley Dusi and a 2003 Stephen Ross so I can probably play.

Okay! Thanks everyone. I will post a date when I firm up the offline details. My tentative guest list has me already over 20 people so I am thinking about moving the venue to someplace larger and more casual. One Dusi fan has asked for a date to coincide with HdR. If anyone else is interested in attending a casual tasting of Dusi zins on Saturday night of HdR weekend, please let me know and I will put more votes by that date. Otherwise, I will stick to a late March/early April date.

We’ve got a Turley Dusi and a couple Tobin James Dusi’s…sounds good to me… -mJ

I am in for a 2006 Ridge Dusi

Date cancelled. See below for update.

I have a few 90s Ridge Dusis are they of interest?

Absolutely! Let us know the actual bottlings at your convenience and I’ll add them to the list.

Okay, I’m excited! Let the virtual planning begin. I know this is way in advance, but this is a date that works well for the physical tasting–which at this moment is open only to the trade, and the rare Berserker (please PM me if you are interested in attending).

Details on the event:

Dusi Dirticle: A Retrospective of Dusi Vineyard
Sunday, June 7
2 pm - 6 pm (or whenever)
Location: Dover Canyon Farmhouse Lawn
Food: potluck appetizers (grill available)
Price: 1-2 bottles of Dusi Vineyard wine ~ any vintage and producer
There will be a blind tasting table.

After 10 minutes on the phone, I have approximately 24 confirmations so far, 6 kids and possibly 2 dogs. And I haven’t even talked to the Dusi’s yet. [swoon.gif]
It’s looking like 40-60 people at least just among the central coast wine trade. Yay, a lawn party! [dance2.gif]

Feel free to post your wines or interest in the virtual tasting here …

I will try to pry a bottle or two of library wines out of Doug’s hands.

Ill crack a Turley, have to check what years I have
Edit: 2005 Turley Dusi