Many of you have likely heard me say in the past “love Brian Loring the guy, hate his wines”… anyways…I had to run up to Pali Wine Company to pick up a new barrel that they were kind enough to sell to me when my source for my new wood decided (while I was en route from Buellton to Santa Rosa) to let me know that I could only have one of the barrels that he promised me (he did give me a neutral barrel so that I had somewhere to put my press wine if I was in a bind, a kind gesture indeed)…while waiting for the Pali folks I decided to head next door to Loring to throw some grapes at Brian. We had some time to kill and did a little tasting of some of his 07’s and 08’s… while I am still not convinced about the stelvin, I am convinced about the evolution of The LWC. His wines were toned down, well balanced and proudly displaying immense flavor but retaining a healthy backbone of acid and tannins. While he still pushes the envelope on alcohol, a couple of his wines, specifically the 07 La Vigna was excellent. Balanced, rich, but with sweet ripe tannins and juicy acidity on the finish. A real pleasure to drink. With dinner last night, Brian brought the 08 La Vigna as a comparison. While a bit riper than the 07, it was enjoyable and I kept reaching for it to replenish my glass. While Brian will always be a fruit and flavor whore, I really like the direction that he is taking with some of his wines. The La Vigna’s in particular I found expressive, but elegantly balanced, and wines I would be happy to drink. I am bringing in a bit of La Vigna fruit this year, so I was very happy to see what Brian did with it… hopefully I can come up with something equally enjoyable to drink, though I am going to shoot for a slightly lower alcohol, but equally structured wine. I am more of a fruit and flavor slut, not quite to the whore level…
So I must retool my mantra…“Love Brian Loring the guy, and some of his wines too”
Brian…thanks for all of your help with fruit and such and congrats on the continued development of your wine company. You guys should check out his facility, it is the stuff of envy, a beautiful winery and I like the direction that the profile of his wines are headed…
No doubt…my preference has always been heavily burgundy over CA fruit and Brian’s wines have been ripe, rich, concentrated, big… so my aversion was always stylistic, not qualitative… with respect to the La Vigna wines, I found both the style and the quality pleasing, which is what I was trying to say.
Nice report… I’ve been following Brian since he was a whippersnapper… and I have been one who has enjoyed his wines with a little age on them too, as they seem to mature into something altogether different than when they are young.
Ranch La Vigna is a fruit source… Brian sources some 667, 777 and 115 from there… I am getting some 2A, hopefully later this week… Santa Rita Hills appellation, I believe
It is called Rancho La Vina…I have just been using a portugese keyboard (don’t ask) and it has been messing me up… don’t know why I added the G earlier… but you is correcto mundo…
His lineup really turned a corner during the 06/07 vintages to me. More complete and less out of balance for my palate. Still big forward drink me, love me today styled but no longer chunky and showing the pieces. He’s dialing in his skillz.
I don’t know Brian…or wish to conjecture on his skills, but for my palate the 06s were a pleasant surprise, even some positive movement on a few 05s…especially for Pali. Very pleased to find that elegance and balance (not to mention structure and acidity) seem to have become welcome visitors at LWC, very much unlike my experience with the 03s and 04s. The oak treatment has also improved.
Scott, nice post and a worthwhile acknowledgement.
