During a recent 30 day visit in Amsterdam, I only had wine on 2 occasions as wine turns into beer when I’m in the Netherlands, Belgium beer at that. Once I returned, I had dental surgery that resulted in an infection requiring antibiotics for which alcohol consumption is contraindicated.
So, it had been 17 days without wine until I was able to partake once again and the choice of what to open was made easy by a recent calendar note indicating a 2 year anniversary of the passing of dear friend Margi Williams-Wierenga, Brogan Cellars, and daughter of one of my best ever friends, also deceased, Burt Williams of Williams Selyem fame. It was Burt’s vineyard, Morning Dew Ranch, from which the fruit was sourced for this release.
In order to pay tribute to Margi and Burt, I pulled this bottle and it was fabulous:
2005 BROGAN CELLARS MY FATHER’S VINEYARD ANDERSON VALLY PINOT NOIR- ~30% whole cluster fermentation, aged in 50% new French oak for 15 months; 13.0% alc., 150 cases made; followings dark, grainy red purple color came inventing aromas of nicely spiced raspberry and cherry fruit which on the pallet translated into red raspberry, red cherry, black raspberry and black cherry with the streak of spice providing just the right accent all the way to the back end and joined by a touch of cinnamon; it was full bodied, super rich, perfectly balanced and still youthfully vibrant, promising to have enough stuff to go another 5+ years before reaching its apogee.
As we all know, sometimes a wine is better because of the atmosphere and circumstances within which it is consumed, but I have to think this is amazingly good and will shine ever so brightly regardless of time and place although for me, it was the perfect re-entry into the world of fine wine.
As a side note, when Williams Selyem was sold in March 1998, Margi started her own label named after her paternal grandmother. The new project had a sense of déjà vu, since the start up reminded of the early days of the Williams Selyem Winery. Margi mentioned this was a bootstrap business run on a lean $75,000 startup budget. Burt was prohibited from advising her under the non-compete clause included in the sale of his winery so she made her stamp alone on the Brogan Cellars wines.
Way to go Margi and thanks for your legacy of superb wines.
Cheers,
Blake
