John,
I think the Concannon’s were actually PS. It was just their winemaking style that rendered them as not
particularly tannic. I always thought they were a bit on the soft & goopy side, not particularly distinctive.
Back in the '70’s, the identity of PS in Calif was uncertain. When DNA came along, most Calif PS
was identified as the Durif grape from France. But some Calif PS vnyds are, in fact, Peloursin, one
of the parents (Syrah being the other) of PS. I think KenBurnap/SantaCruzMtnVnyds, was one of the
first to use Durif on his label.
Tom
Yup, John…'tis so. That was mostly at McDowellVllyVnyd. In the late '70’s,
they were producing what they thought to be a PS. It was really quite good.
From the GibsonRanch that dates back to the late 1800’s. It turns out much of that
alleged PS turns out to be actually Syrah, making it some of the oldest Syrah in Calif.
Morgan makes a GibsonRanch at Bedrock, as does ScotBilbro at Marietta.
The Bilbros own the McDowellVllyVnyd, which includes the GibsonRanch
across the road. Beautiful old-vine vnyd.
Tom
It is interesting how many people in my generation have told me they don’t like riesling because they did not like Blue Nun, which as stated in the article has little or no riesling in it.
I still have a bottle of Paul Masson Pinot Chardonnay.
Let’s see, from my college years I remember:
Blue Nun
Liebraumilch
Moselblumchen
Ripple
Mateus
Lancers
Boone’s Farm (multiple cuvees)
Zapple Apple Wine - an entire railroad car full of it overturned and we got a van-load for free. Even then we used it mostly for cooking.
Mad Dog - aka MD 20-20 - aka Mogen David
Assorted Chianti in raffia bottles. I remember one for sure which had to be a magnum or even a double magnum with a long tall neck about two feet high.