Sometimes the stars align (Edmunds St. John)

WINE TALK
#1

A friend contacted me last night and asked about pricing on ESJ wines from the 90s. Courtier had a couple of cases for sale. When he sent me the price list, my jaw dropped. Don’t go looking for these, we bought them all.

1994 Les Cotes Sauvages 2@ $15.00 each
1996 Les Cotes Sauvages 2@ $15.00
1998 Rocks and Gravel 2@ $25.00
1995 Durell Syrah 1@ $59.00
1996 Durell Syrah 6@ $39.00
1997 Durell Syrah 7@ $39.00
1998 Parmelee Hill Syrah 4@ $39.00

:exploding_head: :grinning:

8 Likes
#2

1995 Durell Syrah was one of my first wine loves and I went through a ton of it. i don’t think i’ve had one in more than 10 years, but would love to taste how it’s doing.

really great get. enjoy them.

2 Likes
#3

Dang nice score
party at Larry’s

#4

Wish I had friends like that, wow!

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#5

Foul, not fair!

2 Likes
#6

Perfect for the next off-line!

3 Likes
#7

Damn!

Glad I still have a good bit of ESJ library stuff.

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#8

Well done!

2 Likes
#9

Wow. Really fantastic, Larry. I’m jealous of that score!
One of my favorite wine memories ever is the big ESJ tasting we did here about 10 years ago with two dozen or so of Steve’s wines. Went through all those 90s Syrahs and the 87 Mouvedre that stole the show. Great wines.

#10

FUTRENT need an update! FULARRY :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#11

Those late ‘80s and early to mid ‘90s Mourvèdres were the bomb.

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#12

I remember an open bottle of that ‘95 Durrell at K&L in SF probably ‘97 and it was sooo good. :clap:

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#13

I saw those a couple months ago, based on this thread maybe I messed up passing on then

#14

Buying all of those was the only rational decision. Good for you. It’s amazing what these wines become with age.

#15

Insane deal. 87 Les Cotes Sauvages earlier this month was incredible (and Steve confirmed the mourvedre came from Evangelho Vineyard for me after the fact)

#16

Fabulous buy! Too mad there weren’t any of his early mourvedres, which, if I recall what he said at a dinner ~12 years ago, came from a Mt. Veeder vineyard.

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#17

Brandlin

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#18

So I was right that the fruit came from Mt. Veeder.

Do I recall that the vines was replaced or regrafted with merlot, or suffered some other similar indignity?

#19

I thought it was the Durell Syrah that was grafted over. IIRC, Steve just lost access to the Brandlin grapes.

I could be wrong.

#20

Yes, Durell was grafted to Chardonnay and/or Pinot. There was some disease (red leaf?) on the Syrah so grafting was necessary. Steve tried to convince them to graft to Syrah.

IIRC on the above!