Thanks Giving Wines (Sojourn, RM, Tercero, Pride, Arcadian)

WINE TALK
#1

I had some great wines with my family at our Thanksgiving get together. All of the wines except for the whites were opened early in the morning for slow oxidation.


09 Tercero Outlier….This is a fantastic wine with a lot going on. The color is medium-pale yellow. Nice nose of pineapple, grapefruit, with some spice. Delicious round fruit with some zest and a hint of spice. This like all of Larry’s wines it has great balance and is aging beautifully.

12 Dragonette Rose…A very clean, polished Rose. On the nose I got orange peel, subtle spice, and cranberry. This was very delicious perfect for a warm thanksgiving day!

09 Rivers-Marie Sonoma Coast Pinot….All of the classic Rivers-Marie profiles here. The nose remind ripe fruit, some spice, and the typical RM citrus notes. On the palate there is definitely cranberry and orange rind, both things I tend to find in the RM Sonoma Coast. The wine is round and has decent acidity…this is simply a beautiful pinot!

09 Dragonette Santa Rita Hills Pinot…We thought this might have been corked at first. This was throwing off a ton of nasty funk. After about 30 mins in the class it opened up. Ripe nose of dark red and blue fruits with a bit of cedar spice. Black tinged fruits are fairly extracted here with lots of acid. It needs a little time, but was an enjoyable wine.

05 Arcadian Sleepy Hollow Pinot…I recently stocked up on these through the grand cru club. On the nose it has the classic arcadian aromas of wet earth, leaves, baking spices. On the palate it has dark and red fruits with the standard mouth coating texture that I love about Arcadian wines. This wine has plenty of time left in it so no hurry. It definitely benifited from a long slow oxidation.

09 Bratcher La Encantada Pinot… I think Bratcher is one of the best QPR’s out there. This is my favorite vineyard in Santa Rita Hills and this has a lot of character to me and a perfect representation of pinot noir from the Santa Rita Hills. The fruit is awesome with a bit of earth on the nose. On the palate I get some cranberries, cherry, and pomegranate…there was a really nice spice note on the finish. The palate was elegant and pure. Again, this is a great pinot that people should search out. My favorite wine of the day!

09 Bratcher Jane Madison Pinot…This wine very is light in color. On nose it is very similar to the La Encantada. I get a bit of earth and red fruits especially strawberries and raspberries. On the palate I get classic earth with muted red fruit…this wine is extremely light with soft tannins, but it has supple texture.

00 Robert Sinskey Merlot Los Carneros…This wine is probably past it’s prime, but still has strong taste of cherries and plums, but with a short finish. I picked up a case of this for $10 a bottle through auction and it a good wine for the money spent.

05 Pride Mountain Merlot…This had a strong hint of TCA. It was opened all day with almost no change…I checked on it at the end of night and the slightest bit of fruit came through. This was clearly corked…but it didn’t stop some non wine people who drank it up. [wow.gif]

10 Epiphany Gypsy… This had aromas of cranberries, wild strawberries and rose petals. The palate is incredibly tangy, with a focus on cranberry and even ruby red grapefruit. The tartness dominates. Some spice and wild berry flavors, but overall, I found this wine strange and not in a really good way.

10 Sojourn Cabernet Home Ranch…Pop and pour. Red fruit jumps out on the nose but replaced quickly with intense blue fruit. Palate is deep and rich dominated by blue fruits. There is a touch of sweet oak on the palate that is actually quite nice. This is a big wine that definitely needs some time to mellow out. This will be very good in a couple of years.

#2

Thanks for the notes, my friend! Bummed that I was probably within 10 miles of your place - yep, I should have stopped by!!!

One of these days, perhaps my reds will make it to your table (-:

Glad to hear that that 09 is holding up well - I still have a few cases I’ve stashed away to see how they ‘develop’ over time and this is promising (-: I still have a bit of 08 as well, my first vintage with the variety, and will be opening a bottle on Saturday night . . .

Did you purchase the '10 Epiphany Gypsy or was it a gift? If you purchased it, had you tried it earlier and this bottle was just different than the last? Also, have you had many 2010 rhones from our area? I ask this because I believe that many of the rhones from our area had pretty decent amounts of acid that year - that was the first of two cold summer / slow harvest years and acid levels were naturally high. I think laying these wines down will greatly benefit them . . .

Cheers

#3

I would have love to have you come by, but we were in La Quinta. You are always welcome and we would love to have you come by.

I just got home and we have 52 bottles of Tercero in our cellar….38 of them are RED!!! neener …They make it to our table quite often…I just don’t post. I promise to start [cheers.gif]

Please post about the 08…I would love to hear how it is developing.

I did purchase the Gypsy. We are members of Epiphany’s wine club and it was in our last shipment. I tasted it in the tasting room and I was not that impressed when I first tasted it. Their wine club isn’t as flexible as yours. flirtysmile I have had quite a few Rhones from up there and I have generally be very impressed with Epiphany’s stuff, but not this time. That is good advice about the laying it down for a bit. I have couple left that I will sit on them for a while and see where it goes.

I’m going to pop one of your reds tomorrow night and post [good.gif]

#4

Nice notes, Bryan.

#5

Thanks Brig

#6

Nice notes Bryan- I’m excited to one day revisit that 05 Arcadian Sleepy Hollow PN.