We tasted last night (3/10/10) the wines of Claiborne & Churchill:
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Claiborne & Churchill CentralCoast PinotGris (13.4%; BarrelFrmtd; http://www.ClaiborneChurchill.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
ClaiborneThompson & FrederickaChurchill 2008: Light gold color; very lovely melony/floral/PG/spicy
very perfumed/Alsatian slight pencilly/oak nose; tart dry ripe/melony/floral/PG very spicy/floral
quite Alsatian-like flavor; very long ripe/melony/PG/spicy/floral very Alsatian finish; easily the
best US PG I’ve had; doesn’t have the lean/austere character of OR or AndersonVlly PG and is
totally dry w/o being hard & lean; great price at $18.00
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Claiborne & Churchill CentralCoast DryRiesling (12.6%) 2007: Med.light gold color; beautiful fragrant/
spicy/floral/R slight piney/pineapply some gout de petrol/valve oil/Mosel/slatey classic R nose; tart
near-dry very floral/aromatic/R some minerally/spicy bit petrol/valve oil lovely fairly rich quite Alsatian
flavor; very long/lingering quite spicy/floral/R some minerally/slatey/petrol finish; ripe but great
acidity & balance; very Alsatian-like; one of the best Calif R I’ve had; great price. $18.00
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Claiborne & Churchill CentralCoast Dry GWT (13.4%) 2007: Med.light gold color; lovely very spicy/Alsatian/
GWT slight valve oil/petrol bit nutmeg/spicy very aromatic nose; tart rich/lush very spicy/hair oil/GWT
Alsatian-like slight minerally/petrol flavor w/ very slight bitterness; very long/lingering very spicy/GWT/
nutmeg aromatic finish; more of the subtle/spicy character of GWT and less of the cheap hair oil;
beautiful balance & acidity and very Alsatian in style; one of the best Calif GWT I’ve had since the David
Bruce Mendo '77; great buy at $18.00
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Claiborne & Churchill MontereyCnty Dry GWT VentanaVnyd (13.4%) 2008: Med.light gold color; intense cheap
hair oil/floral/spicy/lychee/GWT very perfumed/aromatic nose; tart bit softer/riper intense cheap hair oil/
lychee/floral/spicy ripe GWT flavor; very long ripe/cheap hair oil/lychee/GWT some spicy rather lush/ripe
finish; very intense chaep hair oil style of GWT and less Alsatian but more Z-H in style; a real floozy
of a GWT at a very good price. $20.00
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AlbertBoxler Riesling Reserve (13%) 2004: Med.gold color; strong stoney/minerally light floral/R slight
petrol/valve oil some complex/interesting nose; tart slight off-dry stoney/minerally light floral/R bit
gout de petrol flavor; long some stoney/minerally light floral/R somewhat austere finish; a rather
old-timey style of Alsatian R that needs some age; good value at $22.50
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Claiborne & Churchill EdnaVlly PinotNoir (13.8%) 2007: Med.color; strong plummy/black cherry/PN light
vanilla/oak slight herbal/leafy bit peppery attractive nose; soft plummy/sour cherry/PN light toasty/oak
bit herbal some grapey/lush/ripe flavor; soft bit tannic/astringent ripe/plummy/grapey/some cherry light
herbal/toasty/oak finish; needs a yr or two; unusual Pinot w/ a lot of grapey character. $26.00
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Claiborne & Churchill Runestone PinotNoir EdnaVlly BarrelSelect (13.9%) 2007: Med.color; strong plummy/
bit black cherry/PN slight rubber/reduced light vanilla/oak slight herbal/leafy/peppery interesting nose;
soft plummy/sour cherry/PN light toasty/oak some grapey/herbal flavor; soft bit tannic/astringent ripe/
plummy/sour cherry light herbal/leafy light toasty/oak finish; needs yr or two; pleasant rather unusual
Pinot but just that; rather pricey for what it is. $40.00
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Claiborne & Churchill CluelessRed RW (3 Rhone varietals; 13.8%) 2008: Med.dark color; strong plummy/
strawberry/Grenache slight herbal/dusty/earthy rather spicy/fragrant fairly aromatic nose; tart spicy/
plummy/bright/strawberry/Grenache quite spicy light oak flavor; med.long plummy/strawberry/Grenache bit
tannic/astringent light oak finish; pleasant Rhone blend but just that. $25.00
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Claiborne & Churchill Syrah CentralCoast (13.9%) 2008: Dark color; rather spicy/plummy/blackberry/Syrah/
black cherry light peppery/cold-climate light oak nose; tart slight cold climate/peppery strong black
cherry/Syrah/plummy light oak flavor w/ some tannins; med.long somewhat hard/tannic light peppery some
black cherry/Syrah/plummy finish; good cold-climate character; some like a Peay w/o the aromatics;
good/interesting Syrah at a fair price. $24.00
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Claiborne & Churchill CentralCoast Tempranillo (13.2%) 2008: Med.color; strong bright cherry/black cherry/
Temp slight pungent/smokey/ozone light pencilly/oak bit earthy interesting nose; tart bit lean/hard/tannic
bright cherry/black cherry/Temp earthy/dusty slight herbal light pencilly/oak flavor; long earthy/dusty
some black cherry/cherry/Temp/spicy light oak finish; needs some age but a bit on the hard/tannic side.
$25.00
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Claiborne & Churchill Nektar CentralCoast SauvignonGris (13.4%) 2009: Pale yellow slight gray color;
some herbal/Sauvignon some ripe/melony/fruit cocktail/canned pears fairly fragrant nose; tart rather sweet
canned pears/fruit cocktail bit simple/grapey flavor; med.long rather sweet (6%-8%) canned pears/juicy/
grapey/fruit cocktail finish; pleasant juicy dessert wine w/ fresh fruit. $20.00/hlf
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Claiborne & Churchill DouceAmie CentralCoast SweetOrangeMuscat (10%) 2008: Pale yellow color; light
fragrant/hair oil/muscatty slight orange blossom/perfumey attractive nose; quite sweet somewhat soft/fat
light muscatty/hair oil flavor; med. rather sweet some muscatty/hair oil finish; little orange blossom
character and lightly muscatty; more like a Malvasia than anything; pleasant dessert wine. $14.00/hlf
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Claiborne & Churchill PortObispo Dessert Wine (18%) 2008: Very dark/black color; very strong grapey/
boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah light toasty/oak bit porty/alcoholic some complex nose; slightly sweet
(5%-8%?) intense grapey/boysenberry/blackberry slight alcoholic/porty rather tannic fairly tart flavor;
very long licorice/boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah slight pungent/licorice some complex finish; needs
5-20 yrs; huge fruit/good structure/not that alcoholic; much like some of JimOlsen’s early JWMorris
Ports; fairly priced at $14.50/hlf
Some gems of wisdom & outright nonsense from the BloodyPulpit:
- C&C: This wnry started out w/ the goal to make Alsatian-style whites. BrianBabcock also started out w/
that same vision…but the realities of the marketplace soon beat that notion from Brian’s head.
Apparently it has not for the C&C folks.
I’ve tried a number of the C&C Riesling/GWT/Muscats over the yrs and generally liked them, but didn’t
think they held a candle to their equivalently-priced Alsatian brethern. They had nice aromatics, but
they often seemed on the lean & pinched side w/ a bit of bitterness to them (which is why most Calif
producers leave a little or a lot of RS in those varietals). But they were, to their credit, dry; unlike
many domestic examples.
Since there seems to be a growing appreciation for these varieties down in the CentralCoast area
(as with Tercero, Ojai, and Curran) and because I was mightly impressed w/ DonSchroeder’s Chien
Edelzwicker; I thought maybe it was time to revisit C&C. So I ordered up a mixed case of their current
wines.
I was blown away by the four whites. Dramatically better than the ones I recall tasting in yrs gone
by. Very Alsatian in style and, best of all, dry. I get irriated by Calif GWT and R that are labeled
“dry”, but then have 1% RS or more. Not good w/ my weenies & kraut. The folks at C&C have got GWT/R/PG
figured out. Too bad so many others are so clueless. Would love to see what they can do w/ Gruner or
Albarino.
The reds were less impressive. Good/solid wines but not nearly as distinctive as the whites. OTOH,
the Port was one of the finest recent Calif Ports I’ve had; reminded me of JimOlsen’s ones.
Tom
