Decided last night to have something stout as my wine:
Harrington Nebbiolo LunaMattaVnyd/PasoRobles (14.1%) Bryan Harrington/Sanfrancisco 2015: Med.dark color w/ slight bricking; very strong floral/Nebb/lilacs/violets slight pungent/tarry light smokey/oak fairly complex nose; lightly tart/tangy fairly rich some Nebb/floral/lilacs/violets/rose petal bit earthy/licorice slight PR/jammy light smokey/oak fairly tarry/pungent some complex flavor w/ modest hard/chewy tannins; very long floral/Nebb finish that follows flavor; quite a nice expression of Nebb w/ lots of floral character & slightly pungent/tarry; speaks quietly of PR; resembles some Valtelline Nebb w/o the texture & tannins; not the soaring aromatics of a Piemonte Nebb but also not the fierce tannins; probably nearing its peak & can go another 5-8 yrs; one of the better Calif Nebbs.
More gribbleskit from TheBloodyPulpit:
Bryan Harrington was an artist turned winemaker in South SanFrancisco. The highlights of my visits to TheCite was to visit w/ Bryan. And you had to oggle Katie the Welder who worked the front side of his wnry making steel tables. Alas, he closed up shop some 5 yrs ago or so.
Bryan was very much interested in producing obscure European varietals in Calif. He had a golden tongue to get growers to plant these obscure varieties. He was responsible for bringing in (legally) many of the Italian varieties we now enjoy. Sam Bilbro’s stellar Idlewild Timorasso is one such effort.
I was sorry to see Bryan shut up shop. No telling we’d be enjoying some very unusual wines had he remained in business. I miss Bryan.
Tom
Yes, we see him now and then. He is painting again. He should be off to Europe again, soon. He’s glad to be done making and selling wine, but he does keep tabs on what he’s brought in, and maintains the relationships with who he brought material in for. There have been major changes at FPS, but he is still willing to source grape varieties for people.
If memory serves Bryan told me Galicia was at the top of his list of destinations. But we were in his pickup truck talking about Hubert Dreyfus’ interpretation of Heidegger and I may misremember, hah.
Bryan was great to me. The “El Aliso” Angelica I sell was started by him from the same vineyard I did my Mission from. He said I was the only one he wanted to sell his Angelica to as I was so enthusiastic about the Mission grape. He cut me payment plan on it (as I had no money) and I bought the last barrel and a half, aged it a few more years and just turned the sweetness down a tad by blending in small amounts of my own Mission.
It’s been a steady and appreciated seller and has gotten 95pts from press. But it’s thanks to Bryan I can say that.
I hope he’s happy wherever he goes. Still have a few of his bottles in cellar.
The Harrington wines were very good to terrific and I loved the range of varieties. All obtained through Tom Hill of course. I still have one 375 ml of the NV Somers vyd mission angelica, a wine that I really liked a great deal.
That NV Angelica was actually from 2015…was never sure why Bryan didn’t label it with the year. Made the 2017 for Bryan too, and then he started the 2018 that Adam finished.
