This was a btl in the stash of marginal wines I gave Susan. She’s not nearly as picky about wines as I:
- Jaffurs Viognier SBC (14.5%) 2005: Med.dark gold color; rather nutty/toasted hazelnuts/bit oxidative some Viog/ripe pear some pencilly/smokey/Fr.oak beautiful complex nose; bit soft rich/lush rather toasted hazelnuts/nutty/oxidative some ripe pear/peach/Viog some pencilly/smokey/Fr.oak quite complex beautiful mature flavor; very long/lingering rich/lush soft fairly oxidative/toasted hazelnuts/nutty/honeyed some Viog/pear/ripe peach/floral smokey/pencilly/Fr.oak complex/honeyed finish; still has some ripe Viog fruit but plenty of oxidative character in a good way & no bitterness you oft find in oxidized wines; who says Calif Viogs can’t age well?
A wee BloodyPulpit:
- When this was released, it had huge Viog fruit, soft/rich/lush, and four-square in the DollyParton Viog camp. So I was very confident that this wine was totally dead/gone, so I put it in my stash of fading wines for Susan. It’s not that I don’t love my girlfriend…but her standards are somewhat lower than mine.
So I was quite surprised when I opened this btl, purloined from her stash, and found it so amazingly good. Cause we all know that DollyParton Viogs don’t age well…we do know that, don’t we??
- Oxidation: We all know that oxidation in a (white) wine is bad. We do know that, don’t we?? But it always amazes how so many Rhone whites (Viog/Rouss/Marsanne) take on this oxidative toasted hazelnuts/honeyed. Some people do not care for this (bad) oxidative character in old Rhone whites. Oxidation is “bad”…end of discussion.
I first encountered this character some 30 yrs ago when I attended a tasting by JackVesey of old Chave Hermitage and Ch.Rayas Blanc (Grenache Blanc), some as old as 25 yrs. It was further reinforced by a vertical tasting of Ch.Beaucastel Roussanne ViellesVignes at HdR some yrs ago. I recall the first time BobLindquist served me an old Qupe Marsanne…there it was…that same nutty/honeyed flavor I like so much. His Marsannes, usually underwhelming on release, reliably develop that character w/ age. I often find it in old Esprit de Beaucastel/Tablas Blancs as well. It may just be an acquired taste…or maybe I’m just weird??
Tom
