Tasting more Balanced Wine Selection wines last week, we finished up w/ two mystery reds:
- Forlorn-Hope PetiteSirah LesDeuxMathieux 10BrinkVnyd/SuisunVlly (15.9%) SuisunVlly 2009: Very dark/black color; very strong smokey/toasty/oak blackberry/boysenberry/PS/licorice slight peppery/PS/plummy huge fruit/ripe nose; rather soft bit alcoholic/hot very intense boysenberry/blackberry/plummy/licorice/PS rather toasty/smokey/oak some earthy/dusty light peppery flavor w/ strong soft/ripe tannins very long/lingering bit soft rather structured very intense blackberry/boysenberry/huge PS fruit/plummy some toasty/smokey oak bit earthy finish w/ ample soft/ripe/smooth tannins;massive PS fruit & not much complexity yet but amazingly drinkable and will only get better.
- SineQuaNon ElevenConfessions TheInaugural ElevenConfessionsVnyd/SRH (90% Syrah/ 10%Grenache; 15.8%) M&E Krankl/Ventura 2002: Very dark/near black color; very intense smokey/charred/Fr.oak intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/very ripe very primary/huge fruit nose; soft very strong charred/burnt/toasty/Fr.oak intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/plummy slight black pepper structured flavor w/ modest ripe/smooth tannins; very long/lingering very strong toasty/charred/burnt/Fr.oak intense boysenberry/ripe Syrah/blackberry/plummy/bit chocolaty very light peppery huge fruit/structured finish w/ ample ripe/smooth tannins; huge fruit but not at all overripe nor alcoholic; still very/very primary Syrah and not showing any evolution other than pretty resolved tannins; where’s it gonna go…haven’t a clue. $125/$800-$1650
A wee BloodyPulpit:
- F-H: From my tasting several weeks ago, this mystery wine:
SteveCostigan was impressed by the '06 version of this wine, so was inspired to bring this one from his stash to compare. Nobody guessed it as a F-H PS.
I think I slightly preferred this '09 version to the '06. A bit more structured and the tannins seemed a bit softer.
- SQN: Pretty much a dead ringer for an Alban Syrah, though not as much black pepper character and maybe not as structured. Shows absolutely no evolution or secondary characteristics that you’d find in a 15 yr old Qupe or EdmundsStJohn Syrah. And it may very well never show any of that. It may very well be the same wine 10-15 yrs further down the road. But it’s the kind of wine that makes people pee in their pants because of the extraction and massive fruit; convinced that somewhere down the road it’s going to make a great old-bones Calif Syrah. I’m not convinced and my crotch is dry.
Tom