These two were brought as mystery wines at ystrday’s tasting at Pig+Fig of Harrington Wines:
- GarretsonWineCompany TheReliquary CentralCoast (15.2%; 67% Syrah/20% Grenache/8% Mourvedre/5% Viognier) PasoRobles 2001: Very dark color w/ some browning; strong Grenache/strawberry very strong blackberry/Syrah rather toasty/smokey/Fr.oak classic very ripe/Paso/Syrah bit alcoholic slight cedary/pencilly some complex nose; soft rather alcoholic/fumey very ripe/Syrah/boysenberry strong toasty/smokey/oak loads of fruit slightly complex flavor w/ light/drying tannins; very long finish that mimics the flavor; still loads of very ripe/overripe Syrah fruit that you wouldn’t expect from a 22 yr old Paso Syrah; interesting that it survived this long under a Neo-Cork.
- AlbanVnyds Grenache EdnaVlly AlbanEstate (15.3%) 2002: Very dark/near black color w/ some bricking on the edges; very intense blackberry/strawberry/Grenache/boysenberry strong toasty/charred/burnt/Fr.oak very youthful/licorice huge fruit bit complex/smokey nose; slightly tart intense boysenberry/ripe/strawberry/Grenache very youthful/huge Grenache fruit rather toasty/charred/Fr.oak w/ modest chewey tannins; very long/lingering very intense Grenache/strawberry/boysenberry slight peppery very strong toasty/charred/Fr.oak finish w/ modest chewey/hard tannins; still a huge amount of very ripe Grenache fruit & loads of charred oak; the hard/chewey tannins have moderating some but that is about all.
More pitterblost from TheBloodyPulpit:
- Garretson: Now there’s a name associated w/ Rhones you don’t hear much anymore. Mat was a wine retailer down in Atlanta & fell in love w/ Condrieu and the Viognier grape. He then founded TheViognier Guild and organized a get-together in Atlanta of Viognier producers. I was not invited.
He then went on to become marketing director at EberleWnry in PasoRobles. The 2’nd ViognierGuild meeting was held there in Paso at EberleWnry. I was not invited. He became good friends w/ Viognier-producer JohnAlban and they organized the 3’rd ViognierGuild meeting there in Paso. I was not invited.
Because many of the Viognier producers were keeping btls of their Reds under the table to pour to tasters, the name of the next mtg was changed to RaisenRhones. I was finally invited. I still have my RaisenRhones nametag that I pull out to impress people with & wear to various wine events. It was held at the Paso FairGrounds. Another RaisenRhones was held & I again was invited.
The name was once again changed, with Mat & John as the organizers, to Hospices du Rhone. And the rest, as they say, is history. All described in PatrickComisky’s book on the US Rhone movement, an outstanding read. I still have several of the Viognier Guild glasses used at those early meetings.
Mat then went on to bigger things & became marketing director at Kenny Volk’s WildHorseWnry, where he started dabbling at winemaking. He then went on to found the GarretsonWineCompany, making wine in a warehouse facility w/ AugieHug across the highway from MartinBrosWnry.
Mat’s wines were always huge/extracted/oaked/alcoholic monsters, a la JohnAlban and ManfredKrankl. They showed huge fruit upon release. But they didn’t age particularly. He then switched to the StuYaniger’s (another name you don’t hear much of anymore) plastic NeoCork. This was a failed science experiment and most wines put up under NeoCork failed at any early age. As did Mat’s. He then eventually switched to screw-tops, which worked just fine for aging.
This Reliquary was brought by LarryArchibald and put up under Neo-Cork. It showed huge fruit, but no signs of oxidation as you’d expect from an old Neo-Cork wine. However, the next day , sitting out opened on the counter, the wine had turned a murky brown, showed lots of cedary/pencilly/oldRed/oxidized character and was pretty much dead&gone.
- Alban: This is a pretty typical old Alban Grenache. The retain their intense fruit forever and age at a glacial pace. This one is still very youthful and in no danger of falling apart. That said, they seldom develop the complexity & perfume that an old Ojai/Qupe/EdmundsStJohn/TablasCreek would routinely develop. I’m not quite sure what is the point of making a monolithic red wine that lives forwver. Other then when you can taste it young and note that this wine will live forever. At least that’s the way it works in Monktown.
Thanks to Steve Sterbenz for bring the Alban.
Tom