TNs: 90` Dom, Ruinart rose, 88` Sanford BS chard, 95` Williams Selyems Allen

A recent special occasion was celebrated with wines at my favorite Santa Barbara restaurant, The Stonehouse, located in the San Ysidro Ranch:

NV RUINART ROSE- during a 1 week tour of the Champagne region last year, we drank lot of stellar bubbly and amongst all of the Krug, Taittinger, Phillipponat, Bollinger and others, this was one of the favs; it`s remained a popular wine in our house and I just had to revisit it before going out for dinner just to properly prepare my palate [or any excuse will do]; consistently good, it has some biscuity, toastiness and fresh, ripe strawberry on the nose and in the early palate that moves on into more sweet red cherry; full bodied with great depth, structure and length, it has complexity and finesse wrapped into a oneness that certainly pleases this imbiber.

1990 DOM PERIGNON- from the extra fine 90 vintage, this is evolving nicely and continues to impress and suggest it will be a big winner in years down the line; great acidity, the nose is intense with toast, butter, pepper and spice and moves into a taste of spiced baked apples with some creamy lemon topping, a little chalk and mild ginger added to make this soooo enjoyable; Im holding on to the other bottles for 5-10 years before revisitng.

1988 SANFORD BARREL SELECT CHARDONNAY- I was a little apprehensive when I pulled the bottle from my cellar and saw the pretty dark color even though the wine was a medium gold at the onset and the bottle glass is colored; this was the last bottle of many cases I bought soon after it was first released.

Obviously, I should remember the wine well. As stated, Ive had a lot of it and the 88 regular too, but none of these in the last 10-12 years. It was too good not to drink early on, but I did pack one bottle away and knew its great acidity would hold it up for some time. Little did I know it would go 23 years later.

The cork came out easily and intact and as I poured it at our table, I saw the color was similar to the pure gold it had initially, got a great nose and a major WOW on the palate. It was all Id hoped for and more. The nose had some spice and baked apples and a hint of coconut. I immediately had a smile on my face when it went further. It was creamy rich, oily and full bodied and contained some of its earlier characteristic buttered toast and candied apple notes which went on and on. Three days later, it was still on my palate.

Yes, I have moved on in to whites from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Alsace, Germany, Austria and Italy; the early on in my wine life, oak infused wines, served to get me interested and led to the immense passion I now have [and there`s not much, if any, oak involved].

1995 WILLIAMS SELYEM ALLEN VINEYARD PINOT NOIR- stunning; surprisingly not too different from my notes from the first experiences upon release as well as later on; vanilla, strawberry, cinnamon, spice and pepper in the nose continuing on into more strawberry / raspberry; smooth and nicely balanced with great length; looked up the purchase price= $45, such a deal.

Cheers

1994-97 was such a crazy stellar run for Allen PN, it’s always an occasion when you uncork one of these!

Glenn, you nailed it; the 97 vintage was Burts last and he really put it all together in those 4 years, across the board, even the zinfandels which Im not a big fan of the variety, but his 94 worked.

I pretty regularly drink Sanford pinots of 10-20 years age, and they age very gracefully and well for the most part, particularly the Sanford & Benedict vineyard. Sanford is one of those producers that gets no buzz in collector / wine geek / internet board circles, but really makes some beautiful and ageworthy wines. Thanks for the note on the chardonnay.

Chris, I sent my notes to the Sanfords who BTW, no longer own the label/ winery under their name. They are now making wines under their Alma Rosa label. The winemaker for Sanford for all of those years was Bruno d`Alphonso. I also sent Bruno and his wife, Kris Curran, also of wine fame [Sea Smoke, Foley and Curran], my notes and they had just been reminiscing about this very chard the day before. They are tuned in to the vibes.
I do not visit many of the current releases from the “new”’ Sanford owners, but totally agree with you, the older pinots are showing really well now and should for years to come. This is contrary to what has been accepted as generally true for pinot noir in this area. Bruno is a really good winemaker and IMHO has not received the kudos he deserves.