Pigs fly

[Florida Jim]

I would never have guessed:

2007 Castle Rock, Pinot Noir Mendocino County:
13.8% alcohol and about $12. A young, well-made, balanced pinot noir that is not only varietally correct but also of its place; it has that crackling black fruit scent and flavor I associate with the Anderson Valley and Mendocino; very light touches of milk chocolate and spice; this is clean, ripe, graceful, distinctive and will likely last several years in the cellar. In weight and texture this reminds a little of a village Chambolle from a good producer.

2006 Moon Mountain, Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County:
13.9% alcohol and about $19. A young, very pure Bordeaux blend that smells and tastes like it has never seen oak. However, it has 18 months in barrel, 20% French, 80% American and 30% new which proves to me that a good winemaker knows how to use barrels without over-using them. Its intense, concentrated, varietally correct, has some complexity, good depth and substantial grip. I think its structure requires five years or so in the cellar to resolve but I am semi-shocked to find this exceptional a cabernet from CA.

Best, Jim

 

[MarkS]

pushing the boundaries, dear sir.

 

[Florida Jim]

originally posted by MarkS:
pushing the boundaries, dear sir.

'Just found out; the Castle Rock is 20% syrah - maybe that's why I like it so much. Still, smelled and tasted like pinot to me.
(Wasn't that something they used to do in Burgundy in the lean years?)
Best, Jim

 

[Redwinger]

I didn't taste the 2007 CR, but used it in a Beef Burgundy dish a few weeks ago and it worked just fine in that capacity. Perhaps I will buy another to drink.

 

[Thor]

'Just found out; the Castle Rock is 20% syrah

Now, now, we're repeatedly told by angry CA pinot noir producers that the blending of pinot noir and syrah is a vicious libel.

 

[Florida Jim]

Thor,
Didn't that used to be a practice in Burgundy's lean years?

For this particular wine, they reveal their secret on the website.
Best, Jim

 

[Thor]

So I hear. But I dunno, I wasn't there. I doubt it stopped at syrah, if so. And I doubt human nature has done a 180 in the interim, though it's probably unkind to suggest so.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Florida Jim:
Thor,
Didn't that used to be a practice in Burgundy's lean years?

For this particular wine, they reveal their secret on the website.
Best, Jim

I thought that it was more the S Rhone produce that found its way to Burgundy. N Rhone Syrah, so I recall, found its way more to Bordeaux, being more masculine and all.

Mark Lipton

 

[Sharon Bowman]

originally posted by MLipton:
being more masculine and all

Didn't you know that wines is all girlz?

Or are they androgynous like snails?

 

[Putnam Weekley]

I'm glad to hear the Castle Rock Mendocino Pinot Noir is happening. Castle Rock bottled maybe 600 cases of a 2005 Mendocino Zinfandel that was pretty damn amazing considering. The 2006 that followed was only as good as can be expected for ordinary $12 Zin, at least these days, at least on Michigan store shelves.

I think the last few vintages of Castle Rock Willamette Pinot Noir have been surprisingly drinkable.

I remember drinking the 2007 last fall in a little room at Woodward Avenue Brewery which was filled elbow-to-elbow with sort of a stylish/grunge crowd along with dozens of other wines, none of which tasted any good at all to me.

The Pinot Noir was pale. Reassuringly pale. With dry, jointed tannins. It's slight frame was properly adorned with plausibly natural red fruits. 734 points. (Commodities can be scored. Why not.)

There was a DJ who played a nice mix of country, hip hop and techno. Conversation was halting.

Finally I zeroed in on a 2007 Godeval Godello alongside a 2007 Domaine Pepiere Muscadet. Satisfied that I found the best wine for me, I polished off the Muscadet and went home happy.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

originally posted by MLipton:
being more masculine and all

Didn't you know that wines is all girlz?

Or are they androgynous like snails?

Sharon, Sharon, Sharon... you must pay attention to your article gender, no? LE Syrah*; LA Grenache. I wonder if in Germany any grape takes das as the article? That'd be the closest approximation to your last question.

Mark Lipton

* Presumably, though, it was La Serine, so maybe we exempt Cote-Rotie from that previous statement.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

Yet in fact, it's LA syrah and LE grenache.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Yet in fact, it's LA syrah and LE grenache.

Hoist on me own petard, I am, and a painful thing it is. I always get caught up by the generalization of nouns ending in e being feminine, but really... LA Syrah? I know that I've heard many a Francophone wino saying what sounded to my ear as le Syrah, so now I have to question my ear, too. Drag bummer. I haven't been this distraught about an article's gender since my first year of German back in high school ("das Mdchen" was a supreme downer and a decision that has left me eternally suspicious of the German mindset). I'll have to revive my spirits by rereading Dorothy L Sayers's whimsical "The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question."

Mark Lipton

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Yet in fact, it's LA syrah

But surely it's grown more in northern California?

 

[Steve Edmunds]

which side of the Fault?