SteveTimko
Steve Timko
I think we forget sometimes that the wine business is a business. Putting out the best product into the bottle isn't always the goal. I think that was driven home to me when Richard Sanford quit, or was forced out, or whatever happened, from Sanford. It made pinot noir from the often disparaged Santa Rita Hills. The joke escapes me right now. The Santa Rita Hills makes syrah that tastes like pretty good syrah, and so does its pinot noir. Something like that.
When I was just becoming a wine geek, though, I had a hard time finding pinot noir that I could afford that tasted like pinot noir. And Sanford fit the bill. But I had only experienced a couple of vintages when Richard Sanford was out. so was his winemaker, and his investors had taken over. And the wine dropped off a cliff. It wasn't the worst decline in quality I had seen from one year to another in a winery. That honor belongs to Wild Horse in Paso Robles, where the owner used to make popular wines to support his passion for more obscure grapes. Then the new owners came in to focus on the Four Horses, or the big sellers. I remember standing in the tasting room when there was still stuff from the prior owner and comparing it to the new owners. It was like flipping a switch, tasting fine wine one year and supermarket industrial swill the next.
At any rate, this all leads up to me pulling the cork on my last Sanford today. It was the 2000 Sanford Sanrod & Benedict. I bought three of these on closeout from K&L Wines. All three were great bottles of wine. At first all I got out of this was a strong dose of alcohol. I had my second one of these for Thanksgiving in 2006 and it was fine then. I thought maybe I had waited too long. But after 20 minutes the wine got enough air and probably warmed up enough that the flavors emerged. It's one of the darker pinot noirs I've seen. Opaque. But the flavors are not dark. More bright raspberry and other bright red fruits. And it's California in that it's not really complex. There's some earthiness in the palate. Mostly that raspberry and red fruit on the attack and in the mid palate. The nose has some smoke and some nice pinot funk. The texture is wonderful. Velvet and smooth. And a pretty good finish. It's 14 percent alcohol and I think it would be considered an elegant wine for the Santa Rita Hills or just about any place else in California.
Richard Sanford moved on to Alma Rosa. I haven't tried his wines yet there, so I can't wax too eloquently. I'm not that passioinate. And I've heard some people say that Sanford finally righted itself under the new owners. It's just worth noting that the wine business is a business and wines we like can change. Sometimes it's a gradual fade over several years and sometimes it's abrupt.
When I was just becoming a wine geek, though, I had a hard time finding pinot noir that I could afford that tasted like pinot noir. And Sanford fit the bill. But I had only experienced a couple of vintages when Richard Sanford was out. so was his winemaker, and his investors had taken over. And the wine dropped off a cliff. It wasn't the worst decline in quality I had seen from one year to another in a winery. That honor belongs to Wild Horse in Paso Robles, where the owner used to make popular wines to support his passion for more obscure grapes. Then the new owners came in to focus on the Four Horses, or the big sellers. I remember standing in the tasting room when there was still stuff from the prior owner and comparing it to the new owners. It was like flipping a switch, tasting fine wine one year and supermarket industrial swill the next.
At any rate, this all leads up to me pulling the cork on my last Sanford today. It was the 2000 Sanford Sanrod & Benedict. I bought three of these on closeout from K&L Wines. All three were great bottles of wine. At first all I got out of this was a strong dose of alcohol. I had my second one of these for Thanksgiving in 2006 and it was fine then. I thought maybe I had waited too long. But after 20 minutes the wine got enough air and probably warmed up enough that the flavors emerged. It's one of the darker pinot noirs I've seen. Opaque. But the flavors are not dark. More bright raspberry and other bright red fruits. And it's California in that it's not really complex. There's some earthiness in the palate. Mostly that raspberry and red fruit on the attack and in the mid palate. The nose has some smoke and some nice pinot funk. The texture is wonderful. Velvet and smooth. And a pretty good finish. It's 14 percent alcohol and I think it would be considered an elegant wine for the Santa Rita Hills or just about any place else in California.
Richard Sanford moved on to Alma Rosa. I haven't tried his wines yet there, so I can't wax too eloquently. I'm not that passioinate. And I've heard some people say that Sanford finally righted itself under the new owners. It's just worth noting that the wine business is a business and wines we like can change. Sometimes it's a gradual fade over several years and sometimes it's abrupt.