SCMV Durif

[Peter Creasey]

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Vanumanutagi Ranch Durif '93 --
Dark red.
Complex nose, blackpepper, fleeting sulphur, earth and spices, violets (?), mild leather, plums.
Nice depth and fullness, smooth profile, tannins largely evolved, black fruits, delicious maturity, roasted nuances, excellent staying power.
Good length to full finish with slightest hint of heat (despite only 12.5% alcohol). [E]

Served with Grilled Porterhouse Steak, Baked Potato, and Steamed Broccolini (followed by Suttocenere Cheese w/Truffles and Granny Smith Apple)...

Thumbnails can be clicked for enlargements!



. . . . . . Pete

 

[Peter Creasey]

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Santa Clara County Machado Creek Vineyard Durif '17

A seriously good wine, eminently food friendly. Jeff Emery is so adept at handling this variety that Ken Burnap introduced years ago. As the back label says, "a classic wine growing region known for producing Petite Sirah with a lot of dark bushberry character, backed up by rustic smoky, spicy, and earthy complexities."

Worked so well for us with greens and beans with Italian sausage last night, then grilled skirt steak with mixed vegetables...and oatmeal cookies with dried cherries and chocolate tonight.

. . . . . . Pete

 

[Andrew Zachary]

Many years ago, on a cold, wet, and windy January day in the Bay Area, some friends and I drove up Hwy 17 to visit both David Bruce and SCMV. The reception at David Bruce was only slightly warmer than the weather, and by the time we got to Ken Burnap, we were cold, hungry and ready to go back to Berkeley.

Obviously bored by the usual shtick, Ken gave us a quick tour of his winery, then said the magic words, "Let's go taste some wines." And with that, we spent the next 4 hours eating lots of cheese and meats, and drinking our way through some excellent pinots, durifs and even I believe a cab (!). Ken was a big, burly guy who made big, burly pinots that turned out to age very well indeed. Though I also freely admit that some of his early "experiments" were close to or at the DNPIM stage.

Haven't seen any of Jeff's wines at retail in quite some time, and hope they get wider exposure.

 

[Peter Creasey]

Ken Burnap and I became friends back in the Prodigy online days. I still remember him having me to a tasting of his Pinots with the wine editor of the local newspaper.

One of the Pinots we tasted was the 1988 Estate Pinot. Upon tasting Mike (the wine editor) and I looked at each other and both pretty much at the same time said "Wow, this is the best domestic Pinot we had ever tasted." I bought a bunch of it.

A lot of years later, I called Jeff Emery about buying some more of the 1988 from his library collection. Jeff laughed and said Ken had recently grabbed all of it for a wedding he was involved with. It was Ken's favorite also.

I still have a few bottles and it is still drinking wonderfully.

. . . . . Pete

 

[Florida Jim]

originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Ken Burnap and I became friends back in the Prodigy online days. I still remember him having me to a tasting of his Pinots with the wine editor of the local newspaper.

One of the Pinots we tasted was the 1988 Estate Pinot. Upon tasting Mike (the wine editor) and I looked at each other and both pretty much at the same time said "Wow, this is the best domestic Pinot we had ever tasted." I bought a bunch of it.

A lot of years later, I called Jeff Emery about buying some more of the 1988 from his library collection. Jeff laughed and said Ken had recently grabbed all of it for a wedding he was involved with. It was Ken's favorite also.

I still have a few bottles and it is still drinking wonderfully.

. . . . . Pete

Now that’s cool.

 

[Peter Creasey]

Back in the '80s and '90s, there was a quite tightly knit Prodigy Wine Board that was hugely active. I can remember numerous times when I would be called to something (like dinner, etc.), then be called again to something (like dinner, etc.), and I would reply "Okay, okay, I only have a few more messages I must deal with."

Here is what I have always considered the finest, most classic spontaneous posting I have encountered on a wine board.

It was back in 1990. Ah, those were the hey days of the *P* Wine Board. There were many Board members, most of them now elsewhere, and all members were equal, and contributed mightily to an *P* Wine Board of amazing vitality. And every day brought a new revelation somehow revolving around wine.

In October 1990, I had just posted on a lengthy tasting of old Zins and Petite Sirahs. The note included a slew of Petite Sirahs (or perhaps more accurately, Durifs) from the decade of the '70s. One of the highlights was a SCMV Durif '78 produced by Ken Burnap who was a Board member at that time. The following was a reply Ken posted giving his reminiscences, much to the delight and amusement of all.

Pete, I enjoyed your notes on the older Pets. As I was reading them and noticed that my '78 Durif was included, a flood of memories, more like a nightmare, came to me.

The '78 was the first Durif that I made. In fact, it was the first time that I went a distance away to get fruit from someplace other than Santa Cruz Mountains. The owner seemed like a nice guy, his vines were well tended and the fruit looked great. He said he would only have a couple of tons and I had a 2 ton truck, so I made the 3 hour drive down to his ranch. I got there about mid afternoon, it was hot, they were still picking and he kindly offered me a cool drink and place in the shade to enjoy it. Meanwhile the workers would load my truck for me. Naive error #1.

When the truck was finally loaded at eight that evening, the boxes were stacked higher than elephant's eye, so to speak, with what later turned out 6 tons on a 2 ton truck. Full of cool drink, I decided to go for it rather than have them partially unload the truck. Stupid error #2.

After tip-toeing the truck through the vineyard, I finally got to the highway and slowly built up speed to about 40 mph, only to discover at the first curve that I had no steerage as the front end would lift off the ground at that speed. After some terrifying trial and error, I found that I could influence the direction of the truck at about 22 mph.

After incredible luck on timing the Highway Patrolmen's coffee breaks and an ingenious detour around a weight station, I arrive back at the winery at around 3 AM. I'm home. I'm alive. The grapes are still on the truck and all I have left to do is creep up the very steep driveway to the winery. Naive & stupid mistake #3.

About half way up the hill the front end of the truck rose slowly to the black sky like an overweight albatross trying to take off with a 30 lb salmon, tipped backward until the bed hit the ground and then started sliding sideways back down the hill, finally coming to rest, wedged in the cliff on the side of the driveway.

Miraculously, all but about six boxes of grapes remained tied to the truck and the next morning we eventually got them to the fermentation tank. The wine turned out to be a good one, as your notes indicate, but around here it will always be known as the Durif from Hell.

Ah, the romance of winemaking.

KDB

. . . . . Pete

 

[Claude Kolm]

originally posted by Andrew Zachary:
Many years ago, on a cold, wet, and windy January day in the Bay Area, some friends and I drove up Hwy 17 to visit both David Bruce and SCMV. The reception at David Bruce was only slightly warmer than the weather, and by the time we got to Ken Burnap, we were cold, hungry and ready to go back to Berkeley.

Obviously bored by the usual shtick, Ken gave us a quick tour of his winery, then said the magic words, "Let's go taste some wines." And with that, we spent the next 4 hours eating lots of cheese and meats, and drinking our way through some excellent pinots, durifs and even I believe a cab (!). Ken was a big, burly guy who made big, burly pinots that turned out to age very well indeed. Though I also freely admit that some of his early "experiments" were close to or at the DNPIM stage.

Haven't seen any of Jeff's wines at retail in quite some time, and hope they get wider exposure.

There was Cab back in the early days of SCMV -- the 1979 was one of the very top ones of the vintage.

 

[Peter Creasey]

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Machado Creek Vineyard Durif '18 -- The back wine label describes it well. It is as enjoyable as ever. Given the interest here to alcohol, the ABV is stipulated as 12.2%. A wine worth seeking out every year. [E]

...

. . . . . Pete
In