Steve Edmunds
Steve Edmunds
1988 St. Gervais, Domaine Ste. Anne When I pulled the cork, the first sniff was of lovely ripe olives. This bottle was so fresh and splendid, its' provenance in time seemed inconceivable. The purity and depth of fruit kept eliciting sighs and the shaking of heads in disbelief. Not a trace of wear and tear, lots of terwhere? though...
1996 Alban Vineyard Grenache; first sniff here also showed olive, and was certainly impressive. There's a certain seamlessness that's admirable; it's a skillfully made wine, and worthy of interest, but I couldn't help feeling that the use of so much new, and/or at least young oak in the elevage of this wine, had turned what had begun it's life purple-red to brown, and created some mud in the turning, leaving the middle of this wine pretty out-of-focus. I wonder if we hadn't also been drinking the St. Gervais, whether that impression would be so apparent.
1996 Alban Vineyard Grenache; first sniff here also showed olive, and was certainly impressive. There's a certain seamlessness that's admirable; it's a skillfully made wine, and worthy of interest, but I couldn't help feeling that the use of so much new, and/or at least young oak in the elevage of this wine, had turned what had begun it's life purple-red to brown, and created some mud in the turning, leaving the middle of this wine pretty out-of-focus. I wonder if we hadn't also been drinking the St. Gervais, whether that impression would be so apparent.