What did you drink tonight?

2008 Alesia Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 4 nights ago, really nice just opened and poured, shy nose but expressive with swirling in the glass and in a good spot now with a pretty palate. Better still after recorking on day 2, starting to go over the cliff on day 4. Not a wine for the ages but a good match for ginger-marinated pork tenderloin and oven-roasted parmesan asparagus.
 
Nose unlike previous vintage, more saline and white flower. Chablis like.
Medium intensity. Mineral flavours on approach, with hints of citrus, and ok acidity. A bit light though. Almost watery. I am ok with that but for two things. First, this is a 45+ dollar wine and I would expect more intensity or cut as well as complexity. For the price you can get more than a couple of bottles of honest to goodness chablis. My second issue is that this wine is not consistent with the previous vintages It is more than just a difference of vintage. This is more of approach from a lighter Cali approach to an overly light chablis. Smacks of manipulation instead of consistency and an approach to what Santa Rita hills can achieve. Perhaps this is still an experiment and the winemakers are not sure where this wine is going. In either case just way too much money for what it is. I would rather go Chablis or Bourgogne. I keep trying it with a hope that Cali makes something more than manufactured chardonnay, but although interesting and nice the money is an issue.

My issue is that there is a lot of hype on Liquid Farm, and although enjoyable the price and inconsistency of this are an issue.
 
A nice bottle of '85 Ceretto Brunate really started going after 10 hours in the decanter. Thankfully I was still awake and had some food left to go with it!
 
Hot damn! Opened a bottle of the 2008 Wind Gap Sonoma Coast Syrah last night and found a very appealing wine. It had a strong briny, olive thing going on atop plenty of Syrah fruit amid enough structure to guarantee several more years of evolution. I'm glad I have another bottle of this, but I wish I had more. It makes me interested in seeing what else Pax is doing nowadays.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Hot damn! Opened a bottle of the 2008 Wind Gap Sonoma Coast Syrah last night and found a very appealing wine. It had a strong briny, olive thing going on atop plenty of Syrah fruit amid enough structure to guarantee several more years of evolution. I'm glad I have another bottle of this, but I wish I had more. It makes me interested in seeing what else Pax is doing nowadays.

Mark Lipton

GTK, I just picked up a 2007 of this.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Hot damn! Opened a bottle of the 2008 Wind Gap Sonoma Coast Syrah last night and found a very appealing wine. It had a strong briny, olive thing going on atop plenty of Syrah fruit amid enough structure to guarantee several more years of evolution. I'm glad I have another bottle of this, but I wish I had more. It makes me interested in seeing what else Pax is doing nowadays.

Mark Lipton

i think the whole lineup is impressive. he's also making some unusual (for california) varietals. blaufrankisch, nebbiolo to name a couple.
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
originally posted by MLipton:
Hot damn! Opened a bottle of the 2008 Wind Gap Sonoma Coast Syrah last night and found a very appealing wine. It had a strong briny, olive thing going on atop plenty of Syrah fruit amid enough structure to guarantee several more years of evolution. I'm glad I have another bottle of this, but I wish I had more. It makes me interested in seeing what else Pax is doing nowadays.

Mark Lipton

i think the whole lineup is impressive. he's also making some unusual (for california) varietals. blaufrankisch, nebbiolo to name a couple.

Yes, if you want to spend $45 for a California Blaufrankisch, Wind Gap is the place to go.

Less snarkily, they've done a solid job with some of their wines. Now that Pax has his own label back, after a lawsuit with his former business partner, it will be interesting the see if Wind Gap stays on track. The Pax wines are mostly back to his former stylistic expressions, as I understand it. Will be watching to see if he can play to both crowds at the same time, rather than sequentially.
 
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
originally posted by MLipton:
Hot damn! Opened a bottle of the 2008 Wind Gap Sonoma Coast Syrah last night and found a very appealing wine. It had a strong briny, olive thing going on atop plenty of Syrah fruit amid enough structure to guarantee several more years of evolution. I'm glad I have another bottle of this, but I wish I had more. It makes me interested in seeing what else Pax is doing nowadays.

Mark Lipton

i think the whole lineup is impressive. he's also making some unusual (for california) varietals. blaufrankisch, nebbiolo to name a couple.

Yes, if you want to spend $45 for a California Blaufrankisch, Wind Gap is the place to go.

Less snarkily, they've done a solid job with some of their wines. Now that Pax has his own label back, after a lawsuit with his former business partner, it will be interesting the see if Wind Gap stays on track. The Pax wines are mostly back to his former stylistic expressions, as I understand it. Will be watching to see if he can play to both crowds at the same time, rather than sequentially.

And hasn't the owner of Screaming Eagle bought a stake in Wind Gap?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:


And hasn't the owner of Screaming Eagle bought a stake in Wind Gap?

Charles Banks's investment fund bought a half interest. Banks isn't involved with Screaming Eagle anymore. But his fund also bought Mayacamas, among others.
 
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:


And hasn't the owner of Screaming Eagle bought a stake in Wind Gap?

Charles Banks's investment fund bought a half interest. Banks isn't involved with Screaming Eagle anymore. But his fund also bought Mayacamas, among others.

Troubling, or not?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:


And hasn't the owner of Screaming Eagle bought a stake in Wind Gap?

Charles Banks's investment fund bought a half interest. Banks isn't involved with Screaming Eagle anymore. But his fund also bought Mayacamas, among others.

Troubling, or not?

He says all the right things. No change in style, respect for tradition, etc.

We'll see with time I suppose.
 
2002 Jacques Puffeney, Arbois Chardonnay Cuvee Marginale - Still pretty tight. A little nutty, some wool, lactic rivers, acidic cliffs, seamless and quite light in the mouth. Mineral. A dream with seared scallops. 6 prongs near a mountain stream.
 
2010 Foillard Fleurie was a nice multilayered bottle of fresh silk. Much more enjoyable than the 2011 I opened last month. Although I'm still not convinced that the extra money is worth it for these Fleurie in comparison to the CdP.
 
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