Met up with John last night for our attempted monthly dinners since he's moved back. We've actually done a decent job of keeping up with them. We started with the 2010 Pepiérè "Quatre". It began a little slowly, all wrapped in on itself and leesy (for obvious reasons). After about 20 minutes it had really opened up and started showing tons of fruit on the nose and a real density to the palate with a classic Pepiérè finish. Is the fruit from granite? It sure seems like it, but I don't know for sure. It continued to evolve, especially as it warmed up to the point where it had a really thrilling nose with lots of density. It was almost to the point where it seemed like it would be really rich on the palate, but on the palate it was still mineral and dry. I bought this blind in 750, 1.5 and 3.0 because Marc. So glad I did.
John is a real fan of syrah so I dug out one of my two remaining bottles of 2005 ESJ Bassetti. This was a fantastic bottle. 2005 was the last wine made from this vineyard source by Steve, I think because they pulled it from him to sell at a higher price elsewhere or some such thing. HUGE mistake. I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job of corralling CA fruit that wants to go hog wild into a package that sits together in an such a balanced, savory, complex fashion. Olives, wood (like trees, hard to describe), minerals and game hem in fruit that was once black and blueberry but which has evolved into something more plummy, but still with hints of its past self underneath. The palate was a little disjoint for a while, but once we had food (or was it just time) it started to smooth out and join together with the rest of the wine. I really don't think I am doing justice to how much I liked this wine. I don't know what to do with my last bottle. My instinct is not to let it stay around more than another couple of years because it is in such an awesome place, but it could be a wine that really goes the distance. Well done Steve, you old hippie.
John is a real fan of syrah so I dug out one of my two remaining bottles of 2005 ESJ Bassetti. This was a fantastic bottle. 2005 was the last wine made from this vineyard source by Steve, I think because they pulled it from him to sell at a higher price elsewhere or some such thing. HUGE mistake. I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job of corralling CA fruit that wants to go hog wild into a package that sits together in an such a balanced, savory, complex fashion. Olives, wood (like trees, hard to describe), minerals and game hem in fruit that was once black and blueberry but which has evolved into something more plummy, but still with hints of its past self underneath. The palate was a little disjoint for a while, but once we had food (or was it just time) it started to smooth out and join together with the rest of the wine. I really don't think I am doing justice to how much I liked this wine. I don't know what to do with my last bottle. My instinct is not to let it stay around more than another couple of years because it is in such an awesome place, but it could be a wine that really goes the distance. Well done Steve, you old hippie.
