A Few Tasting Notes

Thought I’d write about a couple of wines I’ve tasted recently. Ok, several.

Ravenswood Old Hill Sonoma Zinfandel 1998: This bottle came with pretty much perfect provenance, being stored in a cellar for at least the past 8 years. There was some sediment (I didn’t care to wait two days while it settled in an upright position) but age had brought the wine a rough purity that showed focused raisin, sour blackberry, and cocoa, with some dusty asian spice and earth tones. What impressed me most by the wine is that 4 non-wine drinkers unanimously pronounced it excellent.

Bonny Doon Old Telegram 2001 (Mouvedre): Despite some rustic awkwardness, this wine managed to be quite pleasurable. I don’t recall it was particularly high in alcohol. Randall Grahm did a pretty good job of making a Rhone-style wine; it had a noticeable earthy and barnyard quality that I couldn’t quite identify as brettanomyces (a spoilage yeast that’s key to a lot of the really earthy, musty, barnyard characteristics in French red wines).

Torlasco Barbera d’Asti 2008 D.O.C.G: Translucent and limpid in color…I’ve never seen a red wine with such delicate coloration that wasn’t a pinot noir. It was a perfect example of how Barbera can make for a great pasta wine, with stirring acidity and an earthy texture that managed to be refreshingly light.

Chateau de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2007: St. Cosme first wowed me with their 2007 Cotes du Rhone Rouge, a 100% syrah from declassified Gigondas fruit. I still count it as the single best Cotes du Rhone I’ve had in a vintage of exceptional standouts (it retailed around $17 with a 90 from Parker). Presumably all the fruit from their Gigondas vineyards that didn’t go into that Cotes du Rhone went into this excellent bottling, which took 15-20 minutes to open up but showed a lush wine that was chewy yet balanced and could take a decade or more in the cellar.