Tried two from the archives last night w/ my duck rillettes:
1. Easton Zin LinsteadtVnyd/AmadorCnty (387 cs; U/U; 14.7%) 1991: Med.color w/ some bricking; rather pencilly/cedary/old Zin slight stewed tomatos/briary/licorice fairly complex/interesting nose; soft/smooth/gentle rather cedary/pencilly/sandle wood/old Zin stewed tomatos/licorice slight vanilla/oak flavor w/ little tannins; med. slightly dried out/astringent cedary/pencilly/old Zin light pencilly/oak finish; a gentle old Zin that's still in balance and a pleasure to drink. $8.00
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2. RiverRun CabSauv MountanosVnyd/Talmage/MendocinoCnty (12.2%) RiverRunVintners/Aromas 1987: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; slight bretty/horsecollar plummy/blackcurranty/tomato sauce light smokey/oak slight gamey rather complex/old Calif Cab/tobaccoy/cigar box nose; soft slight bretty/horsecollar rather plummy/licorice/classic blackcurranty/Cab slight tomatoey/earthy light smokey/pungent/oak flavor w/ light tannins; very long earthy/spicy/tomatoey rather blackcurranty/Cab/licorice slight smokey/oak rather complex finish w/ light/drying tannins; still in great shape and a real pleasure to drink. $12.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I was first attracted to RiverRun way back when, when he produced a Syrah in the late '80's. I liked his style of wines (Syrah& Zin) because they had a lot of richnes & texture to them w/ plenty of fruit and lushness. This wine comes from Mendo grapes (unknown vnyd to me) and had a richness that was not usually seen in Mendo Cabs at that point in time. It reminded me a bit of BarneyFetzer's Cabs from that area w/ about 10 yrs of age on them and w/o the big hit of oak that Barney gave his wines he made in the mid-'70's. Note the anemic 12.2% alcohol, which would not fly in the marketplace these days. Note that you don't have to have "physiological ripeness" to get a wine that shows richness & texture...unless the bif scores from critics are important. Quite a surprise this RiverRun was.
Tom
