A quite impressive Spring Mountain District Cabernet-based Blend. Small family winery, about seven acres and 1,000 cases per year. A review/overview here: http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:Ex ... clnk&gl=us I have to admit I've had bad luck with Spring Mountain wines, but this wine struck my fancy. St Helena Wine Exchange steered me correctly!
Quite dark color, purple with ruby rim. The nose has a lot different things going on...tobacco, cassis of course...definitely some plum, and a unique spicy note. Kevin thought "mustard seed" I could see that but Harald and I thought "mint."
On the palate, these flavors continue-definitely plum, lots and lots of earth and tobacco. The fruit is sweeter than many Bordeaux wines would be, and the tannins are soft enough at only six years old, so this is not Bordeaux, but it strikes me as more Bordeauxesque in style than many modern valley floor cabs.
My only complaint would be the alcohol-at least to me at this particular tasting-stuck out a bit, especially on the rather fumey nose. I would consider buying this again, I quite enjoyed it, and the back story behind the winery itself is appealing.
91 points.
Eric K. James Syrah Carneros 2004. From a small distributor/negociant firm that imports the Torrontes above. Kevin was right to bring these guys into Wine Styles. This is quite a bit of a surprise. Maybe it is wrong to expect Syrah to taste like Northern Rhone, but too many California Syrahs to me taste like "generic red wine" with no noticable varietal character (or, frankly, interest). At least not to my inexperienced palate.
THIS wine, however, tasted like Rhone Syrah. High toned, with plentiful acid and a blaze of white pepper and prosciutto ham?????? notes. Almost salty-but in a good way. Dark plum fruit with some cherry notes. Quite nice. Solid 88 points and good QPR ($22)! I would throw this up against the Ceps, which was juicier and high acid but equally fine!