Went two for four this weekend:
1. Odisea Angele Calif (14.3%; 196 cs; 35% Marsanne/35%Roussanne/30% Viognier) 2008: Med.dark gold color; very rich/lush floral/very ripe/peachy/honeysuckle bit toasted/coconutty nose; soft/rich/lush/very ripe very peachy/floral/honeysuckle slight toasted coconut flavor; long very ripe/floral/peachy/honeysuckle slight alcoholic finish; loads of very ripe fruit; big/fat/rich bit porky RhoneBlanc that I liked quite a bit. $21.00
______________
2. LaChirapada NewMexico WTW MimbresVlly Viognier (13%) 2008: Colorless; very light pear weak Viog slight earthy very little nose; soft bit earthy very light/vaguely fruity bit off-dry rather vapid flavor; very short soft/fat weakly fruity almost no finish; no Viog character and only vaguely fruity; a totally vapid wine. Way overpriced at $20.00
______________
3. AlainGraillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (12.5%) 2008: Light gold color; slight earthy rather appley/Marsanne slight floral/pear/carnations slight valve oil pleasant/simple nose; tart bit lean/minerally/earthy light appley/floral slight metallic/valve oil flavor; med.short light earthy/minerally light appley/floral finish; rather simple/innocuous but probably needs another yr or so to develop. $30.00
______________
4. RobertMondavi PrivateSelection Syrah Calif CentralCoast (13.5%; http://www.RMPrivateSelection.com) Woodbridge/CA 2005: Med.color w/ slight bricking; pleasant/blackberry/Syrah some mucilage/oak/smokey/weird bit aged nose; tart rather tannic/hard/lean bit dried out some earthy/blackberry/Syrah bit redwood/tanky/old-timey slight mucilage/pungent flavor; med. hard/tannic/lean old redwood tanky/old-timey/mucilage/funkky slight blackberry/Syrah finish; an imbarassment to the Syrah variety; way overpriced at $20.00
_____________________________________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Odisea: The is a new operation, with offices in Danville. The wines were made up in Murphys/Calveras but I understand they're now made in the NapaVlly.Principals are AdamWebb & Mike Kuenz. Based out of Danville. Sourcing grapes primarily from Lodi. This wine had the softness and fatness you'd expect from a Lodi White, but had a lot of ripe fruit and was fairly interesting. Have a complete set of their wines I'll be tasting soon.
____________________
2. LaChiripada: this is a small/tiny wnry located up in Dixon, here in Northern NM. The grapes come from the MimbresVlly down near the town of Deming; a torridly hot desert area of Southern NM. Paola grows a lot of Italian varieties and some other unusual stuff. I didn't expect much from this wine....it delivered in spades. One of the most truly vapid wines I've ever had. Makes the $2Chuck Chard taste like a GrandCruChablis.
LaChiripada makes some decent/good/interesting wines...this is certainly not one of them.
_____________________
3. Graillot: I was expecting a lot more from this wine. Not unpleasant but not deliver much RhoneBlanc/stoney character. Marsanne tends to be pretty underwhelming early-on, so I expect this wine will show a bit more in a yr or so. But I'm not agonna gamble at $30.00.
____________________
4. Mondavi: I was assured from the label that this was a "PrivateSelection" especially selected from Robert's private stash. My-oh-my.... I would hope he drinks better than this. It seemed aged way before its time (NeoCork stopper) and a lot of old-time/tanky/jug-wine character.
In the FWIW category....the Mondavi CentralCoastSelection series of wine was developed some time ago by.....shhhhhh....one SteveLagier. Please go easy on him!!!
Tom