Tried these w/ Susan last night for dinner (tofu gruel):
1. CedarvilleVnyd {Grenache} ElDorado (EB; 15.1%; 175 cs; www.CedarVilleVineyard.com) 2007: Med.dark color; attractive strawberry/Grenache light earthy bit spicy/briary/berry slight alcoholic nose; soft fairly lush plummy/strawberry/Grenache some earthy/dusty flavor; med.long rather plummy/strawberry/Grenache somewhat earthy/dusty finish w/ light tannins; just a bit of heat/alcohol but very good drinking; the ElDorado terroir/earthy character gives it just a bit of Rhonish/CdR character; well priced at $20.00
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2. Foris Grenache RogueVlly/OR (13.7%; www.ForisWine.com) 2006: Med.light color; strong bright/strawberry/Grenache/cherry/spicy somewhat pencilly/oak bit forest floor/piney almost Pinotish pleasant nose; tart slightly sour/coarse light strawberry/Grenache/cherry/spicy some pencilly/toasty/oak flavor; med.short spicy/strawberry/Grenache somewhat Pinotish/pencilly/toasty/oak finish w/ very light tannins; more like an OR Pinot than a Grenache; pleasant enought wine but just that. $13.00
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3. Ridge Calif Zin OldSchool (83% Zin, 15% Carignane, 2% PS; SonomaCnty; 14.6%; 47 brls; Bttld:Spril'08; Drk: 3/08-3/18: EB) 2006: Dark color; attractive raspberry/Zin some pencilly/vanilla/oak/DraperPerfume bit spicy/earthy fairly fragrant/perfumed nose; fairly tart attractive raspberry/blackberry/spicy/Zin bit dusty/old vine light vanilla/oak/pungent/pencilly bit tannic flavor; med.long bit tannic/hard rather raspberry/blackberry/Zin some pencilly/oak finish; needs several yrs to show much; not particularly distinctive but could potentially be very good because of its structure. $30.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Ridge: This is the latest ATP release from Ridge. OldSchool??? That's a new one for me. Nope....this was first made in '03 and was called Independence School from the old school house that neighbors the several vnyds these grapes came from in the Western reaches of the AlexVlly. Why the name change to OldSchool?? I've got no friggin' clue....maybe just to keep us Ridge fans confused???
Like many of the Ridge Zin ATP releases, it has little distinctive character from the Nervo/Ponzo/Buchagnani/etc releases. At least early on. It's only down the road w/ some btl age that they start to show much individuality. I suspect that this'll be a pretty good btl s/ some 2-5 yrs of age on it because it's well-structured...but there's nothing in this wine that compells me to buy more. Sometimes you just gotta believe, use blind faith, in what they're doing w/ their ATP wines. A bit frustrating to me, it is.
Tom