Tried this last night:
1.
Donkey&Goat Syrah VieillesVignes GibsonRanch/McDowellVlly/Mendocino (14.4%; www.ADonkeyAndGoat.com) 2006: Dark color w/ no bricking; strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/spicy/slight peppery quite dusty/OV slight roasted/Rhonish/Cornas/Clape-like/feral/smoked meats complex nose; bit tart/lean some blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/spicy/peppery rather dusty/OV slight roasted/Rhonish/sauvage/rustic flavor w/ slight astringent/bitey tannins; bit tart/lean/hard some blueberry/blackberry/Syrah/spicy quite dusty/OV rather rough/rustic/Rhonish/Cornas-like/sauvage finish w/ light hard/astringent/bitey tannins; loaded w/ dusty/OV character; lots of rustic/Cornas-like character w/o the perfume of a Clape; probably on the downhill side but quite interesting Syrah; a lot like an older EdStJ Syrah.
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A wee BP:
1. After about 8 wines went down the drain from my compromised stash, I wanted something worth drinking. So I spied this. How appropriate. On Fri, JakeBilbro/MikeOfficer/CaseyHartlip & myself are doing a walk of GibsonRanch, now owned by the Bilbro family.
Gibson has probably the oldest Syrah planting in Calif, dating back to the late 1800's, mostly of Clone 777. In the early days of McDowellVllyVnyds, GeorgeBursick made some exceptional Syrahs from these grapes. The vnyd is a national treasure & it will be exciting to see what the Bilbros do with it. I'd love to see MikeOfficer & Morgan Twain-Peterson take Syrah from here.
Tom