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AS TIME GOES BY
After a certain number of vintages, keeping track of them all becomes more and more difficult. But don’t ask me what that number is, I’ve long since lost track. I liked 2010 a lot, mostly, though it wasn’t without problems (which I’ll get to momentarily). In 2010 conditions were, generally, cool enough, and mild enough, that the accumulation of sugar in the grapes was held back sufficiently to permit ripeness (defined by flavor and aromatic development) to occur while those sugar levels were fairly low, and, at the same time, acidity was strong and pHs were low. When grapes are picked under those circumstances the result is somewhat lighter, more vibrant wines that are fresh, energetic, beautifully balanced, and brilliant at the dinner table. For me, that’s an ideal vintage.
But there was a brief cold snap in the Spring, after the vines had begun to grow, and in the Witters’ Vineyard, our main source of Gamay, the result was a severe frost that wiped out every primary bud on every vine in the field. Eventually the plants pushed some secondary shoots, and we were able to get a small crop, but only about 25% of what the vines normally produce.
In a week we’ll bottle a few of our 2010 wines, and a couple of them will be available on April Fool’s day (No, Really!):
2010 Heart of Gold As these vines, planted in 2005, have begun to get established, the dominance of Vermentino has begun to make itself felt; this bottling features 72% Vermentino, and 28% Grenache Blanc. More and more, I’m finding the blend of backbone and finesse that makes Vermentino such an exciting wine variety. This one is lemony, briney, savory, and mineral, all at once. And delicious.
$20.00 per bottle, $216.00 per case (298 cases produced)
2010 Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir Rosé We reduced skin contact for the ’10 rosé to about an hour and a half, and discovered for ourselves how less is more! This pretty pink wine is electrifyingly juicy and vivacious. Because of the aforementioned frost at Witters—less than 75 cases for the world. (Ouch!)
$16.00 per bottle $172.80 per case
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I’ve been in the basement, you know I’ve been out of touch;
I’ve been drinkin’ that red wine, I like it way too much…
I used to routinely set aside a number of cases of each wine we released, to have a chance to see how they developed in the bottle, over time. At first, it was hard to keep my hands off these wines, because there were so few of them in the early days, and if I wanted to show someone what we were up to, there weren’t a lot of choices. And in the first couple of years there were only two or three wines we produced each year. Then, as we branched out a bit, more choices emerged, and as the vintages accumulated, it became easier to let wines lie, for longer periods of time, without opening even single bottles of some of them for several years. Even as the library grew I continued to ferret away more and more wines, imagining perhaps that at some future point there would be epochal successions of grand events calling for examples of many splendid vintages of Les Cotes Sauvages, Syrah, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Gamay, and so on.
From 1986 until Spring of 2007 we warehoused our bottled wines, including library wines, at a facility in Sonoma Valley. Then, almost without warning, that company shut down their operation, and we had to scramble to relocate all our wines. Things got consolidated in such a haphazard fashion (a number of items in my inventory had, according to them, disappeared) by the Sonoma Valley warehouse, that, for several years, I didn’t really know quite what all I had at our new location in Santa Rosa.
So a few weeks ago, I spent several days sorting through and cataloguing what’s there, (which included finding some of the missing stuff) and it became apparent that there were more bottles of various things than I would ever find the occasion to drink or to use for special events or dinners. So I’m going to make some of them available for sale, here, and I hope you’ll see some things you’d like to have, and take advantage of this current sense of abundance. The wines have been well-stored, mostly undisturbed. And they’ve aged beautifully.
(Please note; these wines are available in very limited quantities, and will be sold first come first served. All sales are final. Wines will be shipped only during mild weather, in order to get them to you in the best possible condition.)
1990 New World Red: Zinfandel (from Durell Vineyard in Sonoma Valley) and Grenache (from Ukiah Valley, in Mendocino County). $25.00
1992 Zinfandel (Howell Mountain, Napa Valley) Picked on the 500th Anniversary of Columbus’ appearance in the Americas. Big stuff. $30.00
1992 El Nino (Barbera from Shenandoah Valley, Charbono from Mt. Veeder, Grenache from Ukiah, and Syrah from Placerville) Take that, Columbus! $30.00
1993 Zinfandel (Story Vineyard, Shenandoah Valley, 50-60 year old vines) Textbook Amador spice. $30.00
1993 California Syrah (fruit from Sonoma Valley, El Dorado County, Knight’s Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and Ukiah). $35.00
1994 Zinfandel (Story Vineyard, again) All the spice, without the jam! $30.00
1995 Syrah, California—375ml (Durell and Fenaughty) $20.00
1995 Durell Vineyard Syrah the legend $50.00
1997 Viognier “Alban-Durell” this baby’s still kickin! $30.00
1997 Fenaughty Vineyard Syrah this one, too! $40.00
1997 Matagrano Vineyard Sangiovese (El Dorado County) big and bloody, and mighty fine. $28.00
1998 Matagrano Vineyard Sangiovese the ‘97s pretty sister. $25.00
1999 Matagrano Vineyard Sangiovese the Keith Richards of the family $24.00
2000 Los Robles Viejos (Mourvedre, Syrah, Grenache, Counoise, all from Rozet Vineyard, west-side Paso) lightning in a bottle, very special stuff. $35.00
2000 Syrah “Wylie-Fenaughty” Treasure of the Sierra Nevada $40.00
2001 California Syrah the Second Coming $25.00
2001 Rocks and Gravel ooh, baby! $28.00
2001 Bassetti Vineyard Syrah firing on all cylinders! $45.00
2001 Peay Vineyard Zinfandel scarce as hen’s teeth $30.00
2004 Bone-Jolly Gamay Noir pretty, older Gamay, nicely developed. $21.00
Let us know what looks enticing: info@edmundsstjohn.com
Or (510) 981-1510
--Steve Edmunds
Join the organolepticians!
- organoleptic
- (ôr'ge nl ep'tik, ôr gan'l ep'-), adj. 1. perceived by a sense organ. 2. capable of detecting a sensory stimulus. [1850-55; < F organoleptique = organo- ORGANO + -leptique < Gk leptikós disposed to accept (lept(ós), v. adj. of lambánein to take + -ikos -IC)]
--Random House Webster's
College Dictionary
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The organolepticians at work
- Number 85 (March 8, 2011)
- AS TIME GOES BY
- Number 84 (October 23, 2010)
- ANNIVERSARY WALTZ (Silver Edition)
- Number 83 (August 9, 2010)
- The Crucible
- Number 82 (May 27, 2010)
- A Few Thoughts Regarding Syrah, 25 Years Into The Parade...
- Number 81 (February 8, 2010)
- Time Out of Mind
- Number 80 (November 6, 2009)
- Whoppin' Good Time!
- Number 79 (September 26, 2009)
- What’s In a Name?
- Number 78 (July 27, 2009)
- Beauty In The Beast (The Baby and the Bathwater)
- Number 77 (24 March, 2009)
- April Starlight
- Number 76 ()
- First The Tide Rushes In
- Number 75 (November 25, 2007)
- When The Hours Turn to Smoke
- Number 74 ()
- Home Grown Tomatoes
- Number 73 (February 28, 2007)
- Late Winter Offering
- Number 72 (September 4, 2006)
- Me and My Shadow
- Number 71 (August 13th, 2006)
- Ridin' Six White Horses (Welcome to Peoria!)
- Number 70 (June 20th, 2006)
- Hobo's Lullaby
- Number 69 (May 27th, 2006)
- Might be Nothing but Words
- Number 68 (January 13th, 2006)
- Seeing Things
- Number 67 (December 9th, 2005)
- Across the Great Divide
- Number 66 (November 28th, 2005)
- Wild Card (When Worlds Collide)
- Number 65 (November 1st, 2005)
- Just Another Whistlestop
- Number 64 (October 24th, 2005)
- Dead To The World
- Number 63 (October 12th, 2005)
- Not a County Maintained Road
- Number 62 (September 25th, 2005)
- Knock, Knock, Knockin'
- Number 61 (August 1st, 2005)
- The Heart Laid Bare
- Number 60 (July 17th, 2005)
- Ship Of Fools
- Number 59 (June 14th, 2005)
- Good Things From The Garden (The Terroir Blues)
- Number 58 (May 22nd, 2005)
- Jack O'Diamonds (I Know You Of Old)
- Number 57 (April 10th, 2005)
- Whiskey Before Breakfast (And other songs of the itinerant...)
- Number 56 (February 6th, 2005)
- Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
- Number 55 (December 20th, 2004)
- Original Sin
- Number 54 (October 29th, 2004)
- Harmonicas and Virgins
- Number 53 (October 2nd, 2004)
- I Can't Help It If I'm Lucky
- Number 52 (August 5th, 2004)
- Way Up North
- Number 51 (June 28th, 2004)
- Can't Forget the Motor City
- Number 50 (June 2nd, 2004)
- Diamonds In The Rough
- Number 49 (May 17th, 2004)
- The Miles Could Tell a Million Tales
- Number 48 (April 12th, 2004)
- Lo, How a Rose
- Number 47 (March 5th, 2004)
- First Bird
- Number 46 (January 31st, 2004)
- I Wanna Be Like Mike
- Number 45 (November 2, 2003)
- Ghost Stories
- Number 44 (October 14, 2003)
- Extra Innings
- Number 43 (September 26, 2003)
- Sowing On The Mountain
- Number 42 (August 29, 2003)
- The Fugitive/The One-Armed Man
- Number 41 (July 20, 2003)
- Tales of Wining and Dining
- Number 40 (June 13, 2003)
- Wonder If We Know Just Who We Are
- Number 39 (May 13, 2003)
- Blast from the Past
- Number 38 (March 2, 2003)
- Breakfast of Champions
- Number 37 (December 14, 2002)
- Talkin Bout Good News!
- Number 36 (November 27, 2002)
- Merging with the Energy
- Number 35 (October 27, 2002)
- After the Summer
- Number 34 (Labor Day, September 2, 2002)
- Ban des Vendanges 2002: Gamay Shelter!
- Number 33 (August 25, 2002)
- Waitin' for You
- Number 32 (August 14, 2002)
- Got the Butterflies
- Number 31 (August 11, 2002)
- The Great Leftfielders
- Number 30 (July 2, 2002)
- The King of Luckytown
- Number 29 (June 24, 2002)
- Rhônesome and Ramblin': In Search Of A Linear Narrative
- Number 28 (May 21, 2002)
- Ramblin' Blues: In search of the World's Greatest Pizza
- Number 27 (April 25, 2002)
- Ramblin' Fever (On the trail of the Sacred Energy)
- Number 26 (April 18, 2002)
- The View from Here
- Number 25 (March 12, 2002)
- I Started Out on Burgundy
- Number 24 (January 21, 2002)
- The Devil Made Me Do It
- Number 23 (December 26, 2001)
- All is Calm, All is Bright
- Number 22 (November 8, 2001)
- I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore, Toto
- Number 21 (September 17, 2001)
- 911 COMES CALLING (I'll Take Any Good News I Can Find)
- Number 20 (September 3, 2001)
- A CASE OF THE VAPORS: Labor Day, 2001
- Number 19 (September 2, 2001)
- 2001: THE ODDYSSEY THAT WOULD NOT DIE: Stop Me If You've Heard this Before
- Number 18 (June 26, 2001)
- The Myth of Sisyphus
- Number 17 (May 29, 2001)
- ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
- Number 16 (February 19, 2001)
- IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER:
- Number 15 (January 9, 2001)
- FIRST MUSTER, DOUBLENAUGHT ONE: Sound the Trumpets!
- Number 14 (November 27, 2000)
- WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN' GOIN' ON
- Number 13 (November 6, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Good to the Last Drop
- Number 12 (October 27, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: The Wheels Come Off
- Number 11 (October 17, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Rainy Day, Man
- Number 10 (October 4, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Lord Willin' and the Crick Don't Rise
- Number 9 (September 25, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Dancing with Lunacy
- Number 8 (September 14, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Read 'Em and Weep!
- Number 7 (September 2, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Is it September Yet?
- Number 6 (August 24, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Back to the Future
- Number 5 (August 20, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: We Can't Go On Meeting this Way
- Number 4 (August 16, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Maybe it was the Full Moon
- Number 3 (August 14, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: First Stirrings of Harvest
- Number 2 (August 4, 2000)
- Hospice du Rhône 2000, Revisited
- Number 1 (June 2000)
- What's New?
- Number 0 (October 6, 1999)
- Out Standing in His Field
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