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e’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, we really like Sean Thackrey’s wines at our house. Thackrey is a maverick who does things his own way, and the wines show that clearly.  We’ve had six of them in various stages of development over the last month, and they did nothing to change our opinion of them.

1998 Sean Thackrey Napa Orion California Native Red Wine Old Vines Rossi Ranch, 14.3% alc. Find this wine: We’ve had two of these resting comfortably in the Cellar from Heck for some years now, and after reading some positive comments about it recently, I decided that it was time to try one, and what better setting than a quiet cottage on a beautiful lake in northern Michigan? (Thanks Mark and Margaret!) The wine is a slightly cloudy ruby dark garnet, but the little bit of murk may well have been due to the 150+ mile drive that it endured earlier that day. Otherwise, it’s almost a dead ringer for a fine northern Rhône, except that it’s more perfumed than many of those. It offers a lovely character of black plums and berries, black olives, leather, and some cedar and eucalyptus; very smooth in the mouth, with silky tannins that will take it some years down the road. Rich, round and delicious, with a nice long finish; this is a substantial wine, to say the least, yet it’s balanced and elegant at the same time. One more great reason why Sean Thackrey’s wines are among my very favorites made in California.

We got together with Larry Meehan, Ken Heibenstriet and Shar Douglas in late August for a mini – Thackrey – thon, and we tried a few things we hadn’t tasted before and a few that we had.

2002 Sean Thackrey Marin County Pinot Noir Devil’s Gulch Ranch Andromeda, 15.1% alc. Find this wine: Purple garnet, fading to pink at the rim, and offering an effusive, perfumed bouquet reminiscent of smoky plum and black cherry shaded with lavender; while these impressions follow through on the palate with considerable structure on a medium full bodied frame, they don’t quite deliver on the promise of the nose at this point, nor does it finish as long as one might like. Give this a few years to see what happens; it’s pretty good right now, but I’m betting it’ll get better down the road. Pairs fairly well with a grilled leg o’ lamb, but the next selection matched up even better.

2001 Sean Thackrey Napa Orion California Native Red Wine Orion Old Vines Rossi Ranch, 14.7% alc. Find this wine: Deep, dark garnet color; lavishly perfumed with sweet oak, sweet spice, plum, blackberry, black raspberry, and of course, somebody mentioned “mint and eucalyptus;” Larry added an impression of an “almost powdery texture on the nose.” Flavors echo and expand beautifully, being silky smooth, yet deceptively well structured, with a good long finish. Somewhat opulent, not at all overdone and as nice as it is now, what will it be like in 2011 when it should be close to its prime drinking window? Perhaps the ’98 noted above or a ’97 tasted last winter give tantalizing hints of what’s to come.

Larry knows how much Kim loves Sean’s Pleiades, so he brought along these two older models to open.

Sean Thackrey Pleiades VIII California Red Table Wine, 13.2% alc. Find this wine: Slightly cloudy, slightly rusty ruby garnet, with a nice blend of soft leather, sweet spice, eucalyptus, plums and berries on the nose that carries over onto the palate with more leather; still some tannins here, but pretty smooth, with a good finish, some nice, mature qualities and a somewhat “Rhôney” character. Hard to tell whether this is at its peak right now, but it’s drinking so well, we’d probably pull the corks on any we had lying around at our house.

Sean Thackrey Pleiades IX California Red Table Wine, 14.2% alc. Find this wine: Slightly cloudy dark garnet, with just a hint of rust, and showing just a bit of the barnyard over lovely, rich sweet spice, plums and berries, accented with hints of leather and eucalyptus. Smooth on the palate, maybe not quite as expressive as the VIII, but very nice nevertheless; rich and a little “Rhôney,” despite some toasty oak.

Larry took over taking notes on the next selection, recording his own and any other impressions that anyone cared to throw out. By now, it was fairly dark out on the back deck, and no one bothered to check the color on this one.

Sean Thackrey Pleiades XII California Red Table Wine, 14 % alc. Find this wine: “Very rubbery,” according to Kim; slightly reduced, but very similar to the other Thackreys. That said, all the more earthy and herbal – tree bark/red wood racking; very spicy in the mouth, almost hot, with some alcoholic warmth, a little chocolate, but then, dilute as it trails to the finish. A difficult young wine – wet, fairly dense, but not particularly weighty – somewhat closed. The rubbery, reduced nose persists, but the texture smoothes with time (45 minutes to an hour)… more acidity seems to engage tannins rising up with good grip, and finally showing some integration, with far less reduction and better length to the palate.

This one showed rather differently than the last Pleiades XII we reported on; whether it was bottle variation or something else, I can’t say, but as Larry says, it finally did come around with some air. 

Reporting from Day-twah,

Bastardo

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© George Heritier September 2005