By Bastardo

We got together with Errol and Patty Kovich recently, to further investigate the varieties if the pinot experience, specifically from the Willamette Valley producer St. Innocent. Kim and I had been wowed recently by their 1998 O'Conner Vineyard Pinot Noir, so we though it would be interesting to see what else they had to offer. Here's what we tried.

2001 St. Innocent Willamette Pinot Blanc Freedom Hill, $17.99, 13.4% alc.: Kim described this medium straw colored wine as tasting like "pear nectar," and she had a good point; Errol added an impression of "nectarines," and "ultra-ripe fruit." Very clean, and showing a nice purity of fruit, it moves right along with good, if not exactly racy or zippy acidity. Despite not being terribly complex, it does have good intensity and concentration, along with a decent finish. All in all, an enjoyable wine, and clearly the better of the two whites. 

2001 St. Innocent Willamette Pinot Gris Vitae Springs, $17.99, 13.5% alc.: Pale to medium straw in color, this is sharper, and more citric than the pinot blanc, but Errol characterized it as "pretty restrained for Mr. (Mark) Vlossak," referring to the talented winemaker. It shows pear, grapefruit and lime flavors and aromas, with good acidity, and despite the fact that we all agreed that it could be more expressive, especially for the price, it provides a nice match for Kim's yin-yang roasted peppers, tomato and squash soup. 

1996 St. Innocent Willamette Pinot Noir Freedom Hill, 13.4% alc.: There's just a little rust to the ruby garnet color here, and Errol thought he detected a hint of acetone on the otherwise stingy nose that shows a little earth and forest floor with the smoky black cherry. The flavors are considerably more expressive, although Kim described them as "really green, harsh and vegetal," and Errol chimed in, saying "feminine it ain't!" It's showing more earth than fruit at this point, with notes of leather, and even tobacco. It still has plenty of tannins, at least 3-5 years worth, along with excellent acidity, and Errol thinks it has the fruit to last that long. Served with roast duck breasts on a bed of caramelized onions, a morel mushroom ragout and a crustless tart of tomato and rutabaga baked in a light mushroom cream sauce and drizzle of truffle oil, the wine shows much better with the food than by itself. With three hours of air, it really opens nicely, which resolved Errol's skepticism at my having decanted the reds an hour before we started in on them. 

1997 St. Innocent Willamette Pinot Noir O'Conner, $27.99, 13.6% alc.: There's some rust to this ruby dark garnet, and although the aromatics don't exactly jump out of the glass, it is definitely prettier than the '96 Freedom Hill, with spicy cinnamon, smoke, black cherry and a little sweet oak on the nose. However, it's not nearly as expressive in the flavors, again, having a rather earthy quality, with some tannins still to resolve, moderate acidity and a decent finish that Errol described as "almost soapy." As it opens, more fruit does come to the fore, but it's not exactly a fruit forward wine. This also shows better with the duck, but a few more years in the cellar probably wouldn't hurt. Not nearly as good as the '98 O'Conner, which should be no surprise, given the character of the respective vintages. 

Mystery Wine: Errol brought along this smoky ruby garnet to provide a contrast the St. Innocents, and even before he poured it, I had an inkling that it might be from Burgundy. There's a nice core of sweet black cherry in the nose, with smoky overtones, and Kim mentioned a hint of the barnyard. The flavors are much more earthy and reserved, however, causing Errol to comment that it's "not very ripe." It wasn't hard to guess that this is a red Burgundy, but I was wrong that it was only three or four years old. It still shows plenty of tannins, good acidity and a somewhat astringent finish, and it's at least five years from maturity. Ironically, it's rather similar to the St. Innocents in the earthy spectrum, and you could plunk this in between those two and maintain a certain sense of continuity. I ripped the brown paper bag off the bottle, and it was revealed to be a 1995 Comte Armand Auxey-Duresses Premier Cru (13% alc.). 

2001 David Bruce Sonoma Pinot Noir, $17.99, 14.5% alc.: Kim had a glass of this ruby garnet before the festivities, and as had been the case when we tasted this previously, she quite enjoyed it. However, she found it to be "too round and sugury and oaky" after the St. Innocents. Errol chimed in with impressions of "caramel, butterscotch and oak." Easily the most aromatic of the four Pinot Noirs, it also featured notes of bright black cherry, earth and a little matchstick from the barrel char. Flavors echoed, with an emphasis on the bright black cherry and oak, being not nearly as deep as the others. This is a wine that needs to be considered on its own terms, rather than in this company, where it is out of its league.

1997 Hillebrand Niagara-on-the-Lake Special Select Late Harvest Vidal, 12% alc.: Errol and Patty brought this along with a cheese plate for dessert, and it was quite enjoyable. A pale to medium gold, huge aromas of apricot and honey explode from the glass, toning down a little in the flavors, but still being pretty impressive, with its nice viscosity and long finish. Yet another fine Ontario sticky with its best years still ahead of it. 

Perhaps we could have selected better vintages to focus on with regard to the St. Innocent Pinot Noirs, but still, these were interesting to taste, and they work well with food. I remain intrigued by Mark Vlossak's wines, and intend to further investigate them. Many thanks to Errol and Patty Kovich for their congeniality and most excellent contributions to the festivities. 

Recently, we had the opportunity to taste through five wines from Montevina, a winery that I've had little or no experience with in the past. There were four zinfandels and a syrah; here's what we found:

2000 Montevina Amador Zinfandel Sierra Foothills, 15.5% alc.: Ruby dark garnet, with a dusty raspberry and blackberry bouquet accented with a hint of chocolate that promised nice things from the flavors; unfortunately, it's Residual Sugar City in the mouth, being far too sweet for this taster.

2000 Montevina Terra d'Oro Amador Syrah, 13.5% alc.: Dark garnet, with earthy, dusty plum and blackberry flavors and aromas prettied up with a nice kiss of oak; not too tannic, decent acidity and good varietal character. Opens nicely in the glass, and is much more drinkable than the previous wine. 

2000 Montevina Terra d'Oro Amador Zinfandel, 15.5% alc.: Dark garnet, with only a hint of dust to the blackberry and black raspberry character; again, there's a nice kiss of oak, along with some nice spice and pepper. One vulgar taster described it as being "like a really bad hooker, it just lies there," but I though it has a nice sense of balance and drinks well.

1999 Montevina Terra d'Oro Amador Zinfandel SHR Field Blend (Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Barbera), 15.5% alc.: Inky and stinky; an almost opaque smoky garnet, with tarry, vegetal aromas that aren't particularly pleasant. Not nearly as bad on the palate, with decent plum, raspberry and blackberry flavors, and again, a little dust. An acceptable wine, but that's all; hold your nose while you drink it. 

2000 Montevina Terra d'Oro Amador Zinfandel Deaver Vineyard Old Vines, $23.99, 15.8% alc.: I was particularly interested in tasting this, due to the historic nature of the vineyard, having produced the fruit for the 1968 Sutter Home Amador Zinfandel that was one of those that started the modern craze for the varietal. Dark garnet, with slightly dusty raspberry and blackberry flavors and aromas that are rich and jammy; there's good depth and intensity here, with tannins that don't get in the way of enjoying it right now, and it finishes nicely. It drinks as well, if not better on the second day. Nice stuff.

2002 Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Ridge Barossa Shiraz, $13.99: Deep dark garnet, with plenty of fruit, a good dose of oak and little, if any of the ethanol heat found in the regular late model Marquis Phillips Shiraz. Bubble gum, raspberry and black cherry aromatics carry over onto the palate, with some added spice, but the flavors aren't as sweet as the nose seems to indicate, as this is fairly dry. Fairly rich, creamy and bright, but not too bright, this has plenty of acidity and a decent finish, and while a year or two might smooth this out a little more, it doesn't really need it. We sucked down three of these in a little over a week, and then, there were no more to be had. Too bad, because we like this wine.

2001 Thorn-Clarke William Randell Barossa Shiraz, $29.99, 13.9% alc.: Dark garnet, with aromatic sweet toasty oak, blackberry, black raspberry, a hint of smoke and something like Vick's Vapo-Rub on the nose. Flavors echo, with some added cream and chocolate, and while this nice on entry, I thought it loses intensity from the mid-palate on back through the finish where it really falls off, but Kim disagreed with that assessment. It's not too tannic, with good acidity, but perhaps surprisingly, Kim likes this better than I do. I actually like the Shotfire Ridge more. 

Thorn-Clarke Wines Imported by Kysela Pére et Fils, Ltd., Winchester, VA

1995 Ridge Geyserville, 62% Zinfandel, 18% Petite Sirah, 15% Carignane, 5% Mataro, 14.2% alc.: Too bad we didn't have this dark garnet at the recent Cleve extravaganza, as it would have shown quite well. There's no bricking in the color as of yet; initially, the nose shows some barnyard and dust over Draper perfume, blackberry, black raspberry and a little sour milk. The dusty barnyard and sour milk mostly blows off, revealing rich, intense classic Geyserville fruit and perfume, with added notes of lavender and a little grilled meat and bubble gum. There's no funk to speak of in the flavors, just rich, dense, earthy fruit that echoes the bouquet with three to five years worth of tannins and a long finish. This one's still on the way up, folks.

2001 Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel, $14.99, 14.9% alc.: I stopped buying this a few years back, because whichever vintage I last tasted (the '98?) seemed to be a step down in quality from what we'd been used to with this bottling. I decided to give the '01 a try, based on a favorable review, and I'm glad I did. A pretty dark garnet, it shows attractive sweet creamy, toasty oak, spicy raspberry, cherry stick aromatics that follow through on the palate with some briary shadings. It's not a blockbuster, being medium full to full bodied, with soft tannins and an almost creamy mouthfeel. This is an excellent QPR Zinfandel that we've enjoyed on a number of occasions.

2000 Casanova di Neri Rosso di Montalcino, 14% alc.: Deep dark garnet, with black currant, dried black cherries and hints of licorice and cocoa powder on the nose. These follow through on the palate with silky tannins, good acidity and a fairly long finish. A little tight at first, this has an impressive density of fruit, and as it opens, the more I taste it, the more I like it. It should get even better with a few years in the cellar, but an hour in a decanter makes this wine awfully tempting already.  Special thanks to R.J. Tibus for this delicious libation.

Imported by William Grant and Sons Inc, Edison, NJ.

2000 Chateau Mouton Bordeaux Superieur, $16.99, 13% alc.: The dark garnet color of this young Bordeaux isn't quite opaque, and the nose is a mix of toast, smoke and dark berries, with a hint of mint. These follow through on the palate with some deeper, darker plum and black currant, along with silky tannins that are decidedly drying on the finish. Give this at least five to eight years to mellow down easy; it may not be one of the big guns, but it certainly is a nice claret, especially for the money.

Imported by Demorest Enterprises, Warren, MI

2002 Nobilo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, $7.49 - $11.99, 12.5% alc.: It's probably old news to some people, but this medium straw is one intense mouthful of sauvignon blanc. Lots of grassy grapefruit, pear and mineral character, without the cat spray and only the slightest hint of garlic perspiration, all carried along through the reasonably long finish by a good dose of acidity. Buy this by the case!

Imported by International Cellars, Gonzales, CA

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© George Heritier November 2003