I accidentally picked up a syrah instead of a PS a while ago. So here it is. From Lodi 2008, I think it should be pretty good. Extra jammy, strawberry, blueberry. Very tender and luscious. Tannins are relaxed but still around. Not as bold as a big BBQ zin.
I was uber-stoked to try this PS because it was from Lodi. Off the P&P: Nose is strong and a bit hot. Initial taste is super jammy and rich with black and blue berries, before cooling off into a grape jelly, and then more blueberry and strawberry. Tannins seemed weak on the first sip, and I felt I had to squeeze them out of there. Once I did, the astringency stuck around. Strong leather more than anything woody. Finish is a little stale. We'll see how it is after some exposure.
A BevMo sale bottle. Off the P&P: Initial nose was sweet and jammy with blackberry. Initial taste was rather tart though. Tannins around the edges, a little tight there but the rest is like a half deflated gumball. I can't decide if this is flabby or just needs some time.
After much hype, I have finally decided to try a Coppola wine: PS, naturally, and of course, on sale. P&P tasting: A bit spicy up front, peppery, but not a lot else. Maybe some earthy woodiness bordering on gritty. Maybe like a decomposing log. Classy. No legs to speak of. Tannins are lying pretty low until the end. A little oily. Currently: not impressed.
Pop and pour impressions. Immediate nose is crushed blueberries and blackberries and rich, earthy mud. Full-bodied in the mouth, initially a touch of tartness but the tannins unwind quickly into a luscious velvet rug. Pleasant astringency. For 2009, it is pretty decent already. Picking up on some strawberry; oak, as well, if you let it linger. Fairly round up front, almost a bit mushy but firms up well enough. Looking for a bit more intense flavor though. We'll see how it develops after some air.
Another sale item from BevMo. Pop and pour tasting: Immediate jammy nose with a bit of alcohol heat on the tail. Tannins are very mellow, round and relaxed. The puckering is a little on the weaker end but it's also not flabby. Note that this is 3 years older than the Vigilance PS I recently had. Very juicy blackberry with some toasted oak around the edges. I'm having this glass with a spicy red lentil soup with beef, so it's assertive enough as long as there's not too much pepper sauce added. I think it'd taste better with a grilled steak, but lots of things do.
Picked a few wines the other week from BevMo. It's a bit weird to think that I have not drank any wine this summer, despite being in the most well-known wine producing state. Then again, this is also craft brew country for me. So cheers.
Sourced from Red Hills, Lake County. Tasting notes on the bottle: 25.0 and 26.5 degrees Brix, French and American oak for 18 months; "Well balanced wine. Notes of Blueberry, Blackberry, and creamy vanilla." I am getting primarily blueberry but the tannins are super astringent on this one. Extremely tight off the pop and pour. I'll only have a glass or two tonight and see how it does with some breathing time tomorrow.
After a day of exposure, the tannins have unwound a lot, making it finally drinkable. The typical velvet is present. Berry flavors are all accounted for, though a bit flat. Grape jam, even more blueberry, with barely a blackberry tart. Nothing offensive but nothing to write home about. Of the $10-12 class PSes I've had, this is solidly in there. I should probably try harder on these reviews too.
Pretty heavy, super dense grape, lots of sediment. Body was extremely velvety and tannins have mellowed. A bit of tartness but this was a pop and pour. I'll have some tomorrow after breathing time.
Generally, I am not a fan of merlot. I opened this bottle tonight because I was making minestrone and am low on all of my preferred alcohol. I have no distinctive notes on this, but I liked it.
2008, Morris Fay vineyard. Can't find anything distinctive to say. Rich, jammy, tannin-y just enough. A solid cab.
A little funky straight out of the bottle. After about an hour, it loosens up, tannins turn into crushed velvet, ultra-jammy, full and inky body. Strawberry, blueberry nose; a bit of burn oak on the palate at finish.
A drinkable and drinkable-now PS with an approachable astringent-ness. Probably the best out of that pack of PSes I got a while back.
Been a long time since I last opened a bottle of wine. Not very tannic. A little sweeter than I would expect. So these days, I wonder if this is where PSes are supposed to be in their funk. It's a smooth drinker, but I didn't feel there was a lot to pick out, maybe some leather. It's not as in-your-face as I like. But I've been disappointed in my PSes lately, for some reason. Maybe because I'm really craving cab?
My contribution to the tasting. I picked it up, hoping to confirm my suspicions that this would make an excellent daily. Spot on. $9 a bottle, Rosemount is still as killer as I remember. I don't think there's many wines of this caliber at this price point. Solid body, good enough tannin and appropriate for the varietal.
Third bottle of a set from Ursa. This one is from Paso Robles (the other from the Sierra Foothills and a vineyard blend). Characteristic. Finally got some nice astringent tannins in this one, though a bit mild, after the last few disappointments. Really big berries. Mellows out and softens a bit too much with some aeration, but it does get jammy.
In terms of taste and body, my first impressions are that of a grape juice made from concentrate that didn't get enough water added to it. No tannin, no spice, no unique character. A bit overweight and flabby and flat. Too mild for me. I must say that this is the first PS where I've been downright disappointed.
AND THIS CAME FROM LODI APPELLATION. BUMMER.
50% zinfandel blend with dabs of PS, some sangiovese and something else I don't remember. Nice blend, the sangiovese tempers the zin a bit and the PS brings some nice tannins and body. The strange thing was that it felt like it hit the tongue a bit carbonated. Weird.
Finally got around to making note of this a year later. A super Tuscan blend, I think it makes a nice table wine, but with my experience of Italian wines, it's pretty thin.
Juicy. Nice tannin tart, but still pretty mellow. Not super inky, but characteristically rich. Pretty good for a reasonable price.
Finally got around to opening up this one. I picked it up several months ago but just never got around to it. Even though I'm a red guy, I suppose I just won't drink much of it in the summer. I picked this one because it wasn't the cheapest and was one of the cheaper ones I hadn't tried.
Not bad. Pretty characteristic. The tannins were a bit more velvety than astringent. Rich berry, jammy flavors. Sediment. Lots and lots of sediment. It turned my poop purple.
Another Woot Cellars offering. I say another as if I had previously posted about the last offering from Woot Cellars, Emergency Holiday Provisions. Which I didn't. But I do still have a bottle or two lying around somewhere so expect to see notes on that some time this season.
Boss Monster is a zinfandel-PS blend (89-11). I was a little put off by the nose at first since it came on so strong, but the first sip was remarkably smooth. Pretty bold but not obnoxiously in your face, not too spicy (though it goes well with spice as I was eating a bowl of chili at the time), and lightly jammy. Just a little bit of tannin peeking through at the end. With some mouth aeration, all I get is grape. A lot of grape. A little bit of rose and honey. Would probably taste great with a thick, rare steak or in some beef stew.
I expected to write funnier notes. I should write funnier notes.
ADDENDUM: After several days, the PS really starts to pop out.
