2004 Big White House Sangiovese

This wine was one that SGK bought futures of and we opened it shortly after getting it home.

The presentation is OK. It comes in a Rhône bottle - but nowadays it's rare to find a good sangiovese in the traditional, basket wrapped fiasco.

the foil capsule enclosed a real cork that came out of the bottle encrusted with bitartrate crystals - an awesome sign!!!

The wine itself was pale and cloudy - this coupled with the aforementioned bitartrate crystals leads me to believe that John forewent a cold stabilization period.

After a no-leg swirl, it tasted full and dry on the teeth. You know the feeling I'm describing - like your teeth are made of chalk and the wine is soaking into it. This is followed with the stomach grip of a classic chianti.

It's good. I liked it.

I had it accompanying a pasta fazool.

The following day, I had it at lunch with some black forest ham (posing as prosciutto), almonds, and chocolate. It went well. Slightly acidic, but most Italian wines are. because of this, I would say it works best with food.

The Verdict:

Good

Style:	Chianti
Varietals:	Sangiovese
Appellation/Terrior:	Ripkin Vineyard, Lodi, California
Vintage:	2004
Vintner:	Big White House
Alcohol:	13.5% by Volume

2005 Big White House Mourvèdre

I fell in love with the not so common Rhône varietal Mourvèdre a while back under the Californian name of "Mataro". While I liked that one, it is the one made by young John Evans that really gets me going. I first bought this wine (2 bottles) on my first visit to Big White House in May of 2007, then again (3 bottles) when we stopped by for a picnic three months later, and last week decided that I couldn't live without more so bought out John's last inventory (13 bottles) that's not slated for his library.

The presentation is OK. It comes in a Rhône bottle, with a foil capsule and a real cork.

The label was faded - which to me would normally indicate that the wine had been stored in the sun (a distinct no-no), but in this case I watched John label them in front of me after pulling them from the back of his warehouse, so it was the label that sat in the sun, not the bottle in this case. The rear label includes what appears to be a description of the 2004 Mourvèdre; not sure if this is a typo or a mislabeling - and the cave dog's email box if full, so until I return to the winery, we won't know.

It had a pale colour, and was stereotypically sour on the nose. Sour in a good way.

The swirl gave legs galore, with a distinctive Mataro smell. Sour dirty leather, or perhaps leathery dirt. The sour evoked citrus to my wife. She says lemony, I say awesome. It makes me crave salami.

Sour plums. Saw dust. Leather, leather, leather. Awesome Mourvèdre.

I made the mistake of pouring some in my pasta sauce. I should have drank it instead. As a matter of fact, I stole my wife's glass and finished it before she could stop me.

The Verdict:

One of my all time favorite wines

Style:	Rhône
Varietals:	Mourvèdre
Appellation/Terrior:	Davis Vineyard, Lodi, California
Vintage:	2005
Vintner:	Big White House
Alcohol:	14.8% by Volume
Price:	$22.00

2004 John Evan "The Petran" Petite Sirah

Last summer SGK and I spent quite a bit of time exploring the Livermore AVA for good wineries. One of the ones we discovered Big White House. We were impressed with the enthusiasm of the wine maker, John Evans The Younger. Big White House has two labels - Big White House and John Evans. There is a third label that shares the tasting room; El Sol. We have been back to this tasting room many times, but during our first visit there, we did a barrel tasting of some of the futures, and this bottle came from that lot.

The presentation is outstanding. It comes in a heavy Rhône bottle, with a hand-dipped wax capsule and the front label is an original piece of artwork by the wine maker's sister of the entrance to Petra. The real cork was even specific to this wine as it was imprinted "The Petran"

Now, both the fact that this is a brand new release, and the packaging includes a real heavy bottle sealed in Wax indicates to me that John intends for this wine to be put down for a while. We fully intend on putting down the other 11 bottles, we just couldn't wait to try this one.

The cork left no tattoo, but as I know this wine was bottled only a month or so ago, I did not expect one.

The initial colour was like dried blood - I would normally expect that in an older, bottle aged wine just past it's peak. There were lots of fermentation smells on the nose.
Give it a swirl and you do get deeper purply colour that one associates with a Petite Sirah. The swirl also brought some fruit to the nose, but not what I've come to expect from a big Petite Sirah. This guy's got some tannins and tastes real big.
It's got a "pebble in the pond" pattern to the legs that's really cool to look at.
I ran some through The Vinturi, which brings out the red, softens the nose and best of all , infuses the flavour with nice earthy tones.

We served this Chicken Pasta Diavola. The big taste balanced the spice in the Calabrese dish wonderfully. This is not your normal Petite.

The Verdict:

It was good now, but I'll respect John and cellar the rest for a while.

Style:	Rhône
Varietals:	Petite Sirah
Appellation/Terrior:	Clarksburg, California
Vintage:	2004
Vintner:	Big White House
Alcohol:	14.5% by Volume