2005 Rusak Soul Of The Vine

The failure of the Kunde to delight my palate was the perfect excuse to finish off this desert wine that had been languishing half full in my fridge for months.

We bought this wine on our last trip to Solvang. SaraGraces mother is a fan of Australian Botrytis infected Semillon, so when one of our Santa Barbara favorite wineries, Rusak, had one from California available, we thought we'd give it a go.

Now I don't know for how long this has been sitting open in our fridge as I'm sure it was originally opened by SGK when her mother was here. Certainly this means after the new year, as I know we didn't have it when Kristin was over New Years Eve.

Raisins. This is a good example of the noble rot. Raisins. Yum. Did I mention that it was like drinking liquid raisins?

I am extremely impressed with how well this wine has held up, being over-chilled for too long, never mind opened and sitting on the fridge door where it got nocked around for god knows how many days.

The Presentation was OK. It came in a clear, split bottle with a pen and ink on the label. The winery is hidden amongst the descriptive text on the rear label.

It had a foil capsule and a real cork.

The Verdict:

Good example of the style. Great holding power.

Style:	Dessert
Varietals:	Semillon
Appellation/Terrior:	Ballard Canyon, Santa Ynez Valley, California
Vintage:	2005
Vintner:	Rusak
Alcohol:	14.8% by Volume

2004 Bridlewood Syrah Port

We bought this wine on our annual pilgrimage to the Santa Barbara wine country. We went into the beautiful winery with high expectations, but this single bottle was our only purchase.

Since Kristin was over, it was a double dessert wine night; we Drank this wine to follow the Van Halen Concert (after the Mole dinner of the previous post.)

The presentation is poor. It comes in a Rhône style split bottle. The label gives only the legal minimum and the meaningless words "Winner's Circle Selection". Given that the winery has an equestrian theme, the "Winner's Circle" is the name of their wine club. (Note that the grammatically incorrect use of apostrophes is that of the winery and not this author's). The Tasting notes are OK, but both the notes and the label itself show that the wine marketer did not pay attention in class. This is an estate wine - yet the label does not show that. It is also incorrectly labeled a "Port" - which it cannot be because it is made from an inappropriate grape for a "Port". In reality it is Fortified Dessert wine made from Syrah grapes.

It had a real cork with no penetration, and it left only a wet tattoo.

It did have a thick red port colour with the aroma of Blackberries and chocolate. The legs were slow to form.

It was a thick, full wine that left a burning alcohol taste on the pallate.

The Verdict:

Pass

Style:	Dessert
Varietals:	Syrah
Appellation/Terrior:	Santa Ynez Valley, California
Vintage:	2004
Vintner:	Bridlewood
Alcohol:	18.1% by Volume
Price:	Don't remember

2002 Lincort La Cuesta Cab

Last Labor day we loaded the kids in the Yukon and drove them down to Legoland for their birthdays. An ulterior motive was that we would be passing through some superior wine regions. So, whilst the kiddies napped; Mom and Dad would taste.

One of the winery's in Solvang that we tried was Lincourt. They only had one red on for tasting that day, but since the overall experience at their tasting room was excellent, I bought a single bottle. That would be their vineyard designated Santa Ynez Cab.

If you have been reading me for any length of time you will have figured out that I simply tolerate Bordeaux grapes - They are neither my favorite nor my least favorite. Now, because of this I tend to buy them and not drink them, causing my cellar to accumulate about 100 bottles of Bordeaux based wine (Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, Merlot, Petite Verdot, etc). I'd like to make room for more Zins, Petite's and Cal-Itals so I need to make an effort to drink some of the Bordeaux's. A couple of years ago this would not have bin a big deal as I had a passive cellar of almost 1000 square ft, but now I have a much smaller Viking wine cellar and space is at a premium.

The cork left me with a spotty tattoo, and there were some legs. The wine was a good, rich burgundy colour. I got strawberries on the nose and no pucker on the tongue, but could taste the tannins of a cab. This is a good example of a classic cab. It had a slightly sour finish at first, but later opened up to finish with fine white pepper and course ground black pepper.
SG said it was heavy and spicy with booze on the nose. I didn't get that. I did get strawberries on the palate though.

We later took paper cups of the Lincourt for a walk around the block, and damned if it didn't look good against the white cup. The colour was superb.

The presentation was good. It came in a proper Bordeaux bottle, stoppered with a real cork. The front label has the windmill that sits prominently in the center of their vineyard on it and looks nice. The rear label gives some info, and the tasting notes give you a bit about the vineyard.

The Verdict:

I am still not a Bordeaux bigot, but I liked it. I didn't like it fourty bucks worth though; $20 would be fairer.

Style:	Bordeaux
Varietals:	Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Appellation/Terrior:	Santa Ynez, California
Vintage:	2002
Vintner:	Lincourt
Alcohol:	13.9% by Volume
Price:	$42.02