June 12, 2023 - Golden Honeysuckle !!
Roussanne is one of my favorite white varietals, it generally ages well. 2010 was a very challenging growing year in CA and this wine has barely survived. Near perfect cork after over a decade in the bottle, easily removed. Consumed over four days; Vac u vin and refrigerated. Gorgeous golden color with modest oxidation (no browning) and good clarity. Perfumed floral aromas of honeysuckle, peach, and pear; thick flavors of apricot, pear, and lichee fruit with a medium rich marine mineral finish. This bottle was past peak, but still a treat. Good fruit the Stolpman Vineyard and good winemaking in a challenging year. I still have one bottle of this vintage remaining in my cellar and will open soon to validate this tasting note.
August 25, 2021 - I have zero idea why CA Rhone wines always disappear in the back of the cellar, but it is totally a thing and thus I stumbled on this bottle.
In the glass, this looks like an eight year-old Sauternes; deep gold with slight orange hues. The nose is pretty pronounced, with gobs of dried stone and tropical fruit, slightly floral, a touch of light caramel, but with an odd, slightly stinky, sort of cooked onion-ish thing at times.
On the palate, I fully expected this to be DOA, but I was happily surprised to find this full of life and really interesting. It is pretty well aligned with the nose, giving you a mouthful of dried apricots, dried peach, dried pineapple, dried orange peel, with strong and building mineral notes on the finish. This drinks fruit forward to the point that it almost gives the impression of sweetness, so it feels a bit like a sort of theoretical dry dessert wine. Full bodied and very viscous, with med- to low acid, so not something you want by the pool, but it doesn't drink sloppy... maybe it's the minerality that keeps it grounded.
I really don't have a personal reference point for a wine like this, so any sort of score seems more pointless (no pun intended) than usual, but this is unique, quite complex and unexpectedly good... albeit a bit weird. I was very surprised this was as vibrant as it is, so drink or hold at your own peril or curiosity. Big concentration of flavor, but the lack of acid gives me pause.
January 30, 2021 - drinking well.
October 31, 2019 - a wonderful wine with rich apricot and melon fruit, a bit of spice, some cheddar cheese notes and a wonderfully long finish. This is nothing like the wine that I drank several years ago, but transformative in its expression.
October 28, 2017 - Viscous persimmon and pineapple coat the mouth and the glass, almost oily in the finish, that lingers and lingers. More years ahead for sure, but it was my last one. A new world Wine that connects us with our ancestors for a fraction of the price.
August 19, 2017 - Golden yellow color, smooth buttery notes
August 26, 2016 - still showing well. what an exceptional domestic Rousanne.
June 16, 2016 - Great with roasted oysters in Haines, AK. Thanks for the trade Joe!
May 1, 2016 - Baked Alaska. Even more golden, luscious, vanilla/butterscotch than my 2013 note with the oak spice blended into lemon custard. Plush and oily at the moment, oxidation will wreck this eventually. A fun niche wine. In conclusion: I'll stay right here!
April 30, 2016 - Drinking very nicely now