May 11, 2020 - Tasted blind. I got some VA and nail polish notes at first, but that blew off with time in the glass. Tart nose of cherries and red berries. I really liked the balance on the palate with medium acidity and quite grippy tannins. Nice finish. This has aged quite well and I would not have guessed it's 13 years old. Doesn't really speak Beaujolais to me, but certainly one of the better American Gamays.
July 12, 2012 - This is still incredibly delicious and fresh five years post vintage. The primary fruit is still in evidence, though it has receeded somewhat, giving an even larger stage to the chalky and stony underpinnings of the wine. I'm not sure where it comes from, but there's a slight finishing spice that is very intruiging and tasty. Wonderful Gamay from Steve Edmunds.
October 8, 2010 - Very bright fruit and pleasant but not over complicated. A little overwhelmed by dinner.
May 8, 2010 - Mucho ESJ (Croton on Hudson, NY): Bright red fruits and savoury chalky accents on a light, elegant frame - with time this gains some weight and power as the fruit also deepens, and not too much later it's almost an essence of black cherries. Lovely.
April 10, 2010 - Still lots of fresh fruit and the acidity and chalky earth notes are now more integrated into a whole than right after release. Very drinkable, perhaps too drinkable!
December 8, 2009 - This wine has uncoiled since its release last year, with snappy strawberry and cherry fruit and lots of minerality, a kind of tangy ferrous salinity. I can't think of a wine that more transparently shows its origin in decomposed granite soil. This wine reminds me of Chermette's Domaine Vissoux wines, with similar crackling fruit and minerality. ESJ makes two Gamay Noirs from the Sierra Foothills. The Bone Jolly is the easier drinking wine, emphasizing the juicy fruit. But the more interesting wine for me, the Porphyry, is all about the minerality.
March 29, 2009 - Bright as the spring day we had yesterday; packed with berry fruit and refreshing acidity. This is balanced & slurpable, but also carrying enough depth of flavor to be more than just a quaffer. There's a sense of tannin, so perhaps a year in the cellar is in order.
Another winner from ESJ.