My final bottle of this wine from the ESJ library sale, and it’s a fitting end. Filling in for a 1997 ESJ Rocks & Gravel that was DOA (my bad, I had one in 2017 that was hanging on for dear life), this started out slow but continued to grow from the first glass before dinner, to the last glass after dinner. Ultimately it showed a leathery core, essence of red fruit, and a touch of spice on the finish. Anyone who has a bottle should seriously consider drinking it sooner rather than later, while there still a full complement of flavors. I suspect the fruit is going to exit the stage soon.
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Had the leftovers on night 2. I suspect this was probably fresher and more vibrant on night 1. Here, was a little volatile on the nose, baking spices and dried tertiary fruit. Palate holds together but little additional depth on the finish. Seemed to be on the ripe side, and likely on the downward slope. Still, have to say it has held together nicely.
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I served this wine as a blind. Initially, tablemates leaned toward S.Rhone grenache, 99-02 but one astute taster noted the sun-kissed fruit and correctly suggested Paso.
On day one you had more spice, red cherry, mulled fruit, and now, 24h later with 1/3 bottle in the fridge, tannins soften further to reveal a fully mature wine. Not knowing the bottle, I would guess an old Charvin or something like that. It does have some roasted fruit, but very classic tertiary developed notes of polished leather and golden chewing tobacco.
How a simple paso GSM at $20/bottle behaves like this 19 years later is really remarkable.
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Ten years ago this wine was magical. Tonight the wine remains magical. It’s mature, with the developed aspects overtaking the fruit, but the fruit is still present, just in a supporting role. Smoke, meat, leather and iron take the lead now, as the wine inhabits the realm of the savory. It’s barely medium bodied, and so very easy to drink. It will cure whatever ails you.
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I purchased this as part of a library release from the winery, and it was in perfect condition. Just a few minutes to warm up from cellar temp was all it needed to show red fruit, leather, cedar, herb and earth in a swirling, captivating package.
Just amazing wine that is drinking very well, but still has ages to go. I would not even call it fully mature, but I have no issues drinking it now because it is so lip-smacking good!
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This wine has aged gracefully and is a super impressive Rhone blend made in a classic old world style. The full nose is generous with complex notes of dried aged black fruit, savory herbs, licorice, earth and leather. Medium weight palate with earthy fruit, fine tanning and fresh acids. The balance here is impeccable. A dead ringer for CdP. Really stunning stuff and a testament to genius winemaking.
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Lovely, truly old school chateauneuf bouquet. Lavender, Christmas spices, red cherries. The palate is nice, sweet and smooth with something a little feral and savory, like bilberry-cured wild boar jerky. The backend is a little simple and the structure is modest, lacking some grip. Very good. Drink now. 90-91.
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Fragrant and powerful nose of black fruit, earth, funk, spice and leather notes. Immediately you know this is old school or old world. Medium bodied palate sports a powerful black fruit note with more mature, earth and funk tones. Elegant with a robust acidic edge. Long lifted palate. Fine balance. Really enjoyable and finely made.
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I loved this wine. Alas, I should have drunk my remaining bottles last year. In retrospect, that was the peak. At this point, my recommendation is: DRINK UP!
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Outstanding Cali wine with an old world bent. Nose has herbs, earth, black fruit and leather notes. Palate is medium bodied and picks up intensity over the evening. Savory with juicy acidity. What balance and elegance. Not your typical Cali Syrah (which I'm a big fan of) - but this is terrific with a glance towards the Northern Rhone.
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Decanted for an hour or so. Very little sediment. Fresh, bright medium-light ruby with a thin clear rim. Savory herbs, sweet spice and autumn smoke greet the nose. Bright, seamless, juicy fruit flavors are supported by fresh acidity. The texture is soft, light and perhaps a bit fragile. An overall very pretty wine that is solid for current drinking but might start drying out. Drink now through 2013.
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Deep and dark. Notes of garrigue, pepper, dark fruit. Nice touch of acid runs across the back end. Drinking perfectly now. Yeah. Just a joy to drink. Held up nicely over two hours. Hello. It's a $15 wine. How does Steve do it? Genius
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Mucho ESJ (Croton on Hudson, NY): Very much 'wow' stuff; a seamless combination of red fruits, herbs, worn leather and savoury meaty notes in a package that's polished and beautifully balanced, displaying a lightness of touch and elegance that's hard to find almost anywhere with this sort of blend.
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Nose of earth and black fruit, on the palate there's a line of acidity keeping it fresh, and the fruit comes in as a mixture of black and red. I spend some time looking to see if one of the varieties (blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah,and Counoise), but it's more a seamless blend of warm fruit. With air I tell myself I can spot the Mourvedre influence in the earthy/leathery notes, but of course I know it's in the blend. This isn't a jam session with each player taking turns,but a chamber group working at a unified sound. Really a lovely wine, like a top flight Gigondas or Vacqueyras with a California tan. A-
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Another joyous bottle of LRV. Complex/Balanced and the aromatics are just outstanding. Still going strong after 9 years and I'll not be in any hurry to drink my few remaining bottles. Tracking the evolution of this wine over the last 4 or 5 years has been fascinating journey.
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Deep and dark. Notes of garrigue, pepper, dark fruit. Nice touch of acid runs across the back end. Drinking perfectly now. Yeah. Just a joy to drink. Held up nicely over two hours. Hello. It's a $15 wine. How does Steve do it? Genius.
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Still drinking nicely although this bottle seemed just a tiny bit more advanced than those consumed earlier this year. Remains one of my all time QPR favorites.
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Wonderful!! Still bright and youthful fruit along with asian spices and herbs. Plenty of structure and the long pepper/spice finish is damn nice. Another reason why ESJ is well represented in my cellar.
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Bright, deep garnet. The nose was all dark fruit at first, but it was too warm and it needed air. I chilled it down a bit and let it breathe, and now it's lovely. ESJ wines have such a wonderful sense of place. Very earthy, slightly funky bouquet .. loaded with garrigue, pepper, and berries. Silky smooth on the palate and very well balanced with medium body and moderate acidity. The tannins are resolving but show room for further evolution. The peppery finish is long and delicious. This was our last bottle, but if I had more, I'd love to revisit this in a couple of years.
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I enjoyed this bottle much more than the one of three months ago. A real nice layer of Provençal herbs--good call BillB656. Well balanced and inviting.
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Popped about 3 hrs before drinking. The nose is so inviting with a blend of Provençal herbs and dark fruit that we both sniffed this wine for 5-10mins before drinking. The entry is silky with layer after layer of dark fruit, ash, minerality, earth with a surprisingly significant but refined tannic structure. The finish is deep and evolving with spice, black pepper, menthol, and mint. This wine has years of life left in it but is really really good right now.
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This is drinking so incredibly well right now. Seamless dark black and red fruit, some added complexity from warm, earthy notes, and great balancing acidity. The rest of mine won't make it through the Summer. Fantastic wine with pizza, pasta and red meat.
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Yummy. This is still showing quite young but it’s very very tasty. Beautifully elegant, smoky lavender aromatics then a soft parade of flavors unfold. Spicy dark fruit, a hint of earth and funk, then blackberry ending with peppery spice and well ripened tannic structure. Good now but definitely worth aging a few more years
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Bright medium red tinged by violet. A real California-meets-Chateauneuf (don't roll your eyes, it's true) experience on the nose, with a multitude of notes, all pleasurable: cherry/berry fruit, herbs, charcoal, and faint minerality and earthiness. In fact, this has all the bases covered aromatically, although the nose is by no means a huge one. Oh-so-elegant in the mouth, with a lovely Burgundian feel and enveloping, building yet almost caressing tannins. Here is a wine that is simply full of effortless enjoyment. This makes an ESJ believer out of me.
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medium bodied with good cherry and currant fruit; some earth herb and tingly acidity with a bit of tannin makes this a real wine; good drinking with pasta al carbonara and with saluumi;
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So my latest shipment from the south recently arrived and I cracked one of the ESJs I picked up on sale. Fantastic with a simple Skagit Valley steak on the grill.
Color like the red maple outside my window. Deep crimson with transparency on the edges. Nose with a little funk and something bright and racy in the background. Going down, very well balanced (even at 14+ abv). Steve writes on the label about it being "nervy" and that's a perfect description. Little peppery to start before it gives way to more dark cherry and earthy tastes. aybe a little leather and slightest moca on the finish. Deeelicious.
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Dark garnet. Beautiful and captivating nose. Initially the menthol smoky syrah pokes out, and with airing some mourvedre funk, earth, herbs and faint barnyard. The mouth flavors seem to highlight more kirsch and grenache fruit, though. Warm, rich but the earth tones dominate over fruitiness. Handles the 14.3% abv with ease. Spicy black pepper laced cherry on the finish, good ripe tannic structure. This was open a couple of hours before I tried a glass. Very good with definite potential to develop with age.
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Big vanilla maple nose reminiscent of creme brulee. Earth mouth - leather tobacco forest floor with dark berries tossed in for balance between earth and fruit. Fantastic representation of Rhone style, a decidely non-Californian California wine. Would have scored higher if it gave a little more on the finish.
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Dark ruby color. Aromatically mute for all of about 15 minutes, then black cherry, wet earth, aromatic herbs (especially rosemary) and new leather start pouring out of the glass. Even better is that the flavors follow through on the promises of the aromatics. I was sipping without thinking for a minute and was nearly transported to Gigondas, there was such a resemblance to the wine of one of my favorite regions. In fact this really reminded me of a young, ripe vintage Domaine du Cayron. It is more directly fruity, but that's no too surprising (or unwelcome). On the finish I was picking up a bit of a mocha note, which really added to the overall complexity and took the wine to another level. I will let my other bottle sleep for a year or four just to see what time does. Outstanding!
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WOW, what a delight to drink. This was simply the best GSM blend (with 8% Counoise) I have ever had from CA and in a blind tasting of Southern Rhone wines this would surprise a lot of people. The color was a very clear ruby red. The nose was gorgeous with red fruits, violets/rose, herbs, anise, and very light black pepper. Several hours after opening the bottle, without decanting, the nose began to show some subtle sweaty leather scents. The mid-palate showed wonderful balance and no sign of any oak. The finish was long with red fruits, mostly cherry that was slightly sweet but not cloying, a kiss of raspberry, herbs, and a nice spiciness. At this early stage the wine is light on it's feet and more like a CdR. However, this wine has the stuffing to age and will be interesting to follow it's progression over the next 3-4 years to see if it puts on some weight and becomes more characteristic of a CdP. Wonderful effort Steve and a highly recommended wine. Bravo!!!!
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12/20/2021 - Rieslingfan wrote:
My final bottle of this wine from the ESJ library sale, and it’s a fitting end. Filling in for a 1997 ESJ Rocks & Gravel that was DOA (my bad, I had one in 2017 that was hanging on for dear life), this started out slow but continued to grow from the first glass before dinner, to the last glass after dinner. Ultimately it showed a leathery core, essence of red fruit, and a touch of spice on the finish. Anyone who has a bottle should seriously consider drinking it sooner rather than later, while there still a full complement of flavors. I suspect the fruit is going to exit the stage soon.
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12/19/2020 - Nutty08 wrote:
Had the leftovers on night 2. I suspect this was probably fresher and more vibrant on night 1. Here, was a little volatile on the nose, baking spices and dried tertiary fruit. Palate holds together but little additional depth on the finish. Seemed to be on the ripe side, and likely on the downward slope. Still, have to say it has held together nicely.
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12/19/2020 - jviz wrote: 91 Points
I served this wine as a blind. Initially, tablemates leaned toward S.Rhone grenache, 99-02 but one astute taster noted the sun-kissed fruit and correctly suggested Paso.
On day one you had more spice, red cherry, mulled fruit, and now, 24h later with 1/3 bottle in the fridge, tannins soften further to reveal a fully mature wine. Not knowing the bottle, I would guess an old Charvin or something like that. It does have some roasted fruit, but very classic tertiary developed notes of polished leather and golden chewing tobacco.
How a simple paso GSM at $20/bottle behaves like this 19 years later is really remarkable.
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10/19/2020 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Ten years ago this wine was magical. Tonight the wine remains magical. It’s mature, with the developed aspects overtaking the fruit, but the fruit is still present, just in a supporting role. Smoke, meat, leather and iron take the lead now, as the wine inhabits the realm of the savory. It’s barely medium bodied, and so very easy to drink. It will cure whatever ails you.
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5/25/2017 - Rieslingfan wrote:
I purchased this as part of a library release from the winery, and it was in perfect condition. Just a few minutes to warm up from cellar temp was all it needed to show red fruit, leather, cedar, herb and earth in a swirling, captivating package.
Just amazing wine that is drinking very well, but still has ages to go. I would not even call it fully mature, but I have no issues drinking it now because it is so lip-smacking good!
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5/29/2016 - Nanda wrote: 93 Points
This wine has aged gracefully and is a super impressive Rhone blend made in a classic old world style. The full nose is generous with complex notes of dried aged black fruit, savory herbs, licorice, earth and leather. Medium weight palate with earthy fruit, fine tanning and fresh acids. The balance here is impeccable. A dead ringer for CdP. Really stunning stuff and a testament to genius winemaking.
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10/22/2015 - blanquito wrote: 90 Points
Lovely, truly old school chateauneuf bouquet. Lavender, Christmas spices, red cherries. The palate is nice, sweet and smooth with something a little feral and savory, like bilberry-cured wild boar jerky. The backend is a little simple and the structure is modest, lacking some grip. Very good. Drink now. 90-91.
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9/7/2013 - Nanda wrote: 93 Points
Fragrant and powerful nose of black fruit, earth, funk, spice and leather notes. Immediately you know this is old school or old world. Medium bodied palate sports a powerful black fruit note with more mature, earth and funk tones. Elegant with a robust acidic edge. Long lifted palate. Fine balance. Really enjoyable and finely made.
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1/10/2013 - MThorpe Likes this wine: 90 Points
I loved this wine. Alas, I should have drunk my remaining bottles last year. In retrospect, that was the peak. At this point, my recommendation is: DRINK UP!
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3/31/2012 - Nanda wrote: 93 Points
Outstanding Cali wine with an old world bent. Nose has herbs, earth, black fruit and leather notes. Palate is medium bodied and picks up intensity over the evening. Savory with juicy acidity. What balance and elegance. Not your typical Cali Syrah (which I'm a big fan of) - but this is terrific with a glance towards the Northern Rhone.
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4/17/2011 - Winger wrote:
Still drinking very well.....even on Day 3.
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12/15/2010 - decaturwinedude wrote: flawed
Bummer. Last bottle and it was corked. Noooooooooo.
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11/25/2010 - jfagan wrote: 90 Points
Decanted for an hour or so. Very little sediment. Fresh, bright medium-light ruby with a thin clear rim. Savory herbs, sweet spice and autumn smoke greet the nose. Bright, seamless, juicy fruit flavors are supported by fresh acidity. The texture is soft, light and perhaps a bit fragile. An overall very pretty wine that is solid for current drinking but might start drying out. Drink now through 2013.
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8/14/2010 - decaturwinedude wrote: 92 Points
Deep and dark. Notes of garrigue, pepper, dark fruit. Nice touch of acid runs across the back end. Drinking perfectly now. Yeah. Just a joy to drink. Held up nicely over two hours. Hello. It's a $15 wine. How does Steve do it? Genius
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5/8/2010 - kvdb wrote:
My last bottle. Starting to fade quickly.
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5/8/2010 - salil wrote: 93 Points
Mucho ESJ (Croton on Hudson, NY): Very much 'wow' stuff; a seamless combination of red fruits, herbs, worn leather and savoury meaty notes in a package that's polished and beautifully balanced, displaying a lightness of touch and elegance that's hard to find almost anywhere with this sort of blend.
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3/17/2010 - DaleW wrote:
Nose of earth and black fruit, on the palate there's a line
of acidity keeping it fresh, and the fruit comes in as a mixture of
black and red. I spend some time looking to see if one of the
varieties (blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah,and Counoise), but it's
more a seamless blend of warm fruit. With air I tell myself I can spot
the Mourvedre influence in the earthy/leathery notes, but of course I
know it's in the blend. This isn't a jam session with each player
taking turns,but a chamber group working at a unified sound. Really a
lovely wine, like a top flight Gigondas or Vacqueyras with a
California tan. A-
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1/23/2010 - Winger wrote:
Another joyous bottle of LRV. Complex/Balanced and the aromatics are just outstanding. Still going strong after 9 years and I'll not be in any hurry to drink my few remaining bottles. Tracking the evolution of this wine over the last 4 or 5 years has been fascinating journey.
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11/25/2009 - decaturwinedude wrote: 91 Points
Deep and dark. Notes of garrigue, pepper, dark fruit. Nice touch of acid runs across the back end. Drinking perfectly now. Yeah. Just a joy to drink. Held up nicely over two hours. Hello. It's a $15 wine. How does Steve do it? Genius.
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10/25/2009 - Winger wrote:
Still drinking nicely although this bottle seemed just a tiny bit more advanced than those consumed earlier this year. Remains one of my all time QPR favorites.
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7/23/2009 - Winger wrote:
Wonderful!! Still bright and youthful fruit along with asian spices and herbs. Plenty of structure and the long pepper/spice finish is damn nice. Another reason why ESJ is well represented in my cellar.
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5/21/2009 - Brix wrote: 90 Points
Bright, deep garnet. The nose was all dark fruit at first, but it was too warm and it needed air. I chilled it down a bit and let it breathe, and now it's lovely. ESJ wines have such a wonderful sense of place. Very earthy, slightly funky bouquet .. loaded with garrigue, pepper, and berries. Silky smooth on the palate and very well balanced with medium body and moderate acidity. The tannins are resolving but show room for further evolution. The peppery finish is long and delicious. This was our last bottle, but if I had more, I'd love to revisit this in a couple of years.
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3/22/2009 - plitton wrote: 90 Points
I enjoyed this bottle much more than the one of three months ago. A real nice layer of Provençal herbs--good call BillB656. Well balanced and inviting.
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2/23/2009 - Winger wrote:
Drinking very well. Wonderful complex aromas. Fruit, tannins and acids in balance. Good stuff.
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1/4/2009 - plitton wrote: 88 Points
Really fruit forward but the finish has some nice tannins and structure. Serve 60F
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10/3/2008 - marc d wrote:
Warm Cali Rhone fruit, but with juicy acidity. The bottle was emptied too fast to get a second glass, but the first glass was good.
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8/16/2008 - BillB656 wrote:
Popped about 3 hrs before drinking. The nose is so inviting with a blend of Provençal herbs and dark fruit that we both sniffed this wine for 5-10mins before drinking. The entry is silky with layer after layer of dark fruit, ash, minerality, earth with a surprisingly significant but refined tannic structure. The finish is deep and evolving with spice, black pepper, menthol, and mint. This wine has years of life left in it but is really really good right now.
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2/24/2008 - realale wrote:
This is drinking so incredibly well right now. Seamless dark black and red fruit, some added complexity from warm, earthy notes, and great balancing acidity. The rest of mine won't make it through the Summer. Fantastic wine with pizza, pasta and red meat.
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1/23/2008 - BillB656 wrote:
Yummy. This is still showing quite young but it’s very very tasty. Beautifully elegant, smoky lavender aromatics then a soft parade of flavors unfold. Spicy dark fruit, a hint of earth and funk, then blackberry ending with peppery spice and well ripened tannic structure. Good now but definitely worth aging a few more years
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11/23/2007 - bbrungardt wrote: 91 Points
This wine is getting better...i have only 1 bottle left.
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11/18/2007 - tcfishler wrote: 91 Points
Bright medium red tinged by violet. A real California-meets-Chateauneuf (don't roll your eyes, it's true) experience on the nose, with a multitude of notes, all pleasurable: cherry/berry fruit, herbs, charcoal, and faint minerality and earthiness. In fact, this has all the bases covered aromatically, although the nose is by no means a huge one. Oh-so-elegant in the mouth, with a lovely Burgundian feel and enveloping, building yet almost caressing tannins. Here is a wine that is simply full of effortless enjoyment. This makes an ESJ believer out of me.
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8/3/2007 - wabi47 wrote: 89 Points
medium bodied with good cherry and currant fruit; some earth herb and tingly acidity with a bit of tannin makes this a real wine; good drinking with pasta al carbonara and with saluumi;
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7/1/2007 - bbrungardt wrote: 90 Points
Wonderful! Good nose...with a mouth of hint of tobacco and leather, with a medium finish.
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6/15/2007 - brucegrayseattle@gmail.com wrote:
So my latest shipment from the south recently arrived and I cracked one of the ESJs I picked up on sale. Fantastic with a simple Skagit Valley steak on the grill.
Color like the red maple outside my window. Deep crimson with transparency on the edges. Nose with a little funk and something bright and racy in the background. Going down, very well balanced (even at 14+ abv). Steve writes on the label about it being "nervy" and that's a perfect description. Little peppery to start before it gives way to more dark cherry and earthy tastes. aybe a little leather and slightest moca on the finish. Deeelicious.
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5/21/2007 - marc d wrote:
Dark garnet. Beautiful and captivating nose. Initially the menthol smoky syrah pokes out, and with airing some mourvedre funk, earth, herbs and faint barnyard. The mouth flavors seem to highlight more kirsch and grenache fruit, though. Warm, rich but the earth tones dominate over fruitiness. Handles the 14.3% abv with ease. Spicy black pepper laced cherry on the finish, good ripe tannic structure. This was open a couple of hours before I tried a glass. Very good with definite potential to develop with age.
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2/12/2007 - Dude Wallers wrote: 89 Points
Big vanilla maple nose reminiscent of creme brulee. Earth mouth - leather tobacco forest floor with dark berries tossed in for balance between earth and fruit. Fantastic representation of Rhone style, a decidely non-Californian California wine. Would have scored higher if it gave a little more on the finish.
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6/2/2006 - AtlantaBill wrote: 88 Points
Dark garnet. Aroma of spices, black pepper and black cherries. Cherries and earth. Nice acid and soft tannin. Long finish.
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1/31/2005 - Rieslingfan wrote: 93 Points
Dark ruby color. Aromatically mute for all of about 15 minutes, then black cherry, wet earth, aromatic herbs (especially rosemary) and new leather start pouring out of the glass. Even better is that the flavors follow through on the promises of the aromatics. I was sipping without thinking for a minute and was nearly transported to Gigondas, there was such a resemblance to the wine of one of my favorite regions. In fact this really reminded me of a young, ripe vintage Domaine du Cayron. It is more directly fruity, but that's no too surprising (or unwelcome). On the finish I was picking up a bit of a mocha note, which really added to the overall complexity and took the wine to another level. I will let my other bottle sleep for a year or four just to see what time does. Outstanding!
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10/29/2004 - RussW wrote:
WOW, what a delight to drink. This was simply the best GSM blend (with 8% Counoise) I have ever had from CA and in a blind tasting of Southern Rhone wines this would surprise a lot of people. The color was a very clear ruby red. The nose was gorgeous with red fruits, violets/rose, herbs, anise, and very light black pepper. Several hours after opening the bottle, without decanting, the nose began to show some subtle sweaty leather scents. The mid-palate showed wonderful balance and no sign of any oak. The finish was long with red fruits, mostly cherry that was slightly sweet but not cloying, a kiss of raspberry, herbs, and a nice spiciness. At this early stage the wine is light on it's feet and more like a CdR. However, this wine has the stuffing to age and will be interesting to follow it's progression over the next 3-4 years to see if it puts on some weight and becomes more characteristic of a CdP. Wonderful effort Steve and a highly recommended wine. Bravo!!!!
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