matthewJohns
Member #56,112 signed up 7/7/2008 and last accessed 11/21/2009
Profile
Member since July 2008
Locale: Seattle, Washington, USA
Favorite region: Sonoma, Paso Robles, Lodi
Software Engineer for Fortune-10 Software company. Been drinking wine for 20 years. I prefer niche wines from Northern California relative to my own wines from Washington.
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2006 Draconis Vineyards Syrah Modern
12/22/2008 - matthewJohns wrote:
This was my only bottle of the Draconis Syrah in a Modern Style. My wife and I had another couple over and decided to due a blind tasting against another Syrah, one of our favorites, the 2004 St. Clement Mt. Veeder Syrah (Progeny). Since we really loved the Draconis Zin so much, we wanted to really track our experience with another one of the Draconis wines.
We tasted both wines side by side after letting them breathe in the glass for 10 minutes. After the direct tasting we then paired both wines with some home made Tomato Bisque soup (with fresh basil), as recommended the owner. Truly, there was little contest. The Draconis Syrah was such a better wine that it was almost a zero contest for the St. Clement. here are our notes on the Draconis Syrah: Color; A wonderful Magenta with hints of deep red; Nose; Cherry, plum, and earth; the body was easy at first but lingered on the palette with some mild to moderate astringency. Just like the Zins, the Syrah was just incredibly smooth with a velvet-like texture. It's hard to describe in words what the wine was like, but it really was a full two notches above the St. Clement. Add the price point in and I can't emphasize the value that it has. I'll repeat what other's have said in this forum; both my wife and the other couple were blown away with this wine. Crazy stuff. I would also note the alc levels of both wines: the 04 St. Clement was above 14% and the Draconis was only 12.5%.
The wine matched perfectly with the Tomato bisque soup. A great suggestion and a great combination. The owner nailed it. When I bought the wine via the website email, the producer also asked me not to add a point rating -- I now understand why so I won't put a score. But, I can say that this wine is easily in the Outstanding - classic range ... easily.
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2006 Draconis Vineyards Zinfandel American Oak
7/7/2008 - matthewJohns wrote: 95 Points
This was the last of the four wines that I had from the Lodi Suite. I saved the best tasting notes for the last. Harmony. This is a Zinfandel that is probably one of the best I've ever had. When I poured it, the first few notes were overwhelming Cherry, black cherry and some current. But after it sat in the glass for a little while it really came alive. Truly harmonious. A spectacular wine from the region. The only other Zins that I've had that it can compare against are the Turley Zins from Paso Robles. This wine is super smooth and easy ... it's not hard nor is it sweet (like that "old ghost") ... it just glides across my palette. Not overly oaky either - I love this wine. I would of given it a higher score but I don't think anyone would believe me ...
Here are links to the other wines I tried from the area
2005 Peltier Station - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=322978
2006 M2 Vintners - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=539208
2005 Klinker Brick "Old Ghost" - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=391166
2006 Draconis Zinfandel American Oak - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=492453
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2005 Klinker Brick Zinfandel Old Vine Old Ghost
7/7/2008 - matthewJohns wrote: flawed
This was garbage. Over priced with no body, tooooo much sweetness, it had nothing to offer except a pretty label, a very heavy glass bottle, and money missing out of my wallet. This was the third of four in my tastings from the Lodi Suite of Northern California; Perhaps I'm being to harsh but this was my biggest disappointment. The wine has outstanding packaging but nothing in the bottle. Like the the sales person said when I purchased it, it was "spooky" ... yeah, spooky bad. Normally I don't go off on wines because I know several wineries (even in my home state of Washington) struggle to make ends meet, but this was way over priced and had really nothing but Red Boysenberry syrup to offer at the center. Perhaps the bottle was bad ...
Here are the links all the four wines I had from Lodi:
2005 Peltier Station - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=322978
2006 M2 Vintners - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=539208
2005 Klinker Brick "Old Ghost" - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=391166
2006 Draconis Zinfandel American Oak - http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=492453
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