WTN: Two Old Prestons & A Spanish Clunker..(short/boring)

1. Alvear PQ DOC: Ribera del Guadiana (Palacio Quemado's oldest Syrah vnyds; 6 mo. in new French oak; 13.5%) 2005: Very dark near-black color; attractive strongly fruity blackberry/Syrah some toasty/Fr oak "gobs of hedonistic fruit" simple nose; soft/lush strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/fruit light toasty/charred/oak unstructured flavor; med. big blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry soft/fat finish w/ light tannins; almost Port-like in character; lots of Syrah fruit but lacking in structure and a bit boring after the first glass; overpriced at $29.00
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2. PrestonVnyds&Wnry Barbera EstateBttld/DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (13.7%) TomeFarella/Winemaker, JohnClendenen/VnydManager 1986: Dark color w/ slight bricking; slight cedary/pencilly/old Zin/Am.oak rather spicy/Barbera/sausage/fennel slight blackberry rather fragrant/perfumed talk lovely complex spicy nose; tart some cedary/pencilly/old Zin pretty tart some spicy/Barbera/sausage bit dried out/tannic fairly complex flavor; med.long quite tart rather spicy/Barbera/sausage bit dried out/astringent finish; a lovely/complex classic Barbera nose but drying out a bit on the palate; still alive and a nice Barbera spiciness; way underpriced at $9.40
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3. PrestonVnyds&Wnry 54% Sirah/46% Syrah EstateBttld/DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (13.1%) 1985: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; some dusty/earthy old Zin/pencilly/cedary/Am.oak some spicy/blackberry/raspberry/bright bit pungent/smokey old Rhonish perfumed/complex nose; soft rather cedary/pencilly/old Zin slight blackberry/Syrah fairly smooth/elegant slightly dried out/tannic/astringent cedary flavor; long some astringent/dried out pungent/smokey slight blackberry/spicy/peppery/meaty some tannic finish; very attractive nose more like an old Zin but somewhat hard/astringent/dried out on the palate; underpriced at $9.60
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A bit of a BloodyPulpit:
1. Ribera del Guadiana: (http://www.espavino.com/spain_wine_regi ... adiana.php) A new DO created in 1999 in the Extremadura region, with an interesting mix of non-traditional & traditional varieties. In the western part of Spain, north of Seville, and abuting the Portugese border. The wine was clearly international in style, gobs of hedonistic fruit; but just a bit on the boring side and left me wanting something a bit more interesting after the first glass. However, it did go well w/ the lasagna and two charming ladies.
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2. Preston: Back in the mid-'80's, LouPreston made some pretty stunning wines. He was one of the first to plant Syrah up in SonomaCnty and hitch his wagon to the Rhone movement; including Viognier and Marsanne. The Ch.Beaucastel folks finally forced him to stop using the name "Faux Castel" name for his CdP blend. By the early '90's, the inspired wines coming from Preston seemed to dwindle to a trickle as his production ramped up considerably. In the late '90's, Lou realized the wnry had gotten out of hand and his day job was no longer as much fun as it used to be, so he cut the production waaaaay back and supposedly focused on quality. But the wines I've tried over the last 4-5 yrs don't seem to reflect that and are nowhere near what he was doing in the mid-'80's. The two times I met Lou, I took a real liking to him. But I think his wines don't reflect the passion they once did. That said...his bread is some of the best I've ever had.
TomFarella is now a winemaker over in Napa in the Coombsville area. Not had any of his wines since his early days at Preston.
(http://www.farella.typepad.com/). John Clendenen still farms the Preston vnyd and has his own vnyd management company based in Healdsburg. Don't know if he's related to Jim down in SantaBarbara or not.
Tom

Tom -

you weren't kidding when you said 'OLD', but that shouldn't surprise, coming from the man as old as the hills himself(!). I remember tasting at Preston in 1991 and it was a beautiful little spot on a crook in the river/creek. We were probably tasting wine from the late 80's and they were alright. I remember he had a huge lineup at the time (14-16 wines?). Since around the mid-late 90's, I haven't seen his wines anywhere in the Northeast. Does he still use the grey-taupe barn for the winery?

Mark

Tom -
you weren't kidding when you said 'OLD', but that shouldn't surprise, coming from the man as old as the hills himself(!). I remember tasting at Preston in 1991 and it was a beautiful little spot on a crook in the river/creek. We were probably tasting wine from the late 80's and they were alright. I remember he had a huge lineup at the time (14-16 wines?). Since around the mid-late 90's, I haven't seen his wines anywhere in the Northeast. Does he still use the grey-taupe barn for the winery?
Mark

Careful how you bandy about that old term. Two of the young kids out on the fencing strip ystrday wouldn't have used that term as they were taken to the woodshed.
I think Preston is focused, with their much smaller production levels, at selling mostly out of their tasting room and don't send a whole lot out into national distribution. I haven't stopped in at Preston for about 5 yrs now, but they were still located in that same gray barn bldg there.
Tom

I've visited at Farella-Park in Coombsville. Beautiful place on Third Avenue North underneath the Mount George ridgeline.

He made a Merlot in 1995 that is still in my top ten wines. Hedonistic, but also structured. I think the wines need time, though, to show their best. Last time I tried them wasn't as happy with them.