Casey's PetiteSirah SmackDown (Friday/Aug 22)
We rise early in SantaRosa and head west to the coast thru Graton & Occidental and then
follow Emilio's suggestion to take ColemanRd thru the redwoods. Beautiful/beautiful drive. Then
onto Hwy1 and head North, with the town of Mendocino our goal. Beautiful/spectacular coastline
scenes around every bend, dipping into heavy forests then entire way. Arrive in Mendocino for
our lunch reservation at CafeBeaujolais. Out on the deck, intermittent fog, wonderful food...
don't get much better than this. Then take the Comptche/Ukiah hwy thru the mtns and redwoods
going East. Off at Talmadge and up into the mtns to EaglepointRanch and the lair of CaseyHartlip.
Stop at Eaglepoint Corporate Headquarters and Casey roars up on his motercycle in a cloud of dust.
We go out and visit the chickens, the cows and the pig (Duroc breed, no name this yr). Lots of
cluckin', mooing, and gruntin' going on, along w/ classic barnyard/pigpen odors. Casey regales
us w/ tales of pigs past (Jim and Bob, Larry) and their very sociable nature. The chickens don't
look all that smart and the cows keep on chewin' away. Head down the hill to Casey's new house
and finally get to meet Lynn. Bunch of pups, including the erstwhile PeeWee, tail awaggin'. The
two twin grandkids are here to keep things exciting.
Since DavidDarlington had to bail on the evening's events, Casey invited in some of the Mendo
locals to join us and share the wines. First to arrive were JohnDickerson and Heidi Cusick, then
Skip & Kate ??? (forgot the last name). John used to be partner w/ DennisPatton in HiddenCeelars
afore they sold it. Skip is the vnyd liason for Kendall-Jackson in the NorthCoast region.
Heidi has written a number of cookbooks and wine books and writes for SunSet magazine. Susan
really hit it off w/ Heidi when she found out she knew MFKFisher, one of Susan's favorite authors.
Then when she found out Heidi knew KateHill (runs gourmet/cooking/barge tours in France), she was
in 7'th Heaven.
The meal was simple, ravioli w/ a meat sauce containing some of Casey's sausage from various
animals and a simple salad w/ terrific tomatoes. Out on the back porch w/ this view out over
the UkiahVlly and the lights of Ukiah twinkling off in the distance...idyllic is the operative
word here. The conversation was wide ranging and freewheeling. Casey's description of an elaborate
"grow" (new word for me...noun....describes a place were Mendocino's alternative cash crop is
grown) just 400 yards from his house and the Sheriff's inept bust of it was absolutely hilarious.
Casey has pulled out all stops for this evening in arranging his EaglepointRanch PeiteSirah
SmackDown, raiding his cellar for all of the very first Pets produced from EaglepointRanch.
The Petite was planted in '75 and has been added to over the yrs.
1. EaglepointRanch Albarino MendocinoCnty (13.7%) 2007: Pale color; very fragrant/perfumed/
floral some minerally lovely nose; tart rich/lush minerally/stoney very floral flavor;
long minerally/stoney quite floral/perfumed finish; better than most Spanish Albarinos
I've had.
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2. PhillipeFaurey St.Joseph 2001: Med.dark color; rather smokey/roasted some blackberry/Syrah
lovely Rhonish nose; tart smooth classic Rhonish/smokey/pungent/roasted light Syrah/blackberry
flavor; med.long smooth/balanced/polished Rhonish/roasted/pungent light blackberry/Syrah
finish; near ready to drink; lovely classiv NorthernRhone Syrah.
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3. Fetzer Reserve PetiteSirah MendocinoCnty (EaglepointRanch; Wnmkr: DennisMartin) 1994: Dark
color w/ little bricking; very slight bretty very spicy/blackberry quite spicy/perfumed very
light oak fairly complex nose; soft/smooth/round light blackberry/peppery very spicy flavor;
long smooth/polished/gentle/elegant light peppery/spicy/PS finish w/ very light tannins;
a beautiful/smooth/elegant PS that has come together beautifully.
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4. Edmeades PetiteSirah EaglepointRanch (Wnmkr: JedSteele/K-J) 1996: Very dark color w/ no bricking;
big spicy/peppery/PS light vanilla/oak spicy sausage complex nose; bit tannic/bitey fairly
intense spicy/peppery/PS/blackberry some complex bit oaked flavor; long bit tannic/astringent/
bitey intense spicy/peppery/licorice/PS finish w/ light tannins; fairly intense PS yet w/ little
signs of drying out; bit extracted but will still age.
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5. HiddenCllrs Mendocino Heritage Mendocino PetiteSirah EaglepointRanch (Wnmkr: DennisPatton)
1996: Black color; rather Am.oaked slight volatile strong licorice/plummy slight earthy/peppery/
PS slight complex nose; soft/lush peppery/plummy/blackberry/PS some Am.oak light licorice
flavor; med.long soft very lush/round licorice/plummy light blackberry/PS/peppery finisg w/
some tannins; a soft/lush/round plummy PS that's very tasty and can still go a few yrs.
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6. Edmeades Mendocino EaglepointRanch PetiteSirah (15.6%) 1997: Very dark color; strong grapey/
blackberry/PS light peppery/spicy some alcoholic/volatile/fumey rather oaked light plummy/lush
nose; soft very lush/ripe some hot/alcohoic/fumey ratherAm.oaked some plummy/PS/blackberry
flavor; med.long soft rather ripe plummy/licorice/PS/blackberry Am.oaked bit hot/fumey finish
w/ some tannins; a bit overextracted and hot/alcoholic but still plenty of fruit left.
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7. Edmeades Mendocino PetiteSirah EaglepointRanch (14.3%) 1998: Very dark color; beautiful
very spicy/peppery/licorice/PS some Am.oak bit complex/earthy lovely fragrant nose; some tart
lush very peppery/spicy/PS/blackberry light Am.oak/vanilla slight licorice/pungent very
attractive/interesting flavor; very long tart very spicy/PS/peppery/licorice light Am.oak
bit tannic finish; can go another 3-6 yrs I would guess; a lovely peppery PS; best JedSteele
wine in quite some time.
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8. SeanThackrey EaglopointRanch OldVines Sirius PetiteSirah (14.5%; Wnmkr: SeanThackrey) 2001:
Very dark color; rather minty/menthol/signature Thackry some toasty/Fr.oak slight peppery/PS
interesting nose; tart some minty/menthol rather tannic/structured light peppery/pungent/PS
flavor; long rather hard/tannic/structured fairly minty/menthol toasty/Fr.oak light peppery/
spicy/PS finish; big & structured w/o being out of whack; needs 5-10 yrs of age; classic Thackrey
minty/menthol character.
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9. EaglePointRanch MendocinoCnty PetiteSirah (14.1%; Wnmkr: CaseyHartlip) 2001: Black color; bit
reduced/pungent nose that clears to peppery/spicy/PS/blackberry some minerally/earthy/pungent/
WWII Beacon/gunpowder very slight bretty rather classic PS very attractive nose; tart rather
tannic/structured spicy/peppery/pungent/licorice/PS/blackberry slight oak/pungent light earthy/
minerally flavor; very long tannic/structured very spicy/peppery/PS/blackberry slight minerally/
earthy finish; needs 3-8 yrs of age; probably the most classic of these PS's.
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10. RosenblumCllrs EaglepointRanch/MendocinoCnty PetiteSirah (15.5%; Wnmkr: KentRosenblum) 2004:
Black color; very strong toasty/oaked intense plummy/blackberry/PS classic Rosenblum/lush/big
fruit nose; soft/fat/very lush very strong blackberry/plummy/PS rather oaked/taosty/smokey
flavor; med.long ripe/overripe huge fruit/lush/fat/soft plummy/blackberry/PS slight earthy finish
w/ light tannins; classic Rosenblum red w/ huge fruit, almost Oz in style; lacks structure
and not very interesting.
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And the BloodyPulpit:
1. Albarino: The grapes for this wine were grown on the Wentzel's (owners of EaglepointRanch)
vnyd up in the AndersonVlly. I was quite taken by this wine. It has the stoney/minerally
character of Albarino that you get in Spanish versions, but a richness and lushness that you
seldom find in those versions. Very Calif but speaks loud & clear of Albarino.
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2. EaglePoint PS: So...I guess the object of this exercise was to identify the Eaglepoint terroir
in these wines. Danged if I could figure it out...clueless as usual. Better palates than mine
will have to offer up that characterization.
I was mightly impressed w/ both the Fetzer and the HiddenCllrs. Fetzer is not a wnry that
you think of for ageable wines, but this '94 was doing just fine, thank you. None of the '94 or
'96's were showing any signs of an emminent collapse. They'd all come together amazingly well
and were genuine pleasures to drink.
So....I think the Eaglepoint PS (Casey's first one) is probably the quintessential expression
of EaglePointRanch PS. It shows a bit of minerality and earthiness you don't always find in
other Calif PS's. It doesn't have a big/bombastic/oafish character that many of them display.
And they seem to have acidity & structure that's not often found in others. Some of the better
grown PS in Calif I'd have to say. And I think the more recent versions of Casey's PS's are
even more interesting than this first effort.
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Up relatively early in the morning. PeeWee is feeling mightly puny this morning (he's fine
now) and obviously in a heap of pain, so a trip to the vet is in the offing for him. Casey gives
us (mostly for Susan's benefit) a quick tour of EaglePoint and some of the frost damage. Casey
points out a golden eagle perched on the branch of a dead tree off in the distance above us.
It's then off to a quick look-see in the AndersonVlly (no tasting) and then thru the Yorkville
Highlands, after our visit w/ Jason & Molly Drew fell thru. Taste at MeyerFamilyVnyds their
Syrah and Port. Underwhelming. MattMeyer is the son of JustinMeyer, founder of SilverOak. We talk
quite a bit of gong-ons in the YorkvilleHighlands. Can hardly wait to taste MikeOfficer's first
effort w/ these grapes. A quick/surprise visit to Margaux (Enoteca) in Calistoga and then on to
Pleasanton and dinner w/ friends that night a PerBacco in TheCite. It's one of my favorite restaurants
and they do amazing things w/ pig parts. They have this beautiful high-end Berkel just beyond the
bar area. Happen to run into long-time friend CharlieOlken there, dining w/ Rusty Eddy. I share
(blind) a rare Valtelline white wine made from Chiavanasca (Nebbiolo) that was most interesting.
Charlie's clueless as to the variety...not surprising.