A Visit With AdamLee at Siduri/Novy (Wed/Aug20)
I made arrangements w/ Adam to try a few of his wines that particularly interested me:
1. Novy Blanc de Noir WillametteVlly (13.9%) 2007: Light yellow color; pleasant slight yeasty
appley/earthy nose; tart/lean crisp appley/earthy flavor; med.long crisp/clean/lean light
yeasty appley/earthy slight spicy finish; does not speak of anything I recognize as PinotNoir
but a pleasant clean/crisp white wine.
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2. Novy PinotMeunier VabderKampVnyd/SonomaMtn (14.1%) 2007: Med.color; strong earthy/dusty light
cranberry/black cherry attractive nose; deep dusty/earthy bit toasty/pencilly/oak bit rustic
some cranberry/black cherry soft flavor; long earthy/dusty slight toasty/oak light black cherry/
cranberry finish w/ light tannins; not the brightness & zip of PinotNoir and a rather earthy/
rustic character some like AltoAdige Pinot.
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3. Novy LeonMillot WillametteVlly (13.6%; SaH: 24.8 Brix) 2007: Very dark color; rather earthy/
coarse bit stewed tomatoes/tobaccoy/rustic bit pencilly/oak rather interesting nose; tart
rather earthy/rustic stewed tomatoes bit pencilly/oak flavor; med.short earthy/dusty some
pencilly/oak finish w/ light tannins; not a lot of fruit to it but avoids most of the ugly
pitfalls of LeonMillot; a rather rustyc/earthy red like a Languedoc red.
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4. Novy StolpmanVnyd/SantaYnezVlly Nebbiolo (14.2%) 2006: Med.light color; slight tarry some
floral/cherries slight earthy rather Gattinara-like light toasty/oak interesting nose; rather
acid/tannic/hard slight chocolaty/floral/violets light toasty/oak pretty hard/astringent
flavor; med.long rather hard/tannic light tarry/floral/lilacs/chocolaty light toasty/oak
finish; needs age badly; speaks strong of Nebb of the Gattinara ilk; interesting Nebb.
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5. Novy StolpmanVnyd Nebbiolo (barrel sample) 2007: Rather light color; very light aromatic/floral/
violets light toasty/oak nose; very hard/astringent/tannic/brutal very light floral/violets
light toasty/oak flavor; short very astringent/tannic/hard very light floral/violets finish;
a brutal wine on the palate; badly needs age; speaks of Nebbiolo.
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6. Novy AmberRidge Syrah Sweet Diesel (20%; RS: 12%) 2006: Very dark/black color; very strong/
intense very grapey slight Syrah/boysenberry nose w/ little alcohol; soft very grapey/boysenberry
Syrah slight hot/alcoholic rather sweet flavor; very long intense grapey/boysenberry finish w/
light alcohol; much like some of ScattHarvey's Renwood Ports.
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7. Novy AmberRidge Sticky Syrah (19%) 2005: Vety dark color; very strong grapey/blackberry/
boysenberry nose; somewhat sweet intense grapey/boysenberry/blackberry big fruit flavor; med.
long strong grapey/boysenberry finish w/ some tannins; interesting wine that speaks more of Syrah
than the Diesel.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I was particularly interested in tasting Adam's LeonMillot. This is a French-American hybrid
grown mostly in the East for its resistance to phylloxera. Almost never seen planted West of
the Rockies. Of the 25-30 that I've had, they can range from not-so-hot to dreadful. They
often have that plasticizer character you get when you stick your head inside a brand new
plastic garbage can. They're usually rough & coarse, underacid, and fairly tannic. Well...
I'm here to tell you that Adam has made the greatest LeonMillot ever made in Calif!!! In point
of fact, it was actually pretty decent red wine and I suspect Adam has pretty well cornered
the LeonMillot market in this country. This came from one of his Oregon vnyds that had a north-
facing slope that would never ripen vinifera, so they decided to put in LeonMillot. It came
in at pretty decent ripeness. Adam couldn't resist when they offered him the grapes.
I was rather impressed by Adam's '05 Nebbiolo, so wanted to try the latest versions. The
grapes come from StolpmanVnyd. Alas, they pulled all their Nebb save for a 2.25 acre block they
saved for SteveClifton (Palmina). Adam gets a small amount of that block from Steve. I think
Adam is on the right track w/ his Nebbiolo. The remind me some Gattinara, some of Valtelline.
But little of Barolo/Barbaresco....and that's a plus in my book.
Adam like to play around w/ Port-style wines, strickly for his own consumption. The
legalities of making Port at Novy are out of the question the paperwork is so bad. The Diesel
is an authentic Port made by addition of a brandy called Diesel. Google failed me on this one
and all I could find was stuff you feed into your car. Usually Ports, especially those fueled
by EverClear have a pretty strong alcoholic character. This one did not. The Sticky was made
by taking a binful of Syrah grapes and simply adding a $hitload (or bagfull) of plain ol'
cane sugar and then fermenting it out until it stuck.
