Tried these last night whilst baking my chocolate/chipolte cheesecake:
1. Bedford-Thompson Syrah SantaBarbaraCnty RTW 1994: Very dark color w/ slight bricking that become more brownish over the evening; rather unclean/bretty/fecal earthy slight toasty/oak/smokey slight blackberry/Syrah bit old/dried-out nose; sweetish some bretty/fecal/unclean some smokey/pungent/oak fairly smooth/round slight peppery slightly dried-out/tired flavor; med.long some tannic/astringent/tired/dried-out bit fecal/bretty finish; some interesting things therein but way to unclean in the nose and a bit too tired on the palate. $22.00
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2. Jaffurs SantaBarbaraCnty Syrah (13.9%) 1998: Dark color w/ slight bricking; beautiful/perfumed very spicy/peppery/blackberry/Syrah light toasty/oak/smokey/pungent quite complex/perfumed nose; soft/smooth/round/lush some peppery very spicy blackberry/Syrah gentle/elegant light toasty/pungent some complex flavor; long/lush/smooth peppery/spicy/blackberry/Syrah some pungent/toasty/oak finish w/ very light tannins; beautiful/complex/mature/very perfumed nose but rather smooth & gentle on the palate; a Syrah that has come together beautifully; fully mature & drinkable now. $20.50
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Bedford-Thompson: In the early '90's, StephenBedford and DavidThompson were in partnership as Bedford-Thompson; David the grower and Stephen the winemaker. They parted company in the late '90's and David went on to sell grapes from his vnyd to a number of great Syrah makers. It is truly one of the great Syrah vnyds in Calif and the world. Stephen has gone on to make his wines from other grapes, but I've not tasted them any of late. He has a tasting room in LosAlamos, but I've never stopped there yet. I've heard passably good things about his wines.
When this '94 was released, it was a terrific example of SBC Syrah. They (and Sunstone) made a few great Syrahs about '93-'95. plus a few other things. But subsequent vintages started showing sloppy winemaking w/ lots of brett & fecal character, so I crossed them off my list. That's the TomHill modus operandi...one misstep w/ your wine and..pfffhhhttt...you're a goner.
We made a visit to Stephen at their tasting room on beautiful spring afternoon in '96. It was an interesting visit, marked by unremarkable wines. One was this very/very pregnant but very friendly cat who followed us all over the tasting room & picnic grounds. The other...our visit was scheduled early afternoon and less than an hour after the police had just reopened AlisosCnyn Rd to the public. Turns out one of the local growers down that road was running a meth lab out of his vnyd operation there and the Feds went in to make a bust. He tried to outrun the Fed's helicopter in his pickup truck...w/o much success. Understand it took several $M's to clean up the irrigation pond of the toxic chemicals.
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2. Jaffurs: This was the basic Jaffurs SBC Syrah. I was migtly impressed by the nose. It was rather gentle & subtle and sorta coo'ed as it traipsed across the palate. An example of a Calif Syrah that has come together perfectly. The Jaffurs SBC Syrah and the Ojai SBC Syrah remain very reasonably priced (low-mid $20's) and are one of the steals in wine to this day. Thank you Craig & Dave.
Tom