Tried these three at our Pig+Fig tasting last week:
1. EstrellaRiverWnry Barbera SLO (13.9%; SaH: 25.4 Brix; TA: 0.62%; EB) PasoRobles 1978: Med.dark color w/ slight bricking; strong very spicy/Barbera bit Italian spice/peppery beautiful complex nose w/ some Am.oak; still loads of Barbera fruit & very Eberle in style; lightly tart some Am.oak bit dried-out mature Barbera/spicy/dried Italian herbs smooth complex flavor w/ light gentle tannins; beautiful mature Barbera nose but drying out slightly on the palate; still in wonderful shapw; a very smooth/gentle mature Barbera.
$nc (BSvSG)/$4.25
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2. Montevina Barbera/SpecSlctn/AmadorCnty (16%; EB) Plymouth 1976: Very dark color w/ light bricking; bit overripe/pruney some Barbera/spicy rather Amador/pruney/overripe strong Am.oak bit late harvesty complex nose; soft rather overripe/pruney/Amador briary LHZin some Am.oak bit complex flavor w/ light overripe tannins; not a lot of Barbera fruit & more like an old-timey Amador LateHrvst Zin than anything. $nc (BSvSG)/$6.00 (Jacksons)
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3. Montevina Barbera/SpecSlctn/AmadorCnty (14.5%; EB) 1980: Very dark color w/ light bricking; beautiful mature Barbera/very spicy some dried Italian herbs/Italian sausage some Am.oak classic Montevina complex beautiful nose; lightly tart loads of Barbera fruit bit dried Italian herbs/spicy Barbera mature Barbera balanced some Am.oak fairly rich/lush complex flavor w/ slight drying tannins; a lovelt classic Montevina Barbera in beautiful shape w/ no signs of drying out or fading; an amazing 45-yr old Barbera. $nc (BSvSG)/$6.25 (Corti)
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More biddlestik from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. The Estrella was made, of course, by GaryEberle in his early days at EstrellaRiver. When I made my first visit to PasoRobles in about 1976; Estrella was first on my list to visit. Founded in 1973. One of the first new wineries in Paso. He was developing quite a reputation for his Chard & Cabernet. When I arrived, my first request was to climb to the top of the tower at the winery. Gary demurred on joining me. Incredible view of Paso from up there. Assume the tower still stands?
He then proceeded to taste me on his Chards & Cabs. I acknowledge how good they were but then interjected that I was really most interested in his Barbera & Syrah (Gary was the first to plant Syrah in Calif. From the Chapoutier vnyd & now known as the Estrella clone. A whole nuther story). He give me this cock-eyed look & wondered what kind of a nut-case he had on his hands. I was blown away by his first Barbera, mostly from the Norman Vnyd in WestSide Paso. This '78 was mostly from his Estate. Gary soon gained quite a reputation for his Barbera.
I was expecting, given Gary's winemaking style, this wine to be pretty much on its last legs. It was not. It was showing a bit of its age but had developed into a wonderful fully mature Barbera. An absolutely beautiful example of a fully-mature Calif Barbera.
I haven't had any of the Estrella wines since they were bought out by Bronco.
Montevina was founded in 1970 by Cary Gott and Walter Field (father in law and the $$'s behind), one of the first new wineries in the Sierra Foothills in yrs. I fell in love w/ Cary's wines early on thru Darrell Corti, from whom we bought quite a lot over the yrs. Cary's first Montevina wines were rather on the alcoholic side but not overripe or pruney. At Darrell's behest, Cary cut back on the ripeness and the Montevina wines went on to be some of the best SierraFoothills wines ever made. This '80 Barbera was one of the best Barberas ever made in Calif. In the early '80's, Darrell showed this wine to a visiting winemaker from the Piemonte. He was taken aback & declared to Darrell that this was even better than his Barbera. Small praise indeed.
I first met NapaVlly's famous winemaker, Joel Gott, in the mid-late '70's. He was a cute 4-yr old tyke in red shorts riding his red tricycle on the oak floors of Cary & Vicki's home across from the winery. I rather doubt Joel recalls that meeting. Accompaning Darrell, we met up at the Gott's home & then went out to taste a few wines at wineries run by Scott Harvey, then the asst winemaker at Montevina (including Beau Val, a winery now lost to history). We dwaddled at the tasting and then adjourned to Scott's home in River Pines where we had his legendary blackened pork loin. Looking out his dining room window, we could see the Rancho Secco pouring out steam from their cooling towers far to the West. Dick Cooper (another person to make Amador Barbera famous) was dumping tons of radioactive debris onto Northern Calif. Even the reassurances from one of the Nation's top nuclear scientist could not convince Dick otherwise. It was a wonderful evening at Scott's. There was wine involved.
Montevina was purchased by Trinchero Family in 1988 (renamed Terra d'Oro) and that was all she wrote for the once legendary Montevina Winery.
Tom
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