Russian River Barrel Tasting Weekend
7 March 2004

2001 Chardonnay Coast Range - sweet pear, white peach and melon in the nose with a bit of mineral and hints of allspice and nutmeg - the flavors follow the nose with additional notes of minerals accompanied by good acid structure. This wine continues to represent excellent value, and offers far more drinking pleasure than some California Chardonnay I've had for twice the price.

2001 Grenache Lytton Estate ATP - 78% Grenache 12% Petite Sirah 10% Zinfandel 14.4% alcohol 52 barrels produced - somewhat subdued, but pretty and dusty sweet varietal fruit in the nose - juicy and fresh on the palate, but today it comes across as slightly hot with just a touch of bitterness on the follow. This wine has shown better on other occasions, and the tasting room seemed to be selling quite a lot of it. Off bottle?

2001 Zinfandel Buchignani Ranch ATP - 76% Zinfandel 23% Carignane 1% Petite Sirah 14.3% alcohol 46 barrels produced - sweet red plum and dark cherry compote-like aromas - the flavors follow with a bright palate spectrum and lively acids - quite delicious and very nicely balanced.

2000 Zinfandel Pagani Ranch - 88% Zinfandel 9% Alicante Bouschet 3% Petite Sirah 15.2% alcohol - very pretty red and purple stone fruit aromas, perhaps a little lighter spectrum than a typical Pagani that tends towards purple and black fruit and also tends to be a little jammy - this is brighter and a little more elegant aromatic profile. The wine is enormously successful in the mouth - the flavors follow the aromas and include additional spice - medium bodied and very accessible - impeccable balance. As I think I said a couple of months ago when I last tasted this wine, this will be the Pagani to drink while you wait for your 99s and 01s to come around. A different expression of the vineyard, but one that is extremely pleasurable. Absolutely delicious.

2002 Zinfandel Buchignani Ranch ATP barrel sample - restrained but pretty aromas of Alexander Valley zinberries - the fruit is sweet in the mouth and very well balanced - it has a creamy texture that I found quite appealing. As with almost all the 2002s that I've tasted, the wine is not a powerhouse and tends toward the more elegant side. It should develop into a lovely expression of this property.

2003 Zinfandel Ponzo Vineyard ATP barrel sample - fruit from this property has previously gone into the Three Valleys, and a 2002 ATP selection, so this will be the second ATP wine from this source.

Restrained, but very nice and sweet ripe red plummy aromatics - bright and lively in the mouth, but still a bit primary and awkward - there is a well focused central core of flavors that is appealing and it will be interesting to follow this wine as it develops.

2003 Lytton Springs barrel sample - this sample was pulled from what sounds like a fairly random assortment of barrels, and was not meant to approximate the final blend.

Quite shy in the nose with a somewhat medicinal offnote - unfortunately, the wine doesn't do very well in the mouth either - there are hints of very pretty sweet fruit, but at this stage the wine is clumsy and disjointed. I don't find this particularly surprising, since I do not often find Ridge barrel samples to be attractive.

Don't base your buying decisions on barrel samples, folks. Rely on your experience with the producer and the nature of the vintage.

califusa
Left Coast Correspondent
Gang of Pour