• 2004 Curran Grenache Blanc - USA, California, Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Valley (2/19/2006)
  WIML91,NOWA,NOWS
  
  Tasted February 19, 2006 at an offline. Opened and served immediately without decanting in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glasse. No need to decant this; ready to go straight out of the bottle. Straw to light yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of fresh cling peaches, acacia flowers, lychee, sliced yellow apples and a squeeze of mint. Flavors of peaches, nectarines, yellow apple. Tasted a second time 24 hours later at home. Not only had it not declined I actually preferred it even more the second day! Good body and weight both tastings. Probably has some life ahead of it but why wait? This is too tasty to wait. Too bad this was my last bottle. Last year I rated this wine WIML89 but I have to say this has picked up two points since. WIML91 this time. Recommended. (91 pts.)
  
• 2001 Sanford Pinot Noir La Rinconada - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills (2/19/2006)
  WIML87,WA85,WS89
  
  Tasted February 19, 2006 at an offline. Opened and served immediately without decanting in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glass. Dark plum color in the glass, pretty clear hue throughout. Nose of fresh crushed black and red berries, a touch of spice, briar patch and rose petal potpourri. Nose was much nicer the next evening than the first evening. Flavors of red cherry, Bing cherry and a kind of crushed stone component. I have to agree with the Wine Advocate that this wine does have too much acidity but I don’t think it is as bad as their review states. Regardless, points come off for the out of balance acidity. WIML87. Drink now with at an hour or more in the decanter to spruce up that nose a bit. (87 pts.)
  
• 1998 Ferraton Pere & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (2/19/2006)
  WIML78,WA86,NOWS
  
  Tasted February 19, 2006 at an offline. Opened and served immediately without decanting in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glass. Plum color in the glass, slightly dusty hue running throughout. Heavy brett nose the first night that did blow off some by the second night, finally yielding some aromas of crushed plums, cassis and saddle soap. It still wasn’t exactly a pleasant combinations of aromas but at least it wasn’t overwhelmingly bretty like the evening before. Flavors of bitters, earth, black cherries and kirsch. Fairly dominate earth on the finish. I think Wine Advocate was being fairly generous with their WA86 point rating. WIML78 points. Pass, pass and pass. (78 pts.)
  
• 2003 St. Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Saar (2/19/2006)
  WIMLNR,NOWA,WS89
  
  Tasted February 19, 2006 at an offline. Opened and served immediately without decanting in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glass. Straw to light yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of heavy, heavy, heavy fertilizer, diesel and slightly burnt rubber. Exact same nose the second night; didn’t blow off one iota. The nose is offputting in my opinion. Flavors of peach, diesel fuel and cherry aid. Man, I have no idea how this thing garnered WS89 points from Wine Spectator. They must have run out of gas on the way home from the tasting and used the leftover bottle in the tank, awarding bonus points for the save. I’m not even going to rate it myself, I don’t have the audacity. Not recommend except to say don’t light a match near by.

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I thought the last bottle of the Curran Grenache Blanc we had was going in the other direction. It seemed flabby compared to previous bottles.

Thanks for the notes!

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Two very different takes on the CdP. Thanks for the notes.

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That's because I know what I'm doing.

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Hey WIML, thanks for the notes. It's been some time since I bought a Sanford Pinot, but I used to buy them with some regularity. So it's fun reading notes on stuff I don't really buy anymore just to see what others think.

BTW, your offlining is suffering. You're already off the 2005 record setting pace. You're on course for only 51 so far this year. Better pick up the pace dude.

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Ain't happening. I swore to myself I wasn't going to offline as much in 2006. My liver hurts.

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60 offlines last year and you took off how many pounds???

I hate you!

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Hey, when you are as fat as I was you have no place to go but down.