I've had some kind of bug/virus for 2 weeks, and with the exception of
maybe 1 oz of a '55 Spanna haven't had wine the whole time. But last
night Betsy was making pheasant in a red wine marinade, and I thought
"I HAVE to have wine with this, besides it can't make me feel worse."
The recipe from d'Artagnan cookbook used a half-bottle of zinfandel, so
I had told her Tues night to use the bottle her mom brought last week
as a gift, the 2002 Fiddle Farm Primitivo (Amador County). Her mom (a
cellist) bought it because of the violin on label- I think she knows
the winemaker, who is apparently a bass player. I really wish he had
stuck to music.

Out of fairness, I should point out:
1) The bottle was opened for marinade (and just recorked) the night
before it was tasted
2) Who knows what the bug has done to my tastebuds.

My rebuttals are
1) Lots of problems, but didn't taste especially oxidized
2) The pheasant, meatball & pearl pasta soup, and escarole all tasted
fine.

This wine was hot (15.8 % when I checked label), weedy, and acidic.
Thin and alcoholic, with rather bitter cherry fruit (reminiscent of
Robitussin=99 is my new frame of reference). Short on finish. This is
NOT the way to ease back into wine. C-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency

In article .com>,
says...
>
>I've had some kind of bug/virus for 2 weeks, and with the exception of
>maybe 1 oz of a '55 Spanna haven't had wine the whole time. But last
>night Betsy was making pheasant in a red wine marinade, and I thought
>"I HAVE to have wine with this, besides it can't make me feel worse."
>The recipe from d'Artagnan cookbook used a half-bottle of zinfandel, so
>I had told her Tues night to use the bottle her mom brought last week
>as a gift, the 2002 Fiddle Farm Primitivo (Amador County). Her mom (a
>cellist) bought it because of the violin on label- I think she knows
>the winemaker, who is apparently a bass player. I really wish he had
>stuck to music.
>
>Out of fairness, I should point out:
>1) The bottle was opened for marinade (and just recorked) the night
>before it was tasted
>2) Who knows what the bug has done to my tastebuds.
>
>My rebuttals are
>1) Lots of problems, but didn't taste especially oxidized
>2) The pheasant, meatball & pearl pasta soup, and escarole all tasted
>fine.
>
>This wine was hot (15.8 % when I checked label), weedy, and acidic.
>Thin and alcoholic, with rather bitter cherry fruit (reminiscent of
>Robitussin=99 is my new frame of reference). Short on finish. This is
>NOT the way to ease back into wine. C-
>
>Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
>wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
>drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
>promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency

Not familiar with this producer, but I've had some good Primitivos from Sierra
Foothills/Amador - usually sold only at the tasting rooms.

One question - were you taking any medication for your illness? I've had some
(mainly treating the symptoms), that ruined ALL wine. Often food did OK, but
wine - yuck! I don't know what the problems are (I do know that anything with
zinc will zink [sic] your taste bubs, especially for wine), but have had to
balance medication v wine. Usually the wine wins out, and I just deal with a
stuffy nose, etc. The main olfactory components are very muted, but at least
it doesn't taste like dreck.

Next trip to Amador, I'll look for this one and try and confirm that it really
is as bad as you say.

Hunt

PS in another thread (I think it was the "magazines" thread), references were
made to WS's numerical rating. I much prefer your TNs, as they give me a sense
of what the wine is likely to taste like (this may be an exception, but not
likely). I strongly would rather see this, than a simple #. When I've done the
numerical rating of flights of wine, based on all grading criteria, I find
that I rate some weak wines higher than I wish to. Since so much of the 100 pt
scale is based on color, clarity, etc. an otherwise weak wine, that looks
good, gets higher marks than I feel it should. Also, if one grades down, when
a wine is atypical of the varietal, but it is otherwise an excellent wine, I
feel that I'm slighting a good one. Please keep up your TNs and grading style.

Hunt,
I was on an antibiotic last week, but nothing now. I've taken plain
Robitussion (expectorant) for chest congestion, nothing else in last
few days (I did use zinc/echineachea lozenges first couple days to
see if I could ward off bug, but once it was set decided they were
useless). I actually took a taste of open bottle of Falanghina in
fridge - as expected, good but oxidized. And Betsy tried the Primitivo
and said "wow, that's pretty awful, isn't it?" So don't think it was
me. I'm not tarring all Amador Zins with same brush-I've had good ones
(though all in a rather brash style).

Thanks for kind words. I'm still smarting that Joe R. doesn't find my
plumpness (it's definitely there, I tried the Special K pinch)
pleasing! (Just kidding Joe!).

On 8 Apr 2005 05:55:11 -0700, "DaleW" > wrote:

>Hunt,
>I was on an antibiotic last week, but nothing now. I've taken plain
>Robitussion (expectorant) for chest congestion, nothing else in last
>few days (I did use zinc/echineachea lozenges first couple days to
>see if I could ward off bug, but once it was set decided they were
>useless). I actually took a taste of open bottle of Falanghina in
>fridge - as expected, good but oxidized. And Betsy tried the Primitivo
>and said "wow, that's pretty awful, isn't it?" So don't think it was
>me. I'm not tarring all Amador Zins with same brush-I've had good ones
>(though all in a rather brash style).

I've always found Amador County Zins to be excellent, although one
clue here is that the Primitivo labeling might be a mask for some
varietal variation--and I'd hate to get back into the geneology of the
grapes discussion again.

As for the "all in a rather brash style"--I'd have to refer to the
range of Renwood (between r-of-ren and varietal variation, I seem to
be in an alliterative rut this AM). Their various Amador County zin
offerings range from pedestrian to long-future sublime. I keep
threatening to lay down a half-dozen of their Grandpere for a decade
just to see what develops, but the IRS is putting that ambition on
hold this month....


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

On 8 Apr 2005 05:55:11 -0700, "DaleW" > wrote:

>Hunt,
>I was on an antibiotic last week, but nothing now. I've taken plain
>Robitussion (expectorant) for chest congestion, nothing else in last
>few days (I did use zinc/echineachea lozenges first couple days to
>see if I could ward off bug, but once it was set decided they were
>useless). I actually took a taste of open bottle of Falanghina in
>fridge - as expected, good but oxidized. And Betsy tried the Primitivo
>and said "wow, that's pretty awful, isn't it?" So don't think it was
>me. I'm not tarring all Amador Zins with same brush-I've had good ones
>(though all in a rather brash style).

I've always found Amador County Zins to be excellent, although one
clue here is that the Primitivo labeling might be a mask for some
varietal variation--and I'd hate to get back into the geneology of the
grapes discussion again.

As for the "all in a rather brash style"--I'd have to refer to the
range of Renwood (between r-of-ren and varietal variation, I seem to
be in an alliterative rut this AM). Their various Amador County zin
offerings range from pedestrian to long-future sublime. I keep
threatening to lay down a half-dozen of their Grandpere for a decade
just to see what develops, but the IRS is putting that ambition on
hold this month....


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

"As for the "all in a rather brash style"--I'd have to refer to the
range of Renwood . Their various Amador County zin
offerings range from pedestrian to long-future sublime. I keep
threatening to lay down a half-dozen of their Grandpere for a decade"

Ed, all I can say is that the Renwoods I've tasted (and generally quite
liked) have all been in a style I'd call brash. More Turley than Nalle
if you know what I mean. My impression is that Amador is quite hot, and
tends to make rather high-alcohol high tannin Zins. That's not a
critcism, just an observation. I admit it's made on limited evidence
though.
I liked the Grandpere, and think it's likely to cellar well. But subtle
it's not.

"As for the "all in a rather brash style"--I'd have to refer to the
range of Renwood . Their various Amador County zin
offerings range from pedestrian to long-future sublime. I keep
threatening to lay down a half-dozen of their Grandpere for a decade"

Ed, all I can say is that the Renwoods I've tasted (and generally quite
liked) have all been in a style I'd call brash. More Turley than Nalle
if you know what I mean. My impression is that Amador is quite hot, and
tends to make rather high-alcohol high tannin Zins. That's not a
critcism, just an observation. I admit it's made on limited evidence
though.
I liked the Grandpere, and think it's likely to cellar well. But subtle
it's not.

On 8 Apr 2005 13:26:59 -0700, "DaleW" > wrote:

>"As for the "all in a rather brash style"--I'd have to refer to the
>range of Renwood . Their various Amador County zin
>offerings range from pedestrian to long-future sublime. I keep
>threatening to lay down a half-dozen of their Grandpere for a decade"
>
>Ed, all I can say is that the Renwoods I've tasted (and generally quite
>liked) have all been in a style I'd call brash. More Turley than Nalle
>if you know what I mean. My impression is that Amador is quite hot, and
>tends to make rather high-alcohol high tannin Zins. That's not a
>critcism, just an observation. I admit it's made on limited evidence
>though.
>I liked the Grandpere, and think it's likely to cellar well. But subtle
>it's not.

Some of the entry level Renwoods are a bit more subdued, but to
torture the language a bit further I'd say not subtle--IOW, less
flavor but also less nuance.

That being admitted at the git-go, I'll agree that the high dollar
Renwoods are indeed leaning toward the Turley (although high dollar
Renwood doesn't get you in the door with Turley's offerings.)

As for the Grandpere, the last one I tasted was a tannin pucker-mouth
(sort of reminiscent of those Keystone "bitter-beer-face"
commercials.) The Grandmere is the lovely product for the 2002
vintage. IMHO.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

"Ed Rasimus" > wrote in message
...
> As for the Grandpere, the last one I tasted was a tannin pucker-mouth
> (sort of reminiscent of those Keystone "bitter-beer-face"
> commercials.) The Grandmere is the lovely product for the 2002
> vintage. IMHO.

Thanks Ed, I'll keep an eye out for the Grandmere!