Nomadic Wines

PAX and Willi's

PAX open house on Saturday, November 4, 2006
I sprinted up to Santa Rosa from San Francisco, with the hope I would arrive before 2:00 PM. It looked good until I hit the Santa Rosa bottleneck... I ended up arriving at 1:45. I might have been the last to arrive, but the PAX team was still gracious. They answered all of my questions, served me seconds, and provided the personal service that will make me a lifetime customer.

I tasted the following wines:
2005 Pax Roussanne, ‘Venus’, Bennett Valley - honeyed and oily with some ripe melon-like fruit. This seemed very rich to me, so not really my style.

2005 Pax, Alder Springs Cuvee - these are the remnants from the Cuvee Moriah bottling. It is 40% Grenache, 30% Counoise, and 30% Mourvedre. All whole cluster but no oak. It seems like a pure food wine, like a very high-end Cotes du Rhone.

2005 Pax Syrah, Kobler Family Vineyard, Russian River Valley - this was the most interesting wine I tasted. Not sure if the stemminess will be out-of-balance as this wine matures, but it added really interesting tertiary characteristics on Saturday. Herbal, but with ripe fruit and a sweet mid-palate.

2005 Pax Syrah, Lauterbach Hill, Russian River Valley - linear and focused. I didn't love this wine even though it tasted great. Dark black fruit, good acidity, but a somewhat short finish. I asked if it was showing well, and he said yes... maybe just not my style.

I think there were 1-2 other wines that I am not recalling right now...

Barrel samples:
2005 Pax Syrah, Walker Vine Hill, Russian River Valley - this was a big wine made in the big California style. Reminded me of the Saxum wines because it was loaded with blackberry, cassis, and chocolate. Big and long - not my favorite, but all of these barrel samples were kickin'.

2005 Pax Syrah, Alder Springs Vineyard, 'The Terraces', Mendocino County - this was the sexiest wine of the bunch, potentially with the longest aging curve. I didn't get a ton out of it, but the potential was obvious.

2005 Pax Syrah, Griffin's Lair, Sonoma Coast - oh boy, now we are talking about my favorite. Meaty, layered, brooding, rich, gamey. This was the masculine side of Pax coming out. If I was ever making wine to represent me... I would want this vineyard. I went back for seconds.

2005 Pax Syrah, Cuvée Keltie - upfront this is silky and sweet. It finishes with chewiness, bacon, and big tannins. In the middle, there is an interesting note of iodine (salty), mint, and black fruit.


Francisco and Kara hung around till I finished tasting wines, then we decided to go have some lunch.

Willi's Wine Bar with Francisco and Kara
2004 Copain Madder Lake Syrah
Drank alongside Acorn Winery's Medley, and really liked this wine. Both well-made wines, but the Copain was meatier and spicier. It had a nose of wild fruit and dark backberries. While ripe and juicy, it still had some Northern Rhone characteristics.

2002 Acorn Medley Alegría Vineyard
Nice wine for the money (~$40 on restaurant list). A little bit of spiciness, loads of blueberry, plum, vanilla, and toastiness. Sweet tannins gave it a nice finish. Interesting that all grapes sourced from same vineyard (~15 different varietals inside).
In 2003, more than 15 grape varieties (48% Cabernet Franc, 16% Zinfandel, 13% Syrah, 7% Cinsaut, 2% each Alicante Bouschet, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, and Merlot; 1% Petit Verdot, and 7% various red and black muscats) were hand-harvested on five days, over a five-week period. They were fermented and aged in five different lots, each a field blend.
In 2002, it was single-vineyard blend of 38% Cabernet Franc, 28% Zinfandel, 5% each Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, and Cinsaut; 3% Alicante Bouschet, 2% each Mourvedre, Viognier, and Merlot; and 10% various red and black muscats. In other words, it is 45% Bordeaux varieties, 28% Zinfandel, 17% Rhone varieties, and 10% Muscats. For the 2002 Medley, 15 grape varieties were handharvested on six days, over a seven-week period, from 13 different blocks.

posted by nomadfromcincy @ 11:54 PM