Tried these two last night:
1. Failla Riesling HopewellVnyd/Eola-AmityHills (12.1%; www.FaillaWines.com) Carleton/OR 2017: Med.light yellow color; rather stony/chalky/earthy slight reductive very little R fruit bit dusty rather atypical R nose; bit spritz/dissolved CO2 bit off-dry (0.5%-0.7% r.s.) quite tart/tangy rather earthy/chalky/stony very slight mango/dried pineapple/R quite austere flavor; med.short rather earthy/chalky/stony very slight mango/R austere bit rustic finish; mostly like a Sudtirol R w/o the R fruit; a bit like an old-timey Calif R like a Ridge VineHill R from the late '60's w/o all the oak; rather strange/atypical R. $22.00
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2. Ridge Zin Guadagni DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (93% Zin/7% PS; 14.9%; 51 brls; bttld Aug 2017; First release;
Drk: 6/17-6/24-6/25: JO; 1.2% water addition) 2016
: Med.dark color; some vanilla/Am.oak rather bright/raspberry/DCV Zin/rather spicy fairly dusty/OV rather fragrant/perfumed nose; fairly tart/tangy bright/quite spicy/raspberry/DCV Zin some light/vanilla/Am.oak bit dusty/OV rather attractive flavor w/ light gentle bit tangy tannins; very long bright/very spicy/DCV Zin/raspberry some vanilla/Am.oak slight dusty/OV finish w/ light smooth tannins; an altogether pretty/pleasant Ridge Zin a bit above the EastBench & bit more interesting than Ponzo/Boatman/Mazzoni; speaks more of DCV Zin w/ that bright raspberry/Zinberry fruit than most Ridges. $33.00 (ATP)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Failla: This R is a total puzzle to me. A difficult wine to like (now), w/ a total lack of high-toned R fruit. But the high acidity and the uncanny ability of R to age, makes me think this will age into something very interesting. Or maybe not? It's just sorta a crap shoot.
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2. Guadagni: This is a new vnyd addition to the Ridge ATP lineup. I liked the wine quite a lot, but just that. Won't go back for more. Not a particularly distinctive Ridge Zin, so why bother. Other than offer more Ridges to the Ridge geeks.
Tom