Fresh off the boat, I cracked last night:
1. Ridge Calif BuchignaniRanch Carignane (OldVines/HillsideGrown; 14.4%; 49 brls; www.RidgeWine.com; House and Top blocks of 5 vnyd parcels; Drk: 8/08-8/12-8/13: JO) 2007: Very dark/black color; very strong dusty/old vines black cherry/plummy/blackberry/Carignane bit herbal light toasty/oak/DraperPerfume quite spicy nose; bit hard/tannic/acid rich/black cherry/black berry/Carignane slight herbal/dusty/old vines light smokey/toasty/oak flavor; very long bit hard/tannic/bitey plummy/black cherry/Carignane rather dusty/old vines finish w/ fair tannins; much more fruit than previous Buchignani Carignanes; still a bit hard on palate. $28.00 (ATP)
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Carignane: Another grape I have trouble getting my arms around. There's a lot of old Carignane vnyds in Calif and that's what attracts PaulDraper to the variety. He is, without doubt, the most skilled winemaker in Calif w/ the variety.
I like the aromatics of Carignane, which reminds me of black cherry & blackberries, maybe a little Sangio-like. But they ofen have this rather mean acid/tannic/hard bite on the palate and seldom show the lushness you get out of Zinfandel. I must admit that I can't ever recall a Carignane that I thought even remotely approached greatness.
So....with that background...I was expecting to find little to like about this Carignane. Surprise/surprise....I liked this Carignane quite a lot. It had much more fruit than any Buchignani Carignanes I've yet had. The tannic bite was there, but the wine was not nearly as severe/hard on the palate as usual. Maybe the best young Ridge Carignane I've yet had.
The tannic/acid bite of Carignane suggests that it is a wine that should age well. But, maybe like Dolcetto, it's a grape that is just missing something that makes it age well. When I was visiting w/ Draper back in May, he made the comment that he's come to the conclusion that pure Carignane doesn't age particularly well...which I found to be a surprising admission given his interest in the grape.
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2. Man.....I've been very/very impressed w/ all the Ridge '07's released thus far. Not a loser, or even a mediocre one, in all of them. The wines all seem to have more forward fruit and less Ridge winemaking/DraperPerfume than past vintages. Paul swears there's been no change in their winemaking practices and simply attributes it to the quality of fruit from 2007.
Tom
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So, to better understand these Ridge Carignanes, I went back to the archives:
2. Ridge Calif BuchignaniRanch Carignane (100% OldVines, SonomaCnty; 14.2%; 40 brls; Drk: 9/04-9/07-9/09:
JO/PD) 2003
: Dark color w/ slight bricking; lovely dusty/old vines/earthy some smokey/oak/DraperPerfume
licorice/fennel black cherry/Carignane/black berry rather spicy/dried oregano-rosemary bit complex nose;
tart spicy/dried rosemary-oregano rather smooth licorice/anise light black cherry/Carignane light smokey/
oak very slight tannic bite flavor; long spicy/dried oregano-rosemary some anise/fennel/black cherry/
Carignane finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant/drinkable somewhat interesting Carignane and probably as
good as it's gonna get. $24.00
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3. Ridge Calif BuchignaniRanch Carignane (OldVines; 100%; 14.8%; 46 brls; Drk: 11/01-11/04-11/05: PD)
2000
: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; strong smokey/oak/DraperPerfume slight earthy/black cherry/
Carignane/licorice fairly complex/pencilly/perfumed nose; tart earthy/dusty/old vines slight black cherry/
Carignane/licorice some smokey/pungent/oak bit clunky/tired flavor; med.long tart pungent/licorice/dusty/
old vines/earthy light tannic some pungent/DraperPerfume bit complex/tired finish; smooth/resolved tannins
and lots of pungent/DraperPerfume but lacks fruit and just seems tired/clunky/not very interesting. $22.00
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Another wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The '07 was by far the best of this trio for me because it was loaded w/ Carignane fruit. The '03 was
also very attractive in that it still had some fruit, but had lost a lot of that tannic/acid bite it
had when it was young. The '00 was more like what I've come to expect from Carignane...it just doesn't
evolve into a very interesting wine. Maybe (Ridge) Carignane has a pretty narrow drinking window.
I'll probably keep trying old-vine Carignane...but w/ much lower expectations now. Maybe you can't
make a silk purse out of a pig's scrotum (Kansas colloquialism).
Tom