Had this white last night (therein lies a story):
1. OjaiVnyd Vin du Soleil Blanc SantaBarbaraCnty (14%; 60% Roussanne/40% Viognier) 2003: Med.dark gold color; very strong honeyed/honeysuckle/Rouss some peach/pear/Viog some nutty/toasted hazelnuts/very slight oxidative quite complex/old whiteRhone slight waxy/bacony/figgy beautiful nose; lightly tangy/tart quite honeyed/honeycomb/honeysuckle light floral/pear/peach/Viog quite rich/lush very light toasted hazelnuts/nutty/bit oxidative some oldRouss/oldRhoneWhite light figgy lovely complex flavor; very long/lingering lightly tart bit figgy strong honeycomb/Rouss/honeysuckle light peach/Viog/pear light toasted hazelnuts/nutty bit smokey/toasty/oak some oldWhiteRhone finish w/ trace of bitterness; a beautiful example of a fully mature Calif Rouss w/ a very slight oxidative character in a pleasant way; lacks the strong stony/minerality of an old white Rhone Rouss; in incredible for 14+ yrs old. $cheap
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. My TN when I tasted it w/ Adam in May '04:
Quote:
2. OjaiVnyd Vin de Soleil Blanc BienNacidoVnyd 2003: Rather leesy quite minerally ripe/lush/pear/
Viognier rather low-key/quiet floral nose; soft/lush low-key/pear/peach/Viognier/ripe rather
minerally flavor; a rather quiet/ripe wine w/ an interesting minerality to it. The wine is mostly
Viognier. All of the Stolpman Roussanne goes now into the VinBlanc. The tiny amount of
RollRanch Viognier is now all diverted into the dessert/icewine. This wine is a FallRelease.

Vin du Soleil was a plug-ugly/gaudy/garish/sunny/Provencal-like
label Adam used for a couple of yrs for his white&red Rhone blends. They were always very reasonably priced. Often it was a Stolpman Rouss/BienNacido Viog blend.
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2. NutherOrphanStash: Last night, I was moving this 5-stack of empty styrofoam shippers to consolidate it w/ some other stacks in the garage. When I got to the next-to-bottom box, it felt a bit heavier than the other three. "Oh...there's some wine in here". Opened it up and, sure enough, there was about 6 btls of orphaned Ojais in there. I pulled this Vin du Soleil '03, knowing it was a cheap white and most certainly dead. Whatta surprise...it was, in fact, beautiful. Here it was, standing upright in this box for some 13 yrs in totally uncontrolled temps...upper 90's in the Summer and below freezing in the winter. The cork was totally sound and came out w/ difficulty w/ an Ah-So. There was absolutely no signs of this wine being abused and over-heated. So much for lying on its side at a constant 55F.
Haven't looked inside the bottom box which also has some wine in it.
Tom



Edited by TomHill (05-09-2017 09:37:21)