1997 Sobon

[Randy Caparoso]

Stylistically, I'd definitely put Grgich in about the same place of Nalle -- they capture the varietal berryishness, but always within a polished, elegantly textured context (avoiding overripe, raisiny fruit, viciously high alcohol, and with subtle oak shadings).

I'm constantly tasting the whole range of Rosenblooms (local distributors constantly hammering at you with samples), but I generally avoid them since they tend to go way into that raisiny, and sometimes varnishy, style of jamminess. But it's not that I'm against big fruit. Ridge and De Loach single vineyard cuvees, for instance, are always great to me. Also in this vein, I've recently found Dry Creek Vineyards' 1997 "Heritage Clone" and 1997 "Old Vines" to be wonderful in that slightly oversized, big, dense, jammy style (the "Heritage" being more blackberryish, and the "Old Vines" more raspberryish). Lots of styles for lots of different tastes!