Scorpion Bay Hotel, Private, Picturesque ........VIP and Club Memberships Available >>> Scorpion Bay Hotel

an international destination for World Class Surfing and Fishing

founded by Fred Borrelli

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ The Social Diary ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ The Social Diary ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 2008, Offering #93

by The Social Diary Wine Expert Columnist Gary Parker, of The WineSellar & Brasserie

Zagat Acclaimed

August 2008, Offering #93

Some of the most treasured bottles I open from my personal collection are Syrah or Petite Sirah based wines that have more than 6-7 years of bottle age on them. I recently enjoyed a couple from our December 2003 Gary Parker Collection, The 2000 Qupe, Bien Nacido Syrah and the 2000 Fulton Petite Sirah.

I didn’t just enjoy them, mind you, it was closer to lust.

Well, anyway, let’s talk about this month’s offering, because it relates to what I have described above.

The full, rich, powerful fruit emerges in time, dropping it’s edge, to become a silken beast of beauty. I am certain that is precisely what will happen to the 2005 and 2006 Antiqv2s (an’ti-kwuss) in 8 years and more. I am so pleased and proud to offer you two vintages of the Antiqv2s, and suggest you drink them together and compare.

For me, six of each of these Syrah's will go to my cellar, the one away from home. Hopefully this will keep me from sneaking out another bottle for a tasty reminder of these luscious wines.

 2005 & 2006 Antiqv2s Syrah, Gary's Vineyard

Gary Franscioni and Gary Pisoni have known each other since they were young children, growing up together in Gonzales, California. With the success of the Pisoni Vineyard, they decided to go in on a joint venture and plant a new vineyard a mile south of Gary Franscioni's ranch, in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Appropriately, they named it Gary’s Vineyard.

Their original plan was to plant all 50 acres to Pinot Noir, using budwood from the Pisoni Vineyard. However, they decided that they should do at least a few acres of Syrah and they planted eight acres, using a clone they selected from the Bien Nacido Vineyard.

Perched high above the Salinas Valley, the Santa Lucia Highlands promises to become a crown jewel of California viticulture. The AVA has developed a reputation for producing wines with intense fruit character, combined with a graceful, often mineral-laden acidic backbone.

Produced by Emmanuel Kemiji of Miura fame, and while using the winemaking talents of Byron Kosuge, the Antiqv2s label won’t stay under the radar for long.

2006 Antiqv2s, Syrah, Gary's Vineyard
                       

Growing Region:.............................................. Napa Valley, California
Varietal Blend:................................................. 100% Syrah    
Fermentation................................................... New Oak
Alcohol Level.................................................. 15%
Winery Price:................................................... $60.00
WineSellar Case Price:.................................... $44.99

Notes:  Get yourself ready to enjoy another fabulous bottle of wine. A 95 rating in The Wine Advocate, coming from one of the more famous single vineyard sites in California (my namesake), under 400 cases made, the 2006 Antiqv2s has all the makings to be a star in your wine cellar.

Appearance: Very good looking package, but difficult to read the dark red font, and further confusion arises when you try to say them name the first time or two. The back label is hard to read for me. The youthful purple edge is the only hint of color in this otherwise black as night wine. Serious, bowl-clinging curtains.

Nose:  Rich, tight, and very dense aromatic offerings to start. It should be up for a group Oscar, as the black berry, cassis and black plum fruit shine in their starring roles. A kind of inky blueberry scent also hovers, and perfectly engages the vanilla wood notes. Did you notice graham cracker, yeast and black licorice?

Texture: Noticeably more rich and dense than its older sibling, this wine comes in with a youthful brashness upon first opening. 15 minutes later it starts to even out and show a well integrated, mouth filling liquid with a viscosity to remind one of an aged balsamic. At this point, you could not call it elegant, but rather a beautifully balanced, well-extracted wine.

Flavors: Pure, powerful and dense black berry, cassis and ripe black plum fruit boggle the mind, gloriously. Notes of red meat, smoke, vanilla oak, licorice, black pepper, fresh herbs take turns dancing through and around a distant touch of dairy (cream and butter).

Serving Suggestions: As I mentioned before, my cellar experiences with wonderful California Syrah has been exceptional. I urge you to place a good amount of the 2005 and 2006 in your cellar, forget about them for a few years, and then begin to nibble away at your treasures as years go by. Drink them side by side for a wonderful vintage comparison. What Ho!

2005 Antiqv2s, Syrah, Gary's Vineyard

Growing Region:.............................................. Napa Valley, California
Varietal Blend:................................................. 100% Syrah    
Fermentation................................................... New Oak
Alcohol Level.................................................. 14.5%
Winery Price:................................................... $60.00
WineSellar Case Price:.................................... $44.99

Notes: Get yourself ready to enjoy a fabulous bottle of wine. A 92 rating in The Wine Advocate, coming from one of the more famous single vineyard sites in California (my namesake), under 400 cases made, the 2005 Antiqv2s has all the makings to be a star in your wine cellar.

Appearance: Very good looking package, but difficult to read the dark red font, and further confusion arises when you try to say them name the first time or two. But, of course, once you know about it, it’s green light time. Heavy bottle, high punt. Black at the core dark crimson around the rim, with gray reflections.

Nose:  Always evolving, showing deep red and black fruits. One of the more fun things is it has essence of it’s brother Cote-Rotie from South of France. Still, it is decidedly Americana, most specifically California. Dark berry and black berry fruit, dark wood, hazelnut, smoke, with black and white pepper. It also reminds me of a mocha coffee with a dash of cinnamon on top.

Texture: The rich, extracted fruit does not feel monstrous in your palate, but does give a wide, full impression.            Exhibiting good power, you’ll notice the silky, creamy sensation is edged by a lively strawberry-like acid. Promising, youthful, intense and elegant.

Flavors: There’s no stopping on this one: sweet vanilla oak cruises over powerful black and red fruit flavors, to include black berry and ripe plum. Smoke, wood bark, hazelnut and roasted nuts mingle with the meaty, tobacco, leather, crushed herbs and earth notes.

Serving Suggestions: I urge you to place a good amount of the 2005 and 2006 in your cellar, forget about them for a few years, and then begin to nibble away at your treasures as years go by. Drink them side by side for a wonderful vintage comparison. You will be quite happy with yourself!

* Gary Parker is the Principal, Founder, Chairman and CEO of The WineSellar Group. From a background of culinary arts, architecture and art, Gary opened The WineSellar & Brasserie in 1988 with a pioneering concept of combining a fine wine shop, a state of the art wine storage facility, and a highly regarded French restaurant named The Brasserie, all under one roof. With its top rated Zagat level cuisine, and Gary Parker's hand picked wine list of 2,500 classic wines, The WineSellar & Brasserie garnered instant notoriety. The wine list has won The Wine Spectator Grand Award (one of the best 100 wine lists in the world) every year since 1988. Gary subsequently created The WineSellar Club and www.winesellar.com, an Internet wine auction site. Gary is recognized as a leading authority in fine wine, and is active as a spokesperson, appraiser, auctioneer and panelist in the industry.

(editor's note - Gary is a former principal owner of Laurel Restaurant & Bar. Gary established Laurel in 1995, which he sold in February 2005).

Warning ** photos, video and writing on this site are the

copyright of The Social Diary, San Diego Social Diary

no reproduction of any part or parts is allowed without written permission by The Social Diary