Santa Ynez

A quick trip to Santa Ynez to pick up wine from two of our wine clubs. Up first was Beckmen...

2008 Beckmen Rose, Grenache
2007 Beckmen Syrah, Estate
2006 Beckmen Syrah, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2006 Beckmen Syrah, Block Six

Wasn't really feeling the rose, so I'll have to try it again next time we are up because I usually like it every year. I just tried the syrahs after that and everything was really good. The Block Six is inky black and has some alcohol on it. After that we went to Alma Rosa and tried their line of Pinots.

2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir-Vin Gris, El Jabali Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Clone 667, La Encantada Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Mt. Eden Clone, El Jabali Vineyard

All fantastic. Really like the 2007 La Encantada, and thought this rose was MUCH better than the Beckmen grenache one I had earlier, which is strange for me, but oh well. The Mt. Eden clone was pretty tannic and hopefully mellows out with a couple years of bottle age. I guess for the 2008's they are going to bottle a clone 115, 667, and Mt. Eden (they are not going to bottle the 777 like they did in 2007). Probably my favorite pinots year after year in the area.