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We happened upon these two delightful wines last Friday, whilst perusing the selection in a department I once managed in a previous lifetime. (It seems so long ago!) We’ve reported on them in the past, and indeed, I may have brought them into that department myself. Their presence seems to illustrate a problem that winemaker Steve Edmunds had in Michigan in that the last two distributors that carried his wines didn’t seem to know how to market them, and the buying public has been generally indifferent towards them here. (I put them in as many hands as I could, but I was just one simple country wine retailer…) Because of this, Edmunds doesn’t bother with our state anymore, which is a real shame, because his wines are wonderful. We enjoyed both of these with Kim’s birthday dinner, and they paired quite nicely with the no-hormone/antibiotic Delmonico steak and shrimp stir fry with fresh mushrooms and snow peas that we shared. It had been a little more than five years since we’d had the first selection.

2001 Edmund St. John California Syrah, 14% alc., $17.99: Still deep, dark garnet in color, with nary a hint of bricking; lovely secondary earthy mushroom nuances over a core of rich dark plum and berry fruit. Full bodied, and while this hasn’t seen the best storage conditions, it’s still in good shape and in a very nice place right now, with good structure for further aging. Bears as much, if not more, resemblance to something from southern France as from California, and that’s just fine with Kim and this taster. Find this wine

The last time we had this one was in February of 2009:

2000 Edmunds St. John Los Robles Viejos Paso Robles Red Wine Rozet Vineyard, 14.1% alc., $19.99: Like the Syrah, still a deep, dark garnet in color, with nary a hint of bricking and similar lovely secondary earthy mushroom nuances with added notes of iron over the rich black plum and berry character; even more structured and intense than the Syrah, with plenty of years left in it, maybe as much as ten and beyond. The earthy mineral adds even more southern Rhone-like character, and it really hits the mark for both of us. Find this wine

Both of these had cork issues (breaking and crumbling), but beyond that, Kim pegs them when she remarks about these, “They’re delicious wines. It’s like eating food.”

Amen.

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

Related posts:

1. Two Whites from Edmunds St. John
2. John Olney, Ridge Lytton Springs

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