7 August 2007 - 20:25Edmunds St. John, Shell and Bone White, 2004

I first wrote about this in March of this year. At the time, I called it interesting and gave it a B+. I have since dropped the silly habit of assigning grades to wines but if not, I’d bump it up to an A.

I have finally come to accept that it takes several sessions before I can really assess a wine accurately. Maybe it’s a shortcoming on my part but there it is. Many times I’ve revisited a wine that I had a very strong first impression of only to be disappointed.

Just for example, I previously described Paulinshof Reisling (2004) as “amazing” and “luscious” but on subsequent tastings felt that it was cloyingly sweet and heavy. I know I’ve said that context is important but I now also believe multiple tastings are required to really get to know a wine.

This one just keeps getting better. This is my third (and last) bottle of Shell and Bone and I wish I had more. It’s incredibly rich and complex. It has more flavors than Baskin-Robbins. It’s got fruit, oak, spice and earth. It’s got plenty of acid and a little bit of sweetness. The 14.2% alcohol sounds high but it goes down smoothly and with no antiseptic aftertaste — I guess that shows balance.

Alas, the 2004 is getting scarce but I’ve heard the 2005 is going to be just as good if not better. If you didn’t know about Edmunds St. John wines, now you do.