9 May 2006 - 20:032001 Edmunds St. John Los Robles Viejos (B+)

Steve Edmund makes his wines in a warehouse in Berkeley. I’m just now tasting my fourth of his wines and it’s my favorite so far. I wrote about the blonk! previously and I didn’t take any notes when I drank the 2004 Shell and Bone White or the 2003 Rocks and Gravel red. These are clearly old world style wines — sophisticated, complex and rich, with the fruit flavors, while noticeably present, getting along nicely with earthy herbal and mineral flavors. Tonight’s choice, the 2001 Los Robles Viejos, is the last of the four different wines I bought so that I could get an idea of what this winemaker is up to.

I’m always looking for small wineries to fall in love with, not because I have anything against large wineries (although I might) but I want to be able to feel like I can have a relationship with the wine I’m drinking — to have a personal connection with the vineyards or the winemaker. The first big crush was Topolos, a winery whose time has passed. We visited Topolos in Forestville (Russian River Valley) several times and were seduced by some friendly guys who took the time to bring us ‘backstage’ for a hands-on tour of the winemaking process. They let us stick our heads in the large fermenting tanks and they siphoned some future releases straight from the barrel for our tasting pleasure. They made great zinfandels but I’ll always be most grateful to them for turning me on to alicante bouschet (info here and here) — my first introduction to a blending grape bottled as a varietal for it’s own unique qualities.

Another winery we adopted is Unti in Dry Creek Valley. We knew nothing of them except that they made Italian and Rhone varietals but we were driving by their tasting room and even though they advertised tastings by appointment only we stopped and went in. The tasting room was simply a small wine-stained counter set on the concrete floor in the front of a warehouse. George Unti himself poured for us as he told stories of his family, travels in Italy and a recent excursion into San Francisco for a haircut. It was at Topolos and Unti that we first started buying wine by the case. The wines were great but something about the personal connections we had made with the people who crafted them magnified our appreciation.

I have not been to the Edmund St. John tasting room partly because I haven’t been to Berkeley since I discovered them but mostly because they don’t have one. They have no public facility and I only know them through their web site. More correctly, I should say ‘him’ for Edmund St. John seems to be the passion of Steve Edmunds, whom I haven’t met or spoken to. I read a passing reference to his wines somewhere and made a note to try them sometime so when I came upon a local source I bought one of each of the aforementioned bottles. Now, after tasting the fourth one, and reading his notes about them on his site, which reads like a blog, I’m starting to feel like I know a little bit about who he is and what he’s trying to do, albeit superficially. Still, the crush has begun.

2001 Los Robles Viejos is a Rhone style blend of Grenache, Mourv�dre, Syrah and Counoise. As far as I can tell, the term ‘los viejos’ or “the old ones” refers to a mexican folk dance and also may be the title of a Diego Rivera painting (the only reference I found to the painting was in Spanish, which I don’t speak). The wine is a dark ruby red, silky in texture and the taste lasts long on the tongue. Mildy tannic and sweetly herbaceous with a peppery edge. This is an elegant wine that stands well on it’s own — I’m drinking it sans appetizer before dinner. I was planning on making a thai peanut sauced chicken but I may have to change the recipe to accomodate the wine - maybe I’ll do a simpler sweet red pepper sauce. It retails for $25.