Bokisch Vineyards Graciano 2005

Type: Red
Producer: Bokisch Vineyards
Variety: Graciano
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Central Valley
Appellation Lodi
Alc. 14.5%
$25.99 from WineQ



The Little Wooden Guy appreciates wines made to drink fresh, rather than cellar.

Night One

A rich earthy smell first out of the bottle changes slowly to more fruit and spice after an hour or so in the glass. Red cherries and wild strawberries, asian spices and a touch of vanilla all overlay faint earth and mild mushrooms.

Curiously, red fruit on the nose turns to darker fruit on the palate, blackberries and blackcurrants along with unsweetened cranberries. The darker fruit fades on the mid-palate as a bit of underlying earth joins the tart, even slightly bitter, cranberries. It all leads to a mid-length richly tannic finish.

Very nice on Night One. Will it get better, or fall off, tomorrow?

Night Two

Fruits are darker and softer on Night Two. The cherries have gone from bright Bing cherries to riper black cherries. The tart strawberries are gone, replaced by sweet blueberries and mulberries. The spice is mostly gone, too. The vanilla still lingers.

Most of the balance is gone, leaving a vanilla-loaded wooden fruit bomb, adding cloying brown sugar in the mid-palate and an overall sense of over-worked sweetness.

This was a very nice bottle of wine on Night One, and a big disappointment on Night Two. Does that mean it's bad? No, not at all. It means it is a good bottle of wine made to drink fresh, not to decant for hours or cellar for years.

Century Oak Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

Housley's Century Oak Vineyards
Lodi, California
2003
Alcohol 14.6%

The nose is very vegetal, lots of green pepper and cut stalks. Blackcurrants and some blueberries peek out from the green. Finally there is a hint of vanilla under the fruit and the vegetation.

The palate is also very vegetal. If I tried this blind I would guess it was from South America, with the distinctive green pepper taste. Blackcurrants and vanilla are there too, flopping on the edge of sharp hard tannins.

I am not loving this wine. Can you tell? But don't give up too fast. I will give it a second look tomorrow night.

NIGHT TWO

The nose is still weedy, all cuttings and green pepper. On the palate, well, it did not get better. I can, however, describe this perfectly. First, grind up some oak very fine, down to powder. In a separate bowl combine the juice of 1/2 a cup of blackberries and one small plum (save the skin) with a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Now poke small holes in the plum skin and, using it as a seive to catch the blackberry pips, pour it into the bowl with the oak powder. Stir well. Drink. But only if you must.