Santa Barbara Winemakers.

1994 Brander, semillon, Santa Ynez Valley, Alc13%.

You read right, 1994 semillon. This is the last bottle in Fred's cellar, possibly the last one in the world. Not even sure I'm worthy of reviewing this, but one can but try. The physical appearance is pale amber, the label almost faded, the cork when pulled is three quarters of the way soaked, the top quarter bone dry, four sugar granule sized tartrate crystals glisten on the bottom of the cork. The attack of the first slurp and swoosh around the palate gives out a crisp, delicate fizz of effervescence. The initial reaction to the taste is of an apple, but which one? In the US the most common would be of a granny Smith, but this is not what comes to my mind. I'm edging towards maybe a Bramley, but then Pippin comes to mind, then it's scrumping crab apples as a kid in a neighbours garden on a warm Sunday afternoon, yet this wine is without such tartness. There is an epiglottis heft, is that hints of just a little barrel time? Or just simply the age?

As it starts to warm up while the bunny is roasting in the oven, butterscotch enters the fray with an unusual mid-palate of feint coconut milk. There is a soft roundness tugging me back to France, steamed mussels, garlic, fresh bread. This is where we have met this wine before, the "Octopussy" yacht anchored off the shore around 1990, Gauloise burning around the tables in St. Tropez. A condensation covered bottle on a hot afternoon, was it on Lake Como, in a Bellagio side street with grilled trout in '95? Too many thoughts none seem right.

Down to dinner, the roasted rabbit with kalamata olive bread for dipping into olive oil, pretty basic but I wanted to focus on the wine. This is a hard one though. At once fresh unidentifiable fruit, then hints of papaya, wet newspaper? I know, I'm all over the charts and the compass is broke. Butterscotch crops up once in a while but so too does the skin of a green banana, fruity chalk, soft minerals, sapling twigs from a privit hedge. These "green" nuances do not make this wine appear unripe either though, they are just "potential" measurements, in the way Victorians referred to children as little adults. Nor is the wine tropical, but these are the closest profiles I can get to. It's going down great with the lapin. The finish is equally intriguing, to the point my brain will implode. It's all of the above and more. I'm stumped and loving every minute of it. Definitely a complex bugger.



Cheers

March 5, 2006