Representing the latest release of a project authored by Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari with Sangiovese from Candy Mountain and Boushey (blended with 29% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Syrah), the 2009 Saggi evokes cherry jam and candied chestnuts mingled with vanilla and faintly burnt sugar on a polished, plush palate, piquancy of cherry stone serving for a welcome sense of counterpoint and push-back to the wine’s sweet confitured and confectionary cast. Given what I take to be Washington State proclivities – not to mention those of the principle grape in question – I anticipated a sense of brightness and energy to the finish here, but it is instead as soothing, creamed-over, and suggestive of confitured and confectionary sweetness as the wine’s mid-palate impression. Bitter notes of cherry pit and char persist here as well. I imagine it will hold up well for at least 6-8 years but won’t attempt to speculate about its flavor evolution.
Allen Shoup’s vision and ambition for Long Shadows – not to mention his financial commitment (banks, he reports, only ever kicked-in 20% of the total investment) – was and remains audacious, and he has clearly lived up to the promise he made to each of the world-renowned vintners whom he invited to craft a wine from Washington State that no expenses would be spared in giving them whatever it was they wanted from Long Shadow’s facilities, as well in extended elevage and leisurely release dates. “They took me up on my word a lot more than I thought they would,” says Shoup with a laugh. Along the way, manifestly talented Gilles Nicault – hired-away from Woodward Canyon in 2003 with the idea that he would be the point man doing the bidding of his much more famous winemaking colleagues – became more of a consultant and confident to them as well as being assigned a label and project of his own under the Long Shadows umbrella; and in 2006 a huge and hugely impressive facility was completed west of Walla Walla to house this unique operation. The number of visits made by each winemaking luminary to taste and tend his project varies, but there is every indication that they all take their aesthetic capital in Long Shadows (in which each also has an ownership share) very seriously. All of the above granted, as inspiring as this project and the participation of such internationally famous talents is – and must be as well for the growers of Washington collectively – those veterans who have set this State’s qualitative benchmarks were not in need of a Long Shadows to learn how or be inspired to render distinctive world class Washington wine. Sources for these projects include the estate vineyard The Benches – formerly Wallula Vineyards, but still managed for the Long Shadows partners by its founders, the Den Hoeds – as well as selected blocks of Boushey, Candy Mountain, Conner Lee, Sagemoor, Stone Tree and Tapteil. I’ve included a few details about the approach behind each of the Long Shadows wines in my notes on their most recent releases below. “If somebody went through these wines and said it was quite clear that they exhibited a common Long Shadows thread,” explains Shoup, “I wouldn’t like that compliment, because what I want is that each of these wines has its own signature.” Generally speaking though, I find a common denominator of extremely sweet, ripe, confitured fruit and surface polish. It also strikes me that the money Shoup and company aren’t sparing on new wood makes for one of their most efficacious but also least well-considered expenses, since many Long Shadow reds are awfully obviously marked by their toasted oak. Incidentally, Shoup and Nicault indicated that with the exception of John Duval (and then only for occasional lots), none of the Long Shadows collaborators believes in adding tartaric acid to their musts.
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