2 December 2004

The wine surprise of the week was Deep Creek Cellars "White Linen Reserve" '02 -- mostly old-vine Seyval from a vineyard just over the border in West Virginia from Deep Creek's vineyards in extreme northwestern Maryland. Paul Roberts is proprietor-winemaker, and he's willing to push it to the limit to make the best wine he can...if he were located in a better wine-producing region, he'd probably be a star. As it is, I've never tasted a Seyval anywhere near as interesting -- deep color, peach/apricot smells and flavors, and spritzy acidity which calms down with air, but still gives this a zip that balances the intensity of the fruit -- reminds me of really good Greco di Tufo.