Browse Tag

syrah

Isère anyone in there?

Pont de l’Isère “Domaine Combier” 2000 Crozes-Hermitage (Rhône) – While the aromatic elements of earth, animal, herb, and smoke are in evidence, the wine itself is watery and wan. About 50% of a nicely-matured Crozes. (9/09)

Collines all Rhônes

Ogier 1998 Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodanniennes Syrah “La Rosine” (Rhône) – I’d call this ready, and in a showy, very approachable state of said readiness. “Sweet” fruit turned into that marvelous mix of animal, vegetable, and mineral that characterizes older syrah, with some pepper and earth complexity and a very pleasant, medium-length finish. Intro to Aged Rhône 101, lesson one. (8/09)

St. sy.

[winemaker]Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah (California) – It will be to my ongoing regret, I’m sure, that the succulent appeal of this wine has kept me from aging it as long as it deserves. Dark fruit in the black & blue realm, leather, resolving but not quite diminishing structure, and complexity in micro-flake form…this wine regularly performs well above its pay grade, and has gotten better with each bottle I’ve uncorked. (8/09)

A crying Shane

[vineyard]Shane 2007 Syrah “The Unknown” (Sonoma County) – 14.2%. Blueberry, a little bit of cocoa, and a good deal of malt powder. The ice cream’s missing, however, and has been replaced by just a touch of booze. Nothing too offensive, and for wines of this type – admittedly not my thing – I can’t see much wrong with it aside from that slight intrusion of heat. (9/09)

Cairo

[vineyard]Gaillard 1999 Côte-Rôtie “Rose Pourpre” (Rhône) – Very aromatic, but it’s not all the violet-infused terroir…it’s the wood, as well, which is still hovering and expansive, though signs of its eventual integration are apparent. Beef-tinged earth does not detract from an overall elegance, but there’s reticence as well, and many veils yet to be penetrated. This has many, many years to go. It’s a modern-inflected wine, for sure, but it’s not wholly New World. Rather, it attempts to straddle the line, and whether or not one responds to it depends, I suppose, on one’s tolerance for wood with syrah. (10/06)

Foxy

Allemand 2005 Cornas Reynard (Rhône) – The brooding, dark heart of Cornas, with 50% less apocalypse. Very nearly perfect in form, and thus set up for long aging. Right now, there’s a lot of (ripe) tannin and smoke, but I expect rather a lot to emerge in the years decades to come. (7/09)

Just in Timbervine

[winery entrance]Porter Creek 1997 Syrah Timbervine Ranch (Russian River Valley) – 14.6%. The black raspberry and blackberry fruit is rough, fulsome, and still seems primary. It’s also hard to enjoy, because the tannin very nearly obliterates it; a mix of hard and leathery chew, bludgeoning all else. There’s acidity, but it hardly matters…this wine has fallen victim to an overabundance of dry bitterness, and while the fruit itself probably has years to go (it’s certainly not showing much tertiary character), the wine itself will never make it…unless one sucks on tea bags for fun. (7/09)

Lybel suit

Cuilleron 2008 Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes Syrah Rosé “Lybel” (Rhône) – Soupy, sticky, devoid of sufficient balancing acidity, and with the same sickly, oily note that infects almost all of Cuilleron’s wines. (7/09)

Jalets doughnut

[label]Jaboulet 2004 Crozes-Hermitage “Les Jalets” (Rhône) – Oppressively hard. tannic, and sharp-edged, with a touch of Band-Aid and a heart, skeleton, and musculature of charred blackness. Are these wines ever enjoyable? Does Jaboulet make wines for people to drink, or am I supposed to seal my driveway with this? (6/09)

Noun from verb

Gerin 1999 Côte-Rôtie “Champin Le Seigneur” (Rhône) – Dense, chewy leather, and earth studded with peppercorns. No “fruit” as such, but who needs it? Basically, you either like this sort of thing or you don’t. I do, despite believing – apparently mistakenly – that I’m not a huge Gerin fan. (9/08)