TN: 2004 Long Shadows Wineries Syrah Sequel (USA, Washington

  • 2004 Long Shadows Wineries Syrah Sequel - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley (2/22/2011)
    Either this is a “love it or hate it” wine, or there’s some form of bottle variation at play, based on a quick review of the notes below. In any event, I really enjoy this bottle. Blue fruits dominate the nose, with oak, spice and brown sugar in supporting roles. On the palate, thick without being cloying, and a very lush mouthfeel. Very long finish. The two wines that evoked (from memory) a similar overall impression were the '04 Lillian and the '05 Poonawatta Estate.

This is very different than my last outing with the '03 Sequel, which was quite harsh and disjointed on the backend. That vintage also seemed to vary a bit from bottle to bottle. As I look back on my scores and comments for the '03, there’s not a lot of consistency from bottle to bottle.

Update: after 3 hours, this kind of falls apart. Fruit diminished, and the oak turns into kind of a cardboard vanilla. Probably 89-91 points after the turn… (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I was pleasantly surprised by this wine as well.

I’m in the love camp. And my bottle didn’t last long enough to fall apart.

Chris, I wish I would’ve chugged this. It was so good on the pop/pour…LOVE,LOVE,LOVE!!!. But…I’m on the last glass, four hours later, and just not digging it…or better said, I’m not digging it as much. Still good, but disappointing because it had been approaching “great” early on.

Thanks for the note. I grabbed a bottle of this since Duval made it and I was curious. I really liked it and grabbed a few more bottles. Sounds like I should revisit. My thoughts from a few years ago were that it wouldn’t be so fragile so soon.

Cheers,

Jason

2004 Long Shadows Wineries Syrah Sequel - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley (3/17/2016)
– decanted immediately before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind –

NOSE: lush, ripe fruits; noticeable medium-strong note of creamy oak; hints of smoke and rose petals.

BODY: significant amount of sediment present; full bodied

TASTE: 14.3% alc.; oak is the dominant flavor; soft mouthfeel; oak on the finish, too; medium to medium+ acidity; with air exposure, the oak lessened in intensity and the fruit came forward somewhat; now, good, but still bad QPR @ $50; hint of sweetness; for the big/soft/lush style, this is very good, but it fails to escape that style; for my preferences, this was probably better a couple years ago.