Syrah in Pinot Noir

[alan_weinberg]

@Peter Kleban

IIRC in the “old days” weak Burgundies would be blended with heavier wine to give them some oomph. Syrah was, I think, sometimes used.

yes and the term is “Hermitaged.”

[RichardFlack]

@Peter Kleban

IIRC in the “old days” weak Burgundies would be blended with heavier wine to give them some oomph. Syrah was, I think, sometimes used.

“Brewers Burgundy”

[Andrew_Morris]

@Brian Tuite

Some Winemakers will top off barrels with whatever they have available in bulk, e.g. cabernet in syrah or syrah in pinot noir. I don’t think it is all that uncommon as the blended amount has no real effect on the end product but bragging about 5% Syrah as a blend with PN? Whatever floats your boat I guess.

A number of years ago, before I became the winemaker, we had a batch of PN that had too little color and structure for our local market, at least Joe thought so at the time. We added 3% Syrah and it changed the wine DRAMATICALLY. Adding more in our trials washed away any real PN character to our pallets. Depending on the PN and the Syrah, 5% can be a lot.

[ssukhots]

Some ‘young’ wineries in Oregon experimenting with it. Not uncommon practice. Variable results though

[RobertM]

Domaine serene has been blending Pinot noir and Syrah since 2011. When I first saw it I was really surprised but after tasting it I was blown away. The Pinot Noir definitely tames the wildness of the Syrah. The wine is called Grand Cheval. The Syrah is sourced from the Walla Walla Valley and the Pinot Noir comes from the Dundee Hills. I have added a link below.

https://www.domaineserene.com/product/Grand-Cheval-2015-750ml