Halcon Vineyard Tasting in Forestville

Brian Tuite hosted another big Syrah tasting at his house in Forestville over the weekend, where many of us convened for a similar Syrah party 3 years ago.

Quite a few bottles were auctioned off for fire relief, while we drank a couple dozen bottles from the Halcon Vineyard, high up (2,500 ft. in elevation) in the Yorkville Highlands, South Mendocino county, just above Sonoma.

Halcon is planted mostly to Syrah, while there is some Grenache, Mourvèdre, Vigonier, and Petite Syrah. Owners Paul and Jackie Gordon planted the vines that make up the 15 or so acres at Halcon, (with some help from others, such as Wells from Copain) and about half the fruit is sold to a few producers (Myriad and Jolie Laide currently the most notable, ex- Copain), and the other half bottled under the Halcon label.

Having tasted a few of these wines over the years (most of which were tasted three years ago), it was really interesting to catch up with what was happening at Halcon and to get a better understanding of the wines it produces and the people (Paul & Jackie) who manage it.

Being such a thorough tasting, we went through just about every wine produced from Halcon fruit, starting with a 2008 Copain Syrah, which also happened to be a stand out wine of the tasting, mostly because it had clearly reached its secondary stage of development and was drinking very well, open and intoxicating aromas and very pleasing on the palate. It showed the characteristics of the site, which are green olive, white pepper, and clear/bright minerality in spades with understated fruit. Paul mentioned there were fires in 08’ along with spring frost that complicated matters. Being the first vintage, and a tiny crop, Copain was the only producer to make wine from the site that year. Once Paul mentioned the fires and the campfire/ ashy effect that it gave the wine, most of us agreed that it was there, and that it may have helped give the wine some complexity. At any rate, it was impressive that such young vines (I’m assuming they were about 3-4 years old in 08’) could make such an interesting wine.

As interesting as the ‘08 Copain was, the 09’ was pretty well closed and tannic, with Paul mentioning the tannins probably didn’t get completely ripe in 2009, though it wasn’t distracting at all to lovers of old world wines.

Here are some brief notes from the full complement of wines tasted. Standouts included the 2013 and 2014 Halcon Alturas Syrah, along with the 2014 Myriad and 2016 Jolie Laide Syrah, and 2015 Halcon Petite Sirah…I think the group as a whole appreciated the PS a lot, giving a slightly bigger and novel fruit expression.

2008 Copain Halcon
Olive tapenade, expressive fruit with savory spice and meaty aromas with a suggestion of camp fire. Most open of the tasting, and arguably most complex.

Producer notes: 1st vintage, frost year, fire year, about 1/2 ton per acre which is fairly common, 1.5 tons per acre being the upper register of the typical crop load.

2009 Copain Halcon
A little tighter and cleaner, fresh, and tannic. Very tight, in need of 5+ years additional cellaring. Tannins never got fully ripe according to Paul.

2011 Copain Halcon
Olive, mild pepper on the nose. Higher acid and stems apparent, still relatively closed. Very dry finish. Apparently Wells of Copain wish he’d destemmed the 11’

2011 Halcon Alturas (fully destemmed)
White pepper and some oak on the nose. Brighter on the palate, not as drying on the finish.

2012 Halcon Alturas
Richer, riper fruit than 11’, still with freshness to spare, well buffered tannins. Light on its feet with plenty of open knit flavors. Prototypical California Syrah.

2013 Halcon Alturas (a little Brett)
(big frost, 1/3 ton per acre, 1/3 whole cluster)
Big and savory, stems, olive, intoxicating aromas. Ripe and concentrated, light olive and white pepper accents, with elevated freshness. Finishes clean and pure. Excellent wine.

2014 Halcon Alturas (40% WC, 13% Abv)
Typical olive and white pepper, half closed nose. Really energetic and interesting palate. Nice graceful finish. Very nice and certainly challenges the 13’

2014 Jolie Lade Halcon (100% WC)
Reticent on the nose. Stems come through on the palate, the wine offering plenty of freshness, herbal notes, and plush, dry tannins. Definitely needs time but I like the potential. Though there were others who disagreed.

2014 Wilde Farm Halcon
Nice and fresh, with good tannin balance. Seemed true to the sites character, just in need of more time to reveal its charms.

2014 Myriad Halcon
What seemed to separate this wine from the pack was the slightly bigger fruit impression while maintaining a lighter impact on the palate. Forward, but elegant and somewhat understated. Just slightly tart, and the 13.5% Abv is about as low as you’ll see from a Myriad red, again owing to the sites elevation and terroir.

2013 Rostaing Cote Rotie
The ringer of the group. Spicy, fresh and tannic. Big departure from the Halcon Syrah, most thought there was a flaw, some VA and just very wiry and acidic.

2015 Syrah’s: I skipped this flight as there were a lot of producers and I was in palate preservation mode. I did try the Petite Sirah and loved it. I was also happy to hear Paul mention that a single varietal Mourvèdre would likely be made in 2017, which would be the first.

2016 Halcon Syrah Barrel Samples
We tried a 50% whole cluster and a 100% whole cluster sample that Paul brought along to the tasting, both showing very well, though I had a slight preference to the 100%, liking what the stems add to the wine. Paul seemed to be very happy about the quality in the 16’s and it was pretty clear why.

2016 Jolie Laide Halcon Syrah
Being one of the few who liked the 2014 Jolie Laide, I especially liked the 2016, another 100% whole cluster approach, adding a strong herbal presence to what is otherwise very clean and fresh Syrah, with characteristic olive and white pepper accents. Good medium plus tannins add good energy to the finish. Was lucky enough to bid and win a bottle of this, score!

All together it was a heck of a tasting in a beautiful setting. Thanks again to Brian Tuite, Dava, and the folks at Halcon. Was also great to hang with some great drinking friends who I haven’t had a chance to see much of lately: Richard Foxall, Greg T, Alan Rath, Mark Larson and their spouses.

Thanks for taking some notes Rob, I think Alan was as well. Perhaps he can chime in.

Dropped off a case of half drank Syrah at Wind Gap this morning. Just too much for one guy to polish off. Kept the 16’s, the '08 Copain and the Rhys for further study.

Didn’t know you were taking notes! But from memory, the 2008 Copain was exactly as you mentioned - I really liked it and I think that’s a wine I tasted years ago with a friend in NYC, and I remember thinking that I liked the smoky, meaty quality.

The 2013 was really great and the Petite Sirah as well - it’s really well done. The interesting comparison for me was between the wines with 50% and 100% stems. Pretty educational.

I finished those two last night and personally I preferred the 100% whole cluster to the 50%. Tannins were much tamer and the fruit expression fresher, more acidic. YMMV. Seems to ring true for me as far as 100% WC goes. Just goes well with my palate.

I find it interesting that a higher stem inclusion, which typically raises the pH, is perceived as higher acid. I often have the same impression. Not sure why. It seems like the TA remains high, the pH increased is balanced by a certain fresh tannin quality?

I don’t know how to splain it cept that it makes the wine more deliciouser!

Rob

Thanks for capturing the notes.
Yes we will do a Mourvedre from 2017. Our Mourvedre crop was a little higher than the last few years (around 2.25t/a) while the Grenache crop a little lower. We decided to keep the Esquisto blend we like - 2/3 Grenache + 1/3 Mourvedre as a coferment - and that left us a little over a ton as a pure Mourvedre wine.

Brian

Thanks for organizing the event. A fabulous time was had by all! And particularly thanks for all your work around the auction.

Paul,
That’s awesome. I’m a huge fan of the Esquisto as you know, and lately have become quite enamored of Mourvèdre. Looking forward to trying it.

Just curious, do you ever plan to expand the vineyard? Or have you maxed out on the number of vines you can or want to manage.

Dan

Some pics

Scene of the crime.

Rob pulling corks

Deep discussion

The morning after

Lineup

Palate cleanser

Killer thread, I’ve really loved most of the wines that I have had from this vineyard. Copain did an excellent job with it, Paul’s wines seemed to get better and better, and seemed to show less presence of new wood, over the course of several vintages. I need to get back to buying these wines. Will Copain ever make another Halcon?

Dan

Building a winery on the vineyard is the first priority. Planning to get that up and running for harvest 2019.
Then will likely plant some more acreage. Not sure what to plant. Maybe try Pinot? Nebbiolo? Cab Franc? Mencia? Suggestions?

Robert

Yes we moved away from the 30% new oak we used on the 2009/10. These days we are utilizing 10-15% new on the Alturas. Frankly we only used that to keep the flow of 500L puncheons. Used puncheons are almost impossible to source these days.
We will release the 2016 100% whole-cluster Syrah, 100% Chave clone, no new oak as a separate wine.
A maybe on a future Copain Halcon but I think Scott Schultz, Pax and Mike Smith are doing a great job with the fruit.

Look at Alan Rath, all G with his hat on–dig that. And, I know that backyard, it’s a damn lovely place to do an event. Tuite, you have been through a lot, all of you up there so to press on with the event and be together must have felt great, alongside the charitable piece that also took place. Well done.

As to the format, what a cool event, as I too enjoy doing producer profiles like this and putting smart people around a table to discuss what’s in the glass. You all seemed to accomplish that well, and I would dig seeing more TNs if they are still forthcoming.

I remember years ago doing a visit with Wells and some people up the vineyard. In terms of a metaphor, like being on the top of the moon and looking out, it’s kind of like that as the vineyard is high above everything and you can see out in all directions, including up and through the Anderson Valley. This weekend, I will try and add a few photos from that trip, to show you all what the vineyard looks like. Pretty amazing place up there.

Paul, look forward to trying your wines soon. I’ve lost touch with them and aside from the Copain bottlings I have back to 2008, I want to see again how you’re interpreting your place there through the wines you are making. I know we have them in Falltacular but it’s so damn hard to taste anything on that day, as I am in host mode.

Teroldego!

Blaufränkisch. Late ripening, peppery, grows best in elevated, cooler regions.

Grenache. In your climate it could - by itself - be a wonderful wine. But if not, the red fruit and high acid would blend well with your Syrah (and vice versa).

Paul - thinking out loud here with no data, but if you do whole cluster, don’t some of the grapes end up doing carbonic maceration? And doesn’t CM generally provide bright fruity flavors? If they do, maybe the bright fruit notes sometimes can make those wines seem more acidic, even though they really aren’t?

Ain’t it?! My wife kept nudging me to take it off after dark. But she doesn’t get how cold it is being bald, haha.

Thanks to Brian for organizing the event, getting all the wines organized from the participants, doing some great food. No doubt in my mind Halcon has become one of the premier Syrah vineyards in California, and should continue to get even better with age.

Kim

We have two acres of Grenache. Challenge for us is shatter - the month of May at our place is cooler than Willamette Valley and often very windy. Even though the climate is very cool, our Grenache (often a very low crop) still accumulates some significant sugar, so blending with lower brix Mourvedre is important.

Here are a few photos we took when we visited Halcon vineyard back in 2012