2015 K Vintners Syrah The Beautiful- USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley (10/29/2018)
Day 1: Not what I would expect from Washington State. Very Northern Rhone. White pepper, game, violets, earth and black licorice. This has a medium to long finish and is quite a complex wine. Not many would pick Washington State in a blind tasting. I am quite please with this day 1 showing on quite a young wine. Should evolve on day 2, 3 and possibly 4. 94 points
Day 2: Violets, white pepper, soy sauce, game and menthol. This has the least amount of fruit I have ever tasted from a Washington State Syrah but I love this wine! One of the more interesting wines of the year for me. A must buy! 95 points
Day 3: Holding form from day 1 and 2. I love this wine.
Recommendation: Buy a three or four and try one young and see how this evolves over the years. I see this as a 15 year wine. One of my top wines of the year considering the price of $45. (95 pts.)
Thanks for the note, John. I bought 4 bottles last week. This was our favorite producer on a recent trip to Walla Walla. And when I saw that this wine had garnered 98 pts. from William Kelley, well . . . a no brainer.
I’ve had a lot of this producer and love it. I had a 2015 The Hidden about a month ago. You could smell it from the decanter across the room. I’m having a hard time keeping my hands off of the other bottle I have. I see my local store has this one so I may have to get a bottle this weekend,
The wines have certainly changed a lot from just a handful of years ago. Native ferments, long but gentle macerations with very little new wood and lots of savory complexity are now the order of the day.
The wines have certainly changed a lot from just a handful of years ago. Native ferments, long but gentle macerations with very little new wood and lots of savory complexity are now the order of the day.
Had a 13 K Vintners Morrison Vineyard Syrah last night. Big, bold and beautiful. Across the K Vintners portfolio the wines are stellar and age very well. The last three wines we’ve had from K Vintners, The Boy, Guido and Motor City Kitty were all outstanding. If I could remember more than two weeks ago, we probably had others. Charles enjoys making wine and loves to play around with the blend now and then but they are always tasty. Great notes John.
Very encouraging note. I did a horizontal of 2010s for my wife’s birthday (cougar hills, hidden, beautiful, old stones) and I remember each being distinctive, interesting (with beautiful and hidden especially tasty); but I wouldn’t have characterized them as restrained, complex, or very reminiscent of N. Rhône style. This makes me want to revisit. Has the price dropped some as well? Several bottlings were $60-75 at that time…
My local Whole Foods gets a fair bit of K. Picked up 3 each of 2015 Cattle King and Powerline. With 10% off a 6 pack plus the 5% Amazon gives you not bad on the price. Based on WK’s note I should have picked up some of The Creator too.
Also had 13s and 14s of Cattle King and Hidden sitting in the cellar.
Had a 13 Klein last night which was solid.
Any opinions on when these wines will be in their optimal window?
Just picked up 3 bottles of the 2015 Powerline from wine.com. Loved the bottle of 2014 that I tried, so this Syrah is an annual purchase for me at this point.
I bought an array of '07’s a number of years ago. Each one was a volatile oaky mess and just reminded me of the worst of Aussie shiraz. Never got around to the Wailuke Slope and don’t think I ever will. Interesting that they’ve changed direction but there is so much great N.Rhone that I think I’ll just stick to that. Yes, call me an elitist snob but once bitten, twice shy.