Since I’ve drank my last ESJ bottle a few months ago, I have been craving ESJ. With no ESJ in my foreseeable future, are there any ESJ-like wines from BD worth trying?
ESJ - would someone please define this acronym.
edmunds st john – very nice, ageworthy producer
I don’t remember them participating in the past, are they a part of the offering this year?
he said esj-like
Ahh. I like Lagier Meredith quite a bit and certainly close to the ESJ style.
Was thinking Lagier Meredith as well.
L-M makes notably larger scaled wines than ESJ. That said, I love their Syrah.
Steve Edmunds has Syrah available. Get in touch with him.
Halcon has participated in the past. Reliably excellent California Syrah that is neither too fat nor too lean.
Would be one to check out, but can’t speak to degree they are ESJ-like, aside from both being very tasty.
+1
I think the closest BD syrahs to the ESJ style are Cabot and Briceland. But they’re not really that close, IME. If what you want is ESJ, just get the real thing.
Thanks for the input! I’ll check out the deals on BD and have an email into Steve (thanks David!)
So it sounds as if you are looking for lower alcohol, more ‘restrained’ styles of syrah, correct? My guess is that Arnot Roberts may be too far to the AFWE scale, and they don’t participate. What about Dehlinger? Again, they don’t participate but that might be the ticket.
You should probably become a cru member so you can preview stuff the day before - and get an idea of ‘styles’ by asking questions then.
Hope that helps. Cheers!
If the Sandler is offered, jump on that.
Not participating afaik, but Waxwing fits the bill.
Don’t forget Deux Vert Vineyard Syrah by Biggio Hamina or Matello. If it happens to get offered, I think it is in the range of what you are looking for.
I haven’t had Biggio Hamina’s Deux Vert but have had Goodfellow’s. I thought it was yummy but leaned more AFWE. Can anyone who has had that and A-R chime in?
I’m going to have to hedge and say, “depends on vintage”, but I’ve found Arnot Roberts wines to be generally harsh, packed with more bacon and olive than fruit. The two Oregon producers provide retrained fruit, but flavors are not lacking. The Northern Rhone character comes out, but, while it seems like many new world producers try to push Syrah too far in one direction or another, Todd and Marcus just let the cool climate fruit be what it is.
Got it, thanks for the explanation Peter. I don’t drink much Syrah but what you stated makes sense.
Really no substitute for ESJ Syrah. Best of breed and unsurpassed at the price points. Biggio Hamina and Matello/Goodfellow produce fine restrained examples, if offered. A plug for Cabot (Humboldt County) which can be quite tasty too…don’t know if they’re participating this year.
RT
While I love Arnot-Roberts, it’s way leaner than ESJ.
I am not offering any syrah for bday. But I can make you a deal on something after sunday if you are still in a buying mode.