Last night we had the 2017 Desire Lines, Syrah, Shake Ridge from Amador County. Pure, pretty purple in the glass, clear and vibrant. On appearance, some might think this is Syrah made by a Pinot producer, but I like red wines I can see through. Intense, brambly blackberry nose, loads of black pepper and a strong warm gravelly, earthy note, with maybe a hint of pine? I can’t describe it better than that, but if you’ve ever been up in the Sierra foothills in the Summer you’ll know the warm, earthy scent. Intense, slightly rustic blackberry fruit on the palate, occasional raspberry accents brighten it up a bit. The black pepper and gravel/earth notes are also prominent, especially on the rear palate, and there’s a firm, but fine-grained tannic structure here. A bit of finishing warmth along with the tannins, this might be slightly above the listed 14% but it doesn’t taste out of place. After about three hours open (no decant) it starts to become a bit more Zin-like with more raspberry and seems a little less complex. I liked it a lot better in the first couple of hours, so I’m wondering how this will act in the cellar. It definitely has the structure, but will it keep to its Syrah side? Approx…89-90.
I think we are all excited by Cody’s young wines! And I am even more eager to see how they age. The problem is having the patience not to drink them young since they are so good!
I just got my shipment from the supplemental release yesterday, and these notes are making it difficult to let my bottles be! A Cole Riesling is definitely going down very soon.
That will be soon for me too. This is my first foray into their wines, so I bought four different ones to try in order to see if I like them.
A Flaming Groovies reference? Love it. The wine sounds interesting.
Thank you
Coming out of the wood works. Thanks for the reference, was also gonna call it out. Please participate!
BTW, Welcome!
Popped a Cole Riesling last night. No formal TN, but my take is: hold. This is pretty tight right now and there is clearly a good deal of excellent underlying material. Lots of petrol on the nose, a ginger note on the palate, but mostly I kept thinking “this is not a simple summer quaffer. Hold remaining bottles at least another year”.
David, I’m a music geek as well as a wine geek. The opening guitar riff on “Shake Some Action” is one of my favorites.
Marshall, not to hijack your tasting note, i’m also something of a music and wine geek. Saw the Groovies in Chicago in the early 80’s. Great show and I agree with you about the opening riff, classic and instantly recognizable.
Mark thank you for the welcome. I’ve been lurking for ages and have learned so much from all of the posters here.
Will try to participate but rarely do tasting notes.
Not a problem, David. I’m happy to let wine notes go where the group takes them. I’m just trying to give my opinion on the wines, not writing classic literature, so any diversion is fine with me!
Thanks Greg! I’m with you - I prefer the '18 Cole on the second night open. It’s tight and a tad phenolic for the first bit, but with air all the tropical and floral notes, and that cotton candy thing, come out to play. It seems like a 2018 thing for us - the wines seem a touch more reserved out of bottle and a little high-strung, but they were gorgeous from day one in the winery and I think the vintage is built for the long haul.