2007 Cayuse Syrah En Cerise Vineyard- USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley (1/6/2021)
– decanted 1.5 hours before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over 3 hours –
NOSE: ohhhhh, yasssss!! expressive and immensely pleasurable! smoky; red-fruited; meaty; little bit of savory raspberry; a bit high-toned, with some tertiary elements; faint hints of funk and oak. Lots going on here — quite complex.
BODY: medium bodied; violet-garnet color of great depth with a hint of bricking.
TASTE: smoky; savory; mesquite; smoked meats; not much in the way of fruit, but that’s okay with me; 14.6% alc. is well-hidden; no tannins at this point; hint of spicy florals; drinking well – this is in a very nice spot right now, and I do think it’s best to Drink Now and over the near term.
Nice reference point, Brian, thanks for posting. Current tasting notes on older Cayuse wines are relatively rare. It’s easy to assume that, due to the general very low acidity in many of the Cayuse wines, they won’t age. I haven’t found that to be the case though, and your experience seems to support that.
My Cayuse holdings are just starting to come of age, although I have only two more pre-2012 bottles remaining, so the majority will continue to rest and mature. I have noted decreasing abv levels from the mid 2000’s into the next decade, and I assume that is a sign of the later wines perhaps being more built to improve with age.
Brian, thanks for the note. I had a 2009 Cayuse En Cerise this weekend that I was very impressed by:
A wild and gamey nose underpinned by dark fruit. The palate is sweet and concentrated yet balanced. Notes of black cherry, blackberry, dried meat, pepper and forest floor. A big and delightful wine.
It was the first Cayuse I’ve had and was also surprised at how well it had held together.
Yeah I recently opened a 2006 bionic frog and armada (sorry, have not posted the notes yet but will) and while they were lovely to drink now, they can definitely use a few more years for my taste. I still have some early 2000s of all of the syrahs and many of the others that I am waiting on!
A1ex, J0sh, and Ron,
Thanks for chiming-in and giving us additional data points in support of the proposition that Cayuse ages well! That’s certainly the basket I’ve been putting nearly all my Cayuse eggs into.
J0sh, the rule I’ve been (mostly successfully) holding myself to is to not touch before 10 yo.; haven’t regretted that yet.
Armada and BF 2006
Armada. Initially strong manure nose. Smoke. Camp fire. But also some cherry. This is slightly lighter (though still dark) than the BF. Just a lovely savage sort of wine
Bf is slightly smoother. More subtle and integrated, but also a bit more closed. Darker fruits. Subtle smokiness and olive.
To my taste, both of these need even more time. Or can certainly last at least another ten years. The armada has some harsh edges that I think will soften with time, and that in fact were softer the next day. The bf is a bit closed, suggesting it will evolve and open over time. But do not misunderstand me. These are both delicious right now. Just not at peak in my book.
Well, dang! That’s good to hear, Ron! I consider myself extremely lucky to currently have an allocation that comes damn close to encompassing all bottlings I would want to buy from Cayuse on an annual basis. I started-off on the list with Cailloux, which I dropped on my second year of having Armada (I figured I had a good little handful of Cailloux, and I’d been a bit disappointed with a few of those bottles up to that point). I love the couple bottles of Armada I’ve had. Subsequently added En Chamberlin, which was near the top of my list. And then this year BF got added, and I don’t really have to say anything about that.
As I’d like to believe I’ve learned my lesson about having too many bottles from any one winery, I’m not sure I’d be willing to add any more than one more bottling to my allocation, and I think I’d prefer that bottling be the Tempranillo — is that the Impulsivo? I can’t recall at the moment. But, even if I were to add something, and was then forced to drop bottlings from my allocation, it wouldn’t surprise me if BF, Armada, and Chamberlin were the last three I dropped. Since dropping Cailloux, I’ve had some really nice bottles that made me regret dropping it, so that’s back on my wishlist now. Eventually, it might make sense for me to do some horse trading with other folks local to me who have different allocations, but I’m super lazy when it comes to shipping/buying/trading wine, so I know the odds of that happening are slim-to-none.
I’m really stoked to hear that we should be able to drink through our Cayuse holdings at whatever lazy pace we desire!
Brian. et al. I am allocated Armada and BF Syrahs and, as I have a clear preference for aged syrah, I try to hold them at least ten years before we drink them. My experiences with the Armada has been spectacular. The BF’s have not yet hit the 10 year mark.
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