This is one of the best Californian Syrahs I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. It has been in my cellar since release and I have been eying it for some years now and finally decided to pull the cork. Still quite a dark colour, the age betrayed only by some lightening at the edges.
The nose was all about Northern Rhone – some bacon fat, smokey and some nice berry overtones although little of the floral grace notes you find in some Cote Roties, for instance. Excellent balance with mouth-watering acidity and a long persistent finish.
To all of the reviews that claimed this has peaked years ago – hey, you were wrong! And it should carry on for some years yet, although I think that it has hit plateau. The complete lack of overly sweet blousy Syrah that I deplore in many American Syrah wines is quite endearing. I’d even be willing to put this into a blind tasting as a ringer with Northern Rhone wines. As you may have guessed, I am not a fan of Syrahs from California that get mistaken for Australian Shiraz in blind tastings! Excellent – wish I had bought more! It is much better than the 97 Bien Nacido from the same winery.
Thanks for the TN. I’ve got a few of these from '96 and '97 hanging out in the cellar. I thought they might be dead, but your note reminds me I should give them a try. I purchased them back in the day from the Wine Cask futures program. I loved what the Wine Cask was doing back then. I discovered so many producers and purchased many great bottles of Central Coast syrah and pinot through their futures catalogue. I know of nothing else like it today. In addition to Ojai, Qupe, Hitching Post, Talley, Tensley and Au Bon Climat have all been great wines for me.
I believe that this was a somewhat ‘controversial’ release as there seemed to have been a bit of bottle variation. Hopefully Mel Hill or Tom Hill or someone else who’s had a bunch of these can jump in. And IIRC, this vineyard was wiped out by phylloxera.
Larry, I didn’t here that Roll Ranch was wiped out. I was up there not too long ago and it seems to be kicking right along.
We did a big Ojai vintage tasting years ago and was blown away by how well the Roll Ranch has aged compared to other vineyards. Our natural assumption would be that these would fall apart after 20+ years but Roll Ranch and Thompson both kicked the others out of the water. They drank much better than the '97 Henry Daniel which I thought would have stolen the show.
Thanks for the clarification, my friend. I thought one of his vineyards was wiped out by phylloxera - I guess it wasn’t this one. Any idea which one it might be?
And yep, that man can make wines that are beautiful upon release and can age longer than most would think they would . . .
The 1996 Roll Ranch and Bien Nacido were random buys for me in the late 1990s. Both aged beautifully into N. Rhone ringers when opened around age 20. Plenty of structure and flesh to keep going. I wish I had more.
Yup, Bill…sounds about where I would expect it to be. Surprised it was better than the BienNacido '97. RollRanch is much warmer and would not expect it to age quite as well.
But those Ojai Syrahs make great old bones.
Tom
A cluttered cellar and spotty record keeping helps a great deal, but so does intentional patience. Having a 1990 Barolo tonight that many didn’t like much when it was young - we shall see! Recent reports on CT have been full of praise.
I still hold early 90s supplies of Montelena, La Jota, Dominus, Pahlmeyer, Shafer (sold off half my 94 Hillside - just too much oak for my taste), Dunn, Togni etc. I just like them when they are mature, and ditto for Bordeaux.
I think it was his own vineyard that was wiped out, I think it was in the Ojai/Oak View area. But, I recall it was Pierce’s disease that was the issue.