Thank you Frank Smith for bringing this youngster to our BBQ and wine tasting tonight. For me, this was the class of the Syrahs, though the Larkmead was no slouch.
And okay, I will concede that there is something of Cote-Rotie about this. I quailed at that comparison at least once before, but when I stuck my nose in the glass, there was the stems and veggies (in the good way) that I crave in Cote-Rotie. There was the briny black olive tapenade, the cassis and bacon smokiness. Yes, this has an old-world nose. Very pretty young stuff.
This tilts towards the new world in the mouth, but I would expect old world lovers to like this. There’s flesh and richness, and perhaps a little more heat than I would really like on the finish, but there’s also a lot of acidity to keep things bouncing. The middle has the bloody rocks, soy and beef to go with the redcurrant and cassis. Good now, better 5 to 10 years from now.
I’ve said before the WA Syrah synthesizes the old world and the new world so that the line is very blurry. Case in point. Yum.
I would also say 15 years from the vintage is a safe “shelf life.”
I would be careful in stating that Wa Syrah is a synthesis between old world and new. What I would say is that it is a little bit Aussie with a little cote-rotie. There are a LOT (majority) of overblown, rich, sweet and candied monsters with only 4-5 producers creating earthy, complex, pepper, game influenced syrahs. I will agree with this 07’ Cailloux, I was shocked and even better on day 3.
Give Washington another 5-10 more yrs and Syrah will be king, until then they will just be second fiddle to everything else on the market. (with few exceptions)
Oh, I was pretty careful. In the trade, I taste a lot of the best French, Californian, Australian, South African, South American, and Washington Syrah. Plus bin ends from other places. If you find a lot of Aussie notes in Washington, we’re either tasting different Washington AND different Australian wines, or our palates seriously differ. We had this with a Larkmead Napa and a Glaetzer Barossa - it had more in common with the former than the latter, and a lot more in common with Cote-Rotie, Crozes and St. Joseph (all of which I buy and consume).
I disagree with your premise. Northern Rhones and many new world wines often show interchangeable qualities. Washington Syrah has a wonderful variety
of producers who stop short of making boring, one dimensional wines. Plenty more than 4-5 like:
Betz
Ross Andrew
Rotie
Waters
Gramercy
Kerloo
K
Seven Hills
Doyenne
Sheridan
Saviah
Cayuse
Reynvaan
Rasa
Bunnell
I would disagree with most of these as showing signs of Cote Rotie. Rotie makes 1 wine that is made in the Cote-Rotie way (they make 4-5 different syrah’s)
Reynvaan- While lacking stuffing, is on their way but does not show pepper/bacon fat and earth in Croze of CR.
Saviah is a big fruit bomb (I have not tried it in 2-3 yrs) but it’s not about earth and funk.I tried these wines from the first vintage on.
Doyenne/Sheridan- Same comment as Saviah
Betz-I have not had one that is even close to CR.
I actually remember asking the owner of Saviah and Sheridan if they had any hope of creating Cote-Rotie and they both looked at me and said ‘that’s syrah right?’ (kinda shocking, granted that was back in 02’ when they were selling their first vintages, I am sure they know more now)
Anthony/Jim, I was in the business, live in Seattle and have tasted almost every bottle of Wa wine between 99-2004 and of course current releases. I also specialized in Aussie wine as the buyer in that category and have tasted everything up until about 07’ and have traveled to, and tasted with some great CR producers in Croze, CR. and hermitage. (just some background on me)
Cayuse I agree, I would say that K is not very CR’ish having just tasted Charles entire lineup with Skull, heart and old bones could have come from the Barossa if I was blind tasting.
There are close reps in Aussie to CR and Croze (Tahbilk, Henschke) with some others I can’t list off the top of my head.
I am nowhere near an expert but I do have some experience and I can tell you that the comparisons are just not worth the time.
I have no desire for a pissing match, so this will be my last comment on this. Jim compared the bottle of Cayuse to CR, and made the statement that WA Syrah shows synergy between the old and new world. I agree with the latter statement.
My point is that all of the wines I listed have shown me elements of CR, St Joseph, Cornas and Hermitage. Many Crozes Hermitage bottles are quite modern in style and can pass for Washington and/or Cali Syrah. I would say many of these take on qualities of Hermitage more so than CR, but also offer new world stylings as well.
From what it sounds like you enjoy, if you haven’t tried them already, I recommend Ross Andrew’s Boushey and the Rotie Northern Syrahs. The name on the latter should be a dead giveaway for his preferences.
Anthony,
No pissing match intended, honestly, respect your points of view. To clarify, I was just rying to give a bit of background, sometimes it’s hard to do over the internet because it seems arrogant or pushy in a way. Sorry to push you out of the topic, I would like to hear more of your opinion on newer releases, especially Pinot.
I think my issue is that people try to put Washington wines in categories that they don’t belong. When I 1st started I tried a number of wines that were retailing for $30 in their 1st vintage that had no place or sense to them at all. I remember the 1st vintages of both K and Cayuse and thinking that they were not anything special, good syrah but you could hardly tell they were Syrah. Now especially with K and Cayuse and a handful of other there is a sense of place, balance, variety character and Syrah-ness that makes them delicious.
Would I say that they remind me of old world syrah, no, but I don’t think that they should, they are from Washington.
I know I am being long wided about something silly, but I think that it’s important that Syrah gets recognized as Syrah, maybe that’s what’s wrong with the marketing of Syrah in America, always trying to be like someone else or compared to at least.
I have been sold wine that was ‘Northern Rhone like’ or ‘Hermitage’ like and find no traight what so ever and as a customer I think it is a disservice. Let the region stand alone.
Jb
I have not tasted all of the wines in question (yet I have an opinion- shocking!)…
However I tend to agree heavily with Jeff on this one. I think there are many promising WA state Syrahs, but there are very few that are even close to Northern Rhone in style. Cayuse and Reynvaan are the closest in my experience - which isn’t surprising based on the wine maker (or creator as he tends to call it). Grammercy is next in my book and possibly Waters.
Doyenne is nowhere close and if you think Betz is northern rhone in anyway, I would be shocked. I like Betz, but he makes syrah in a bordeaux style vs. northern rhone style. Perhaps Tardieu Laurent is the northern rhone style closest- based simply on the amount of oak used.
This is NOT to say the WA syrahs are not good- but that they are no way near being a substitute for Cote Rotie or other Northern Rhone regions… Which is FINE! I am just glad more producers are moving away from making blueberry syrup.
Anthony is getting the basic jist of what I was trying to say, and I certainly agree there are Washington wines that don’t show an “old world” style. I’m still not comfortable calling “Aussie” on very many of them (do agree on Charles Smith, but not ‘K’), but that may just be palate and experience difference.
I do think in some of the aromatics and flavors of some WA wines, there are things that remind me of Cote-Rotie/North Rhone Syrah. Generally, they seem to have a complexity and driven-by-more-than-just-fruit quality that reminds me of the old world. When I say they seem to combine new world and old world, it’s not so much that they are lookalikes/tastealikes, but that they provide an experience that reminds me of what I like in the Rhone while being firmly New World.
Hope that says it better. Having criticized this kind of comparison before, it’s fun to be on the other side of the critcism!
They were what we had to compare, so in a sense, yes. The Cayuse was a much better wine, but in terms of style and profile, the Cayuse had more in common with the Larkemead than the Glaetzer. As Jeff was drawing a comparison between WA Syrah to Aussie, I was pointing out that the specific wine in question in no way resembled the Barossa wine on the table.
As to the Larkmead Syrah itself, it was a good wine. I would definitely take their Cab over it every time, though.
Love the note you posted. Thalks so much for the data point. Did you give this air beforehand? After tasting, how long of a decant if I want to kill one soon?
Rich, I opened the bottle about 90 minutes before the tasting and poured off a very small taste, and recorked. No decant, so it didn’t get a lot of air beforehand. There was a small amount left in the bottle and I left it with Jim, so maybe he’ll let us know how it was on day 2 (hint hint).
I opened an 07 Cayuse Cailloux a couple of weeks ago and decanted it for 6 hours. Huge/Powerful were the words that struck me. It was a fantastic wine, much better and different than the 07 Pegu Reserve CDP that was also opened. The Pegu was a very good wine and more elegant or soft in comparison to the Cayuse.
I’m very happy that I have a few more of these in the cellar!
Based on what was left for night two, I would second this. I wouldn’t say it changed as much as it found a little more harmony.
Not sure if ridiculous drinking windows are still being offered on these wines in certain circles, but Charles Smith told me he and Christophe feel these are 10-15 year wines.
I think the one diovergent thought for me here is most WA Syrahs don’t have the requisite natural acidity to be compared to CR, St. Jo, Cr. Hermitage etc…
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