TN: 2011 Halcon Vineyards Syrah Alturas

Call me a baby killer but boy is this a killer Syrah. 7 hrs decanted night one, under cork till night 2.

Wonderful blueberry, boysenberry fruit with great acidity, wonderfully structured, gritty tannins. Lean and mean. Purity of fruit is undeniable. Tremendous effort in a trying vintage.
Plan on at least 8 hrs of air right now. Glad I tried one though, very impressive. Can’t wait to do an '09, '10, '11 vertical come January.

I need to order some. Bought quite a bit of the '09 and '10. Glad to hear they are toning down the new wood to 20% for the '11 vintage. This is really nice stuff. I preferred the '10 over the '09.

Great to hear…might have to back up the truck for the '12’s

I have my case coming this week. Paul is a great guy to deal with, too. I tried some of the '11 from the barrel and it was very, very good.

I don’t post much here, but stars are aligned tonight…brought one from San Francisco to Boston today, and while it did not get as much air, was singing by the 5th inning (about 3 hours at that point).

And yes, Paul exceptional to deal with. He contacted me to personally deliver my wine in San Francisco last month. Can’t wait for 2012.

Thanks for the note, Brian. I recently opened a 2011 as well and my experience matched yours and yes the customer service is outstanding.

Brian, are you setting up a vertical? If so, count me in, if possible! I agree the 11 is very nice, as are all the other vintages!

I’ve been thinking about it and we talked a bit about a Syrah tasting over the weekend. If someone could plug some holes I have an '08 Copain Halcon and the '09, ‘10’ and 11 Alturas. Maybe we can do a comparison vertical of both?

Love that vineyard. Super low yields.

Delicious wine. Great value.

I can maybe help with this. You need a couple of Copains? I’ll see what I have left if you’ll count me in too. Maybe a dinner after copain day?

The Alturas, I am soooo glad that I bought several of those 09’s. The first four, I drank that first year, I didn’t enjoy them at all. I gave a couple of bottles to friends. I think I may even have joined a “I just don’t ‘get’ alturas,” thread here. But wow, after not looking at them for a year, I popped one a couple of weeks ago that may have been my favorite syrah in a year at any price. I gotta get back buying some of this.

I can contribute 08/09/10 Copain Halcon but looking at a very busy calendar and not sure I can make it up for Copain day. Maybe if/when FMIII comes up this spring we can make this a dinner theme?

We bottled our 2012’s this week (not released until the fall) but one of our wines is 97% Halcon Syrah. The grapes were gorgeous on Harvest. The final alcohol came in at 13.1%. I am obviously a big fan of the vineyard and buy a bunch of wine from Paul every year in addition to the grapes, but I think 12 will be his best yet at least for my tastes.

The '12 shiner I tasted was my favorite vintage so far. So, so good.

We did not get a dinner.
So I’m doing a callback on this thread. Frank, any closer to a northern trek? I’m ready to host. Maybe make a weekend afternoon of this soon?

Guys, wile I’d really enjoy doing some breadth of wines from Yorkville and having some great discussion and food with you all, I just can’t make it up there right now. Looking like late July, for some golf and wine but I think we’d end up as far north as say the SLH, maybe the Cruz but that’s it.

PM sent. I’ve got one in the works but it filled up before I ever had a chance to put it on the offline fourm. Can squeeze you in if interested.