I may be drinking a lot of french these days but I sure ain’t losing my mind, not forgetting about my passion, which is CA syrah. Damn I love the newly discovered elegance, nuance and acidity of the french wines I have found, yet I still have to feed my thrill for CA syrah, where dark colors, strength and the sheer power of flavor hits me right in the grill. I drank the 3 wines below throughout this week, using my customary approach of open one night, finish over the next night (or so). The exception is the Carlisle which I opened not more than an hour or so ago but thrilling enough that I’ll include it with this blast of TNs–it is being used for dinner tonight, along with a 2008 Louis Michel Les Clos–there’s yin and yang for you. I enjoyed the Lucia’s, both bottlings Jeff made for 2008, and wines I buy year after year. All of these wines are relatively young, especially the Lucia but there is something to love with young CA syrah. Pick your place where CA syrah fits for you–maybe it doesn’t, maybe you find it not in your liking, but for me, I love it as much as ever.
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2007 Carlisle Syrah Papa’s Block - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (12/11/2010)
The last bottle I drank of this was over tasted at the end of a wine dinner, nearly a year ago. I recall Sean pulling the bottle and it draining pretty quickly so I didn’t get a lot of 1-1 time with that bottle. This one here was pulled, thrown into a decanter and my note is started here with about an hour of air. Even from the decanter, smoky, a bit stinky but that blows off with swirling and it settles down aromatically. What’s left is something aromatically more aking to cool climate, even an SLH feel, like a Rosella’s: smoky, with a cool swath of whole cluster, underbrush and despite trying to smell it, I get no booze in the aromatic signature. The palate, well, pretty damn amazing. My first thought in tasting it was “the old world stylers will hate this wine”, as it shows a denser and flashy palate of deep black fruit, infused with both a soily component, with boysen and black. Within the finish, some dark licorice pulls all the corners together, finishing with some pepper, chocolate, cooked meat/pepper jerky, citrus (again reminding me of Rosella’s) and some shadings of new oak. Not a monster in size or weight but there is some very concentrated flavors here, and some will bitch that the wine is too big, or too dark, or whatever…what I get, what makes me enjoy a wine like this is that there are layers and components that once this all fleshes together, it again affirms that syrah can kick ass in this price range and affirm for me why I keep on drinking Mike’s wines. This is stunning wine, at least a year from being ready and I’m looking forward to having the balance with dinner tonight, if it lasts until then! -
2008 Lucia Syrah Garys’ Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (12/8/2010)
9 months since the last bottle. my god, the color on this wine is darker than I recall, one of the darkest wines I have opened this year. Just a stainer and it starts off huge and burly, with a whiff of lard, pepper and some smoke. The palate is equally large but as the wine mixes with some air, it begins to smooth out. Lots of roasted, meaty fruit, flush with deep blackberry, iron and tar, silky and sexy with lots of dark chocolate. I may end up altering my assessment from earlier this year about this wine being an early drinker. After a full decant, I’ll return with a closing perspective…so my assessment is very similar to that of last night, even the March bottle. This is a smooth wine, a voloptuous bottling, with some syrah features infused through it. The sweet leather, the gentle lift of citrus acidity, the creosote and soy, these say syrah, along with the meaty note. However, you remove those features, this could be petite sirah, given the texture, color and density and finishing chocolate. This is a big wine, for sure. It’s an attention grabber but like with my comment last March, I don’t think it will have the staying power, the complexity to live forward. What that means is that you have immediate enjoyment, so further development in the short run, and a bottling from Jeff that will drink great in 2011 and 2012. Dark, dense and rock solid. -
2008 Lucia Syrah Susan’s Hill - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (12/6/2010)
When I opened it, the wine was quite opulent smelling and floral, really fragrant. As it sat, it has tightened up, picked more earthy and soily nuances and more structure. It’s surely dark, as Susan’s usually is so I am inclined to let some overnight air settle into the wine and I’ll close a note tomorrow…tonight I went back and looked at my past vintages notes for this wine, looking for a template or a statement that could be Susan’s. As this being the 5th bottled vintage by Jeff (and also same for Adam under his Novy), maybe a pattern emerges? What I found as I taste through this 2008 is the same juiciness I listed on the past vintages, as well as the dark color. This 2008 shows both, but the expression is more broad, juicy and fairly opulent. There is also the bittersweet chocolate too that I found in the past and the finish shows the same stone fruit pit that I first found in the 2004 and it expresses itself even now, 4 vintages later. I also think Jeff is getting the whole cluster and the oak more suited for the wine, as while both are here in the 2008, they are background features, which differ I believe from his earlier bottlings. At this place in the 2008, the tannin shows a lot, in a crushed rock tone, much like the 2006 did for me earlier this year. What I find in this 2008 is lots of grapey silky fruit, some decent acidity, some tar and good structure. There is some opulence that comes forward with more aeration and as it works its way up to a room temp. Some of the new oak also comes out, although it’s still within reason given the vintage. The juicy profile fades back and more fruit fills in. I like this bottling and the richness may add something more to the wine. I’d offer a drink window of 2011-2013.
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