TN: 2006 Charles Smith Syrah Royal City Stoneridge Vineyard (USA, Washington, Columbia Valley)

WINE TALK
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  • 2006 Charles Smith Syrah Royal City Stoneridge Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley (12/5/2009)
    I opened and decanted for one hour knowing that it probably wouldn’t be ready. Boy was I right, nose was dominated by oak and sweet spices. One of the tightest wines I have ever tried (drank half of a glass). So I poured the wine back in the bottle, sealed it somewhat loosely to try on the 2nd night.
    2nd night, the wine was closer to where it should be. Some of the oak influence was still in the aroma, but it was more of a smoky sweet bacon, butterscotch. The wine is very big, and the finish is extremely long (heat still noticeable, though). Aromas and palate match pretty well as I picked up flavors of bacon & smoke, with the addition of black licorice and black pepper.
    This wine reminds me a lot of my experiences with Syrah from Paso Robles or Central Coast… big, jammy, smoky, and hot.
    For my personal taste, I’d put this somewhere between Linne Calodo (liked) and Alban (loved). (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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It needs about a week to really open up. See my initial post and one week follow up on this thread:

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So it’s not so much wine as oak infused fruit juice?

I’ve never gotten why bacon, butterscotch, smoke and other oak and oak toast components are seen as a plus. But thanks for the note - was slightly intrigued by the wine and can tell from your note that it’s not my style and that’s a valuable thing too.