As others who thrill for CA syrah get some opportunity to start opening some of the 2007 Copain syrahs, I hope they find the same enthusiasm that I found this past June, affirmed again by the bottle below. I still have to re-work through the 2007s again, now that they have finally shipped, but if the Thompson below is an indication for the quality, as much as I found the case to be in June when I visited Wells, then we have a gift from the vintage, married to the new direction Wells has taken. No doubt, the Thompson vineyard is not Hawks Butte, nor Brosseau, nor even the Halcon (which will show up in 2008)…it’s indeed warmer than these sites but even so, and there is some ripe edges to this Thompson below, it’s dialed in right. The color, the fruit, the earthy components, the edges of richness, it’s all good in the syrah hood.
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2007 Copain Syrah Thompson Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (12/12/2009)
Have not tasted this since June, roughly 6 months. The color is extremely dark, to Wells’ point that he can still achieve lots of color and extraction witout overworking the wines. Hint of face powder, spice, white flower and like the 2006, the bacon fat note. Palate-wise, even with a splash decant last night and then sitting in the bottle for over 24 hours, still pretty wrapped up. Concentrated core of pure dark fruit, of blackberries with an earthy edge. Then, as it continues to finish, a current of liquid minerality threads through–this is a beautiful note as it supports the wine and realls adds a rustic touch to the pure fruit. Finally, the minerality joins with some tar and that earthiness that I mentioned seems to even show a truffle-like character, like a mushroom. This wine continues to evolve and should turn out to me a unique marriage of what is a warmer source for Wells, tied with his new style that is a more reigned in, as much as it can be for this vineyard. Once again, excellent.
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