This wine is a California beauty, sorta a throw-back to a medium-weight style of wine, crisp red fruits and low alcohol. Had I tried it earlier, I would have grabbed a case. It’s excellent.
Nose is bit muted right now but the palate expresses depth, class and is quite refreshing. Hints of wild red fruits, iron and dry earth. The palate is lithe, tangy but ripe red fruits, a slight venture to the darker fruit spectrum underneath. Earth, minerals, metals. Crisp, citrusy with a streak of blood orange. A bit of tar on the otherwise juicy finish.
I PM’d Buecker, who posts excellent notes on this wine, asking if he liked Northern Rhone gamay, like that produced by Souhaut or Gilles. There is something about this wine that has a bit of a Souhaut profile, like a cross between its St. Joseph and gamay. Looking at Edmund’s website now, and turns out that some of the syrah fruit comes from the Barotti Ranch vineyard, which is where he also sources his gamay. Granite and volcanic soils from mountain vineyards at 2800 feet, underscoring the leaner, crisp fruit profile in play.
Great note, Robert!
I love me some ESJ.
And I share the pain of running out of ESJ.
Though, this one is still available. Unless I misunderstand something.
French Syrah is my bug! There are a few Cali Syrahs that I buy, but generally I fare better with Northern Rhone for my palate. I did just grab some 09 and 10 Copain Halcon for less that what I paid from the Copain mailing list! I love this vineyard, and Brosseau.
How does this wine compare in terms of fruit level to say, Arnot Roberts Syrah, if you’ve tried it? I just had the '16 AR Sonoma Coast Syrah last night and loved it. Low alcohol, already good aromatics, and just enough fruit to make it pleasurable. I’m sure it will get better with time.
Finally had a chance to try the '13 Syrah and this was pretty accurate, though I didn’t find it necessarily more enjoyable than the AR '16 Syrah (which I found to be stunningly precise and with sufficient fruit).
As Robert’s note indicates, the nose of the '13 Syrah is a bit closed right now. Also, the somm served our bottle a few degrees too cold, which may have prevented the full force of flavor hitting my palate, despite efforts to warm the glass by hand. Worth a short decant next time, but overall it’s lovely stuff. Certainly worth a revisit at home.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
![https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/24993100_10209542858962953_5431721633057774570_n.jpg?oh=d8f04202dad65d02fdce3ed38b5c1cd7&oe=5AB9C620[/resizeableimage]](https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/24993100_10209542858962953_5431721633057774570_n.jpg?oh=d8f04202dad65d02fdce3ed38b5c1cd7&oe=5AB9C620%5B/resizeableimage%5D){kind=link}