Babcock Syrah Nook&Cranny StaRitaHills (Estate; 15%; Optimum Quod Possum; TerroirExclusives) 2005: Very dark/black color w/ no bricking; very strong boysenberry/Syrah/ripe/framboise/blackberry/spicy slight licorice/graphite bit peppery some toasty/charred/oak complex lovely intense SBC Syrah nose; rather tart fairly astringent/tannic/hard strong boysenberry/Syrah/blackberry bit chalky/dusty some licorice/peppery flavor; very long intense boysenberry/ripe/Syrah/licorice/peppery bit alcoholic finish w/ very hard/astringent/angular/agressive/angular tannins; a really lovely classic/SRH/cold-climate Syrah but hard as nails on the palate and may never smooth out & become drinkable.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
BrianBabcock makes some absolutely delicious wines, but I think his focus has moved away from Syrah towards PinotNoir. No surprise there…but he has made some great Syrahs over the yrs. I have, of course, followed Brian from the very start, in 1982, when his passion was to make great Alsatian Riesling & GWT in Calif. Alas, the marketplace did not follow Brian’s passions, and beat that crazy notion from his head. Too bad…because they were rather good.
The “Optimum Quod Possum” on the label refers to Brian’s special technique of tossing four dead possums into each fermenting vat to aid in the protienaceous fining of the resultant wine.
Tom
Regrettably, IMO, he is focusing on Pinot Noir these days. It was the Nook and Cranny Syrah that induced me to sign up for the Babcock Terroir Wine Club but I dropped out when it became clear that I would not be getting any more Nook and Cranny Syrah. (Not that his Pinot Noir is undesirable, but there are others I can purchase without paying shipping costs, etc.)
I still have a bottle of this that I’ve gotta find. Agree that back in the day, Brian made some great syrahs from our area. His Black Label was a great QPR at one time.
It is a bummer that he’s gone away from syrah but you gotta find a focus that works for you and realize you can’t be everything to everyone . . .
And Jane, don’t worry - there’s PLENTY of great niche syrahs from our area that I believe would satisfy your demand (-:
Yeah, Black Label Syrah was awesome, and Nook & Cranny as well. In fact, I preferred his Syrahs to most of what’s out in Sonoma - very unique qualities to them.