TN: Eberle Syrah FralichVnyd '93...(short/boring)

WINE TALK
1

Tried this last night as a mystery wine:

  1. Eberle Syrah FralichVnyd/PasoRobles (13.3%) 1993: Med.light somewhat bricked color; somewhat bretty/horsecollar/leathery
    slight strawberry/Syrah rather cedary/pencilly/old red some complex nose; somewhat dried out/tannic/astringent slight strawberry/Syrah rather
    bretty/unclean/horsecollar some cedary/pencilly flavor; med.short dried out/astringent/tannic somewhat cedary/pencilly/old red slight
    strawberry/Syrah complex finish; a survivor but just that; more of intellectual than sensual pleasure. $18.00

A wee BP:

  1. Not quite sure who was winemaker then, BillSheffer (now at HalterRanch) or DanPanico (now at DoverCanyon). This was a period that
    the Eberle wines were starting to show some serious brett problems. The current ones do not. This was also about the time that GaryEberle
    was becoming disenchanted w/ GaryFralich’s Syrah & Viognier grapes because of poor farming practices. Fralich went on to start his
    own wnry, but I don’t think he’s still in business. Not sure where the grapes go now.
    When I first tasted the EstrellaRiver Syrah in '77 from barrel w/ Gary, I was quite taken by its lovely aromatics of strawberries, the
    signature of EstrellaClone Syrah. It was the first hint of potential greatness for Syrah in Calif. The rest is history.
    I was expecting this '93 Syrah to be totally shot. It was not. It still showed a bit of strawberry/Syrah character, but mostly
    a lot of that cedary/pencilly old red wine character. It was pretty long of tooth and didn’t offer up a whole lot of pleasure.
    Tom
2

that’s like tasting Paso history, cheers!

3

I opened a 2003 Syrah recently and it was completely, 100% dead. Easy to figure out why: they used a plastic cork! [swearing.gif]

4

Was that an Eberle, Kyle??? Don’t recall Gary ever using plastic corks. Or maybe some other wnry?
Tom

5

It was definitely an Eberle. I was excited to try a Paso wine that was “so old.” (I had it when I was just getting into wine about 3 years ago.) I knew enough to know that I was likely going to have to grab another bottle. Very disappointing.