TN: Some Syrahs

SOME SYRAHS - (2/23/2012)

Getting caught up on some Syrahs over the last couple of weeks.

  • 2010 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
    Drank this over two nights. On the first night the nose had a bit of an off “aquarium” note. I did not get this on previous bottles. It blew off a bit with air. On the palate, it was excellent. Nice juicy texture. Good black raspberry fruit. Some pepper. On day 2, it was much improved on the nose. No off notes. The palate had subsided but just a bit. Overall, this was very good but probably not as good as previous bottles. I chalk that up more to bottle variation than anything else I think. (90 pts.)
  • 2008 Peay Vineyards Syrah Estate - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
    From my friend Kemp who loves all things Peay. This was very good. More typical of a cool climate Syrah. Purple in color. The nose has some black raspberries, black pepper and some iodine. A medium weight wine, it has a slippery texture which makes for easy drinking. Good solid black raspberry fruit on the palate. nice acidity. Nice finish. (91 pts.)
  • 2009 Halcon Vineyards Syrah Alturas - USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands
    My first time trying this wine. I liked it. Another cool climate Syrah. Purple in color. The nose has black raspberries, more minerals than most. Also a bit of cocoa, but lacking the black pepper notes. Interesting. Clean bright fruit. Accessible now, but should age out well for a decade. Nice acidity. Very nice wine. (92 pts.)
  • 2008 Akoma Zoume Syrah Athena Mountain Terraces - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
    Very solid wine. It had a bit too much oak for my tastes, but that must be tempered by a) I drank it very young and b) ymmv. There is very nice cool climate Syrah. It has nice boysenberry aromas and flavors. Some fresh cut lumber and some vanilla. A nice back bone of acidity as well. I think this is some of the same vineyard Pax uses for Agharta and there is some resemblance. I would like to revisit this in a few years. (88 pts.)
  • 2010 Jaffurs Syrah - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
    From a 375. Still quite young. This is one of those wines that is delicious. I say I won’t drink them young, but I do. Based on prior vintages, I am sure it will age and gain in complexity. Now, its black raspberries, a bit of a chocolate shake note and some candied raspberies over an underlying minerality that keeps everything in balance. Easy drinking for sure. (91 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for the notes, Loren.

I just got in my shipment of the Halcon from the Beserker Day grab. Looking forward to trying it this weekend. The Lagier Meredith I picked up was a knock-out. I’m letting my 2010 Bedrocks mature; the one I cracked a bit ago qas quite primary.

Loren,
Great note on the Halcon syrah in terms of jiving perfectly with my experience last week. I didn’t feel it was very accessible now, however, without a serious decant. It was very tight upon opening and only began to show after a couple of hours. I wish I had been more patient in drinking the wine over a longer window or better yet, opening it further down the road. I picked up the cocoa as well, which worried me at first, but this wine is not at all about chocolate. It really stains, by the way. Very inky.

The Jaffurs Syrah is so solid. Great QPR year in, year out.

Love the Halcon Syrah and glad you enjoyed it Loren!

Got a 2010 mag of this sleeping away, but tough to keep my hands off of when I have family over and the big green egg is smoking away. I think their latest shipment is coming next week?

Loren, Ron - thanks for the kind words on the wine.
The 2009 Alturas is going thru a phase where it is showing its (30% new) oak a little. It is most noticable after a pop’n’pour, especially above cellar temp. It does integrate with a couple of hours in the decanter.
We are still tuning the new oak percentage - for 2011 it is a little below 20% in new puncheon form.

With Valerie promising hand-delivery of my Berserker Day purchase this weekend, I’m definitely planning on popping one of these Halcon Alturas on Saturday. Virtual offline?

I would give it a lot of air (it can handle an all day decanting). I think their Mags are one of the great QPR’s out there.

The low end Jaffurs SBC blend is ususally solid year in and year out. His last few vintages of some of his single vineyard offerings, especially the Verna’s and the Bien Nacido have been just spectacular.
If you don’t want to pop the '10 mag, he offers 375’s of the SBC blend as well.

The Berserker Day Halcon won’t be delivered to my neck of the woods until March or April. In the meantime I’m glad to read encouraging notes like Loren’s. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot.

Loren, what the heck–no Saxum TN? [rofl.gif]

The 2009 Halcon is smoking! Needed a beefy, chewy wine with my pepperoni pizza. Perfect pairing. A very dense, large-scaled syrah. Meaty, grainy, large palate presence. Savoury with some spice and pepper. Picking up the cocoa you guys note. Firm tannins, slight greenness. Long, chewy finish. I would let these rest a couple of years, but what I wanted tonight with pizza, it’s perfect. Nowhere near the refinement of the Lagier Meredith I had last week, but this type of wine has space in my drinking repertoire.

I just decanted the '09 Hacon Alturas after letting it sit in my cellar since Valerie dropped it off about 7 hours ago. It will probably be a couple hours before we sit down for dinner but I grabbed a small pour. It’s an opaque purple-ruby with blackberries, eucalyptus, and as Paul notes, a conspicuous presence of oak strong enough that this seems almost like a barrel sample. Right now it’s dense, meaty, some minerals and a solid wall of fine-grained, mouth-coating tannin on the back end. Definitely structured for age and this is baby killing but I couldn’t resist. I’ll check in later and see how this develops.