TNs: EWG Does Syrahs Blind From Around The World

WINE TALK
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EWG DOES SYRAHS BLIND FROM AROUND THE WORLD - Conrad Greens Abode (2/15/2009)

Conrad hosted us for a night of bagged Syrah from around the world. He not only hosted but cooked a terrific meal for us of braised short ribs with some fried potatoes and spinach along with some terrific bread and desserts. David brought along some excellent cheeses to get us going as well.

Theme was Syrah from around the world in bags. We got a wide variety of wines, far greater than I expected but that was probably Conrad’s work behind the scenes juggling options amongst us. Well done. If anything I wished there was more variety from Australia and California for comparison to the Older World contingent but the overall variety tasted blind made for a wide array of expressions.

Most all of the wines were good or much better. WOTN for me would be the 1999 Clape Cornas which even though clearly young and tight seems gave great balance and terrific mineral expression. With more age I can really see the complexity taking off. Was glad to try the Lillian also as I have been staring at a bottle to opne for some time but I felt let down by its rather indistinct expression though for the style it is well made. Terrific lineup over all though and was glad to try them all the way we did. Plenty of surprises on reveals. Thanks everyone. Looking forward to the next round up.

The Lillian and Rostaing were easy to guess the region for me. The Sandoval had me guessing between Australia and California.

  • 2002 Finca Sandoval Manchuela - Spain, Castilla-La Mancha, Manchuela
    Bright juicy nose with some eucalyptus notes and a bit of heat. Nicely balanced showing good acids and plenty of fruit concentration. Bright and tannic. Tough to place as the eucalyptus made me lean to Aussie but the palate seemed Cali to me. A very nice wine.
  • 2005 Lillian Winery Syrah - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
    Soft nose exhibiting ripe berries and vanilla type oaky notes. Big and broad with very good length. Bit of a bite on the end. Straight forward and well made for the style but not much distinctive about it. Clearly from California.
  • 2003 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Reduction and green stem notes greet. Tight lean palate again showing rubbery reduction and veggie stem notes. Crying for sleep and clearly from France.

Again the 3rd wine was clearly France but the overt pepper on #2 made it hard to place. The fruit on #1 made it seem New World but the style was a toughy.

  • 2000 Edmunds St. John Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado County
    Bright tart nose with a touch of mint. This seemed tight and closed to me. Plenty of tannin. Tough to identify this one.
  • 2007 Adelsheim Syrah - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
    Bit stinky but eventually dominated by pure freshly cracked black pepper. Lean yet juicy feeling and lengthy palate with late acting tannins. Shows some minerality and a touch of stem inclusion. Very interesting good wine and a nice surprise from Oregon. Guesses new world but nailing it down was tough.
  • 2000 E. Guigal Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Nose sows slight oxidation and green grape skins. Balanced feel with a big finish. Unsure if it was closed or just an early drinker but clearly from France.

Yet again #3 was clearly France…but Conrad claims the wines were random. :wink: I’ve ha that Grange before but this time I was thrown by it. Guesses Cali on #1.

  • 2005 Bunnell Family Cellars Syrah Boushey-McPherson Vineyards - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley
    Complex nose giving up alternately rubber reduction, pepper and soft sweet oak. Tart and juicy palate lacking in some concentration of fruit. New worldy but didn’t speak of California for some reason.
  • 1996 Penfolds Grange - Australia, South Australia
    Very ripe notes of stewed tomatoes with some menthol and pepper adding complexity. Thick extracted and tannic with an iron quality this drops off towards the finish. I’ve had this before but was unfamiliar to me. Leaned toward Aussie but no real guess.
  • 1999 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Nose is light in expression with some greenish notes and very rocky quality. Balanced palate with terrific stone qualities and still strong tannins. If anything this seems tight and in need of more time. Clearly French and my WOTN. Excellent.

This flight was very interesting with lots of different complexities and secondary notes thrown about. Touch to really place any of them though I knew my wine of course.

  • 1998 Penfolds Shiraz RWT - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
    Pretty nose showing violets, boysenberries and sweet white flowers. Attractive juicy palate showing good concentration and nice lava rocks. Very good interesting wine and tough call on region.
  • 2006 Copain Syrah Harrison Clarke - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
    Opened but not decanted about 10 hours prior to consumption. Stems and reduction typical to Copain over some dark berries. Tight and tannic but showing some complexity. Bit of sweetness and reduction. Needs more time.
  • 1998 Château de la Négly Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape Porte du Ciel - France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
    Nose is a bit flat giving up some grape skin type notes. Lots of fruit here still with a big round midpalate sprinkled with some pleasing pepper notes. This probably still has its best days ahead of it but is an impressive wine from a region that often gets ignored.

A very New Worldy styled wine from Italy even with a few years in bottle.

Never expected to see all these dessert wines show up. Loved the Beernauslese and the Kracher was very good as well. The ZH was well liked by the group but it seemed to lack focus and interest for me thought I wanted to like it.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Hey Cris-- great notes. It sounds like it was a fun tasting. One question. You mentioned reductive smells in three of the wines. Was this a coincidence, or is reduction more common in Syrah than other wines? Or are you particularly sensitive to it? I asked because I drink a lot of Syrah-based wines, but I’ve only picked up that hot tire smell a couple of times-- ever.

That’s too bad the ZH was oxidized. When they’re on, they’re (insert Tony the Tiger voice here) grrrrrrreat!

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What a let down that Grange seems to be…first at In-N-Out Burger and now at your most recent event. Makes me wonder if the critics got this one wrong.

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Good job on the notes wetpebble. Surprisingly, I agree with some of your comments. All of the wines were at least very good. I was loving the Clape as well. The Grange was amazingly accessible for its age. The ESJ wines are favorites. I’ve had this wine several times over the course of its life and it is just now beginning to enter a long drinking window. It will improve fo’ sho. Thankfully I have a few left to enjoy. Also liked the Copain but it was painfully young. We tried several of the bottles later in the evening after everyone left. The Rostaing reduction blew off to reveal a pretty decent CR for the freakish '03 vintage. The Negly also opened up to reveal more layers. I agree this will only improve with more cellar time.

The dessert wines were off the hook save for the SQN which was beyond cloying for me. I absolutely was blown away by the ZH and the Loosen. The ZH needed time to really strut, but it showed very complex notes later in the evening. The Loosen was just full on huge and easy to love. The Kracher was also nice. The Rieussec showed some bitter notes on the finish and not as expressive as other vintages.

Another crazy great night and Conrad really outdid himself.

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I’ve found funky reduction smells to be fairly common in Syrah. Some are even famous for it such as Alban. The ZH had a note of oxidation but was far from completely oxidized. Just not very expressive.

I remember liking the Grange a lot more than you Tex in Vegas. But I don’t remember all of the ripeness that Sunday’s edition showed.

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Syrah is very susceptible to reduction more than other varietals. This is primarily why many producers are reluctant to go with stelvins. Reduction normally blows off, but the time can vary.

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Fun night. Thanks for the notes.

WOTN for me was the Grange. Ripe but very interesting and should have many years ahead of it.

I don’t think this wine is even released yet. I am not one to point out pepper … but this had a lot of pepper. The next night it was even more apparent. I am assuming there is a good amount of whole cluster on here. Way too young and probably should have been decanted but I thought this was very impressive. In the Copain (Medocino stuff) vein.

Jason

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I would also say the reduction was gone from the 2003 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie by the end of the evening. It showed much prettier.

Jason

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Nope. It will be recorded as one of the great Granges. Have had it maybe a dozen times, no problems although too too young.

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Thanks for the notes Cris, and a big thanks to Conrad for putting it on. My WOTN was also the Clape. The chicken scratch I produced said “cigarette smoke, Indian spice, earthy tobacco, best one w/short ribs”. Amazing balance, expression, and surprisingly, quite elegant as well. The Grange was greatly appreciated, was nicely layered, great complexity, and was well balanced too, for such a huge wine. I just could probably never get past one glass of this because of it’s massive scale.
The Rostaing was a mess for quite a while, but as Gregg said, it improved much later on in the evening. The Guigal Hermitage was sort of a let down and seemed to lack focus and concentration, although it did have a nice tangy finish. The Copain to me tasted of unripe berries, very tart, and bubble-gummy like a Beaujolais, save for a little pepper in there. I don’t get this one at all. I had Gregg’s Porte du Ciel and it has come along nicely since 2005 when I last had it–integrating the heavy oak it once had. The Bunnel from WA was quite flashy and got some praise early on, but quickly revealed a bit too much oak, and lacked a little focus.
The stickies were lots of fun. I loved the ZH for it’s complexity, grace, and character. The Kracher was next in line for me–the Welschriesling has such a distinct, complex nose. I wrote “fig, floral notes, dried apricot, exotic spices, crunchy sweet, huge concentration and lasting finish.” It was pretty massive…but not nearly as much as The Noble Man. This is hands down the thickest, sweetest, gooiest, sugariest (those are my words) overthetop wine I’ve ever had. This is concentrated maple syrup. PX Sherry has nothing on this. My mouth hurt when I drank it. Needless to say, the dark, caramelly-nutty notes and sweet tobacco were quite intriguing. What fun. Thanks Conrad.

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BTW, what are some of the hallmarks of reduction? I couldn’t pin down reduction if it was stained on my shirt. This is a smell from unwanted solids (or maybe tannins?) that reduce in the bottle over time, correct?

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?? Was there 2 WA wines? The only one I recall was so badly corked I can’t believe you would want to comment on it. Terribly flawed … do to being corked. Am I thinking of a different bottle?

Jason

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You are. The Smith wine was corked. The Bunnel had a tan and brown label, pinot like bottle. Sweet fruit in an RRV kinda way.

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Thanks … I guess I should have reviewed Cris’s notes. Too much syrah.

Thanks for the notes Peter.

See ya all soon!

J