by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

We tried last week (1/24/07) some New Syrahs :

1. Tobiano CasablancaVlly/Chile Syrah KingstonFamilyVnyd (14.0%; www.KingstonVineyards.com) 2005: Very dark color; strong roasted/smokey/charred/dusty rather Rhonish some blackberry/Syrah nose; rather sour earthy/dusty bit tinney/metallic some
   roasted/smokey/charred slight blackberry/Syrah rather tannic/rough/coarse flavor; med.long
   toasty/smokey/pungent/roasted slight blackberry rather sour/earthy some tinney/metallic rather
   tannic/rough finish; very attractive/Rhonish nose but hard/sour/rustic on the palate. $18.00
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2. Bayo Oscura CasablancaVlly/Chile Syrah KingstonFamilyVnyds (14.1%)
   2003: Unredeemingly corked. $23.00
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3. B.KosugeWines HudsonVnyd Carneros Syrah (14.5%; www.BKosugeWines.com) 2004: Very dark color; lovely toasty/smokey/oaked slight roasted/espresso/Rhonish bit minerally rather blackberry/Syrah some complex nose; very ripe almost sweetish loads of ripe/sweetish/blackberry/ Syrah slight toasty/oak bit simple flavor; med. very ripe berry/cherry/blackberry/Syrah loads of
   fruit slight toasty/oak finish w/ light tannins; very attractive nose but not quite delivers on the palate what the nose promises; nicely done Syrah. $39.00
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4. ClebWines CuveeSyrah SantaBarbaraCnty (14.8%) 2004: Med.dark color; strong berry/ blackberry/Syrah loads of fruit slight roasted/pungent nose; soft bit hot very cherry/berry/ripe almost DryCreek Zin bit simple flavor; med.short bright/ripe/cherry/berry bit hot/alcoholic finish
   w/ light tannins; not a lot of Syrah character; more like a DryCreekVlly Zin; fairly priced at $20.00
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5. Peay SonomaCoast Syrah LesTitans ("the giants") (14.2%; www.PeayVineyards.com; Estrella, UCD1, 174 clones) 2004: Very dark color; lovely spicy/bit black pepper rather blackberry/Syrah more high-toned light toasty/smokey/oak almost Burgundian/Pinotish fairly complex nose; tart high-toned spicy bright black cherry/blackberry/Pinotish light toasty/oak bit peppery flavor; long very spicy/peppery bright black cherry/blackberry light toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a bright/high-toned almost Pinot-like rendition of Syrah; very attractive
   with lovely aromatics. $48.00
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6. Peay SonomaCoast Syrah LaBruma ("the mist or fog") (14.2%; Estrella, UCD1, 174 + 470 clones) 2004: Very dark color; deeper more bass notes strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah
   somewhat black pepper slight earthy light toasty/pungent/oak nose; tart bright/spicy/black-
   berry/boysenberry/Syrah some peppery/earthy light toasty/oak flavor; long spicy/light black
   pepper deep/blackberry/black cherry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; deeper
   w/ more bass notes and more black pepper notes; lovely Syrah w/ lovely aromatics. $48.00
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7. DainWines TheSmartSet Syrah WhiteHawkVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (14.7%; www.DainWines.com) 2005: Very dark/black color; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/ ripe/Syrah bit jammy some pungent/roasted/toasty/smokey/coffee attractive nose; soft/lush ripe/ blackberry/boysenberry/ jammy/Syrah sweet fruit/cola flavor; med.long ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah light toasty/ smokey/oak finish w/ light tannins; lots of sweet/ripe Syrah fruit; bit pricey at $44.50
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8. TerlatoVnyds Syrah DryCreekVlly (14.5%) 2003: Med.dark color; very bright/DCV/raspberry/ Zin-like some overrripe/alcoholic some toasty/oak rather simple/Zin-like nose; soft ripe/overripe
   berry/raspberry/Zin-like rather buttery/vanilla/oak simple flavor;med. bright/spicy raspberry/Zin rather buttery/oak finish w/ light tannins; a classic example of DCV Zin but no Syrah character to speak of; terroir trumps varietal character. Overpriced at $30.00.
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9. Samsara MelvilleVnyd/SantaRitaHills Syrah (15.1%; 70 cs; www.SamsaraWine.com) 2004: Black color; beautiful cracked black pepper intense blackberry/Syrah/spicy slight coffee/roasted/
   mocha/espresso toasty/charred/oak complex nose; tart very spicy/cracked pepper intense/ blackberry/ Syrah slight coffee/mocha/toasty complex flavor; tart cola/DrPepper/blackberry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; beautiful classic SRH Syrah. $40.00
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10. DeLilleCllrs Doyenne Syrah YakimaVlly (14.9%; www.DeLilleCellars.com) 2003: Black color;
    very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah loads of Syrah fruit slight herbal/earthy light toasty/ charred/burnt/oak bit carbon arc/searchlight nose; very soft/fat/lush very intense/ blackberry/ boysenberry/Syrah light herbal some toasty/charred flavor; long very soft/fat very intense boysenberry/blackberry/jammy/Syrah light toasty/charred/oak finish w/ light tannins; huge/intense Syrah fruit but lacks structure and seems to be high pH. Too pricey at $52.00
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11. JCCllrs a la Cave Syrah Calif (15.1%; www.JCCellars.com) 2004: Black color; very intense
    ripe/overripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/jammy light mocha/charred some hot/alcoholic/
    fumey toasty/oak nose; very ripe/overripe some hot/alcoholic intense ripe/jammy/blackberry/
    boysenberry/Syrah huge light toasty/oak/charred flavor; long big/huge-fruit very ripe/ blackberry/ boysenberry/Syrah/jammy light toasty/oak finish w/ light tannins; speaks mostly of ripe/jammy PasoRobles fruit; bit too ripe & fumey. $40.00
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12. JCCllrs Syrah HaleysReserve RockPileVnyd Rockpile (15.9%; www.JCCellars.com) 2002: Black color; very intense/ripe/overripe/chocolaty boysenberry/Syrah/jammy some hot/alcoholic
    bit volatile/EA over the top nose; soft/fat/porky very hot/alcoholic ripe/overripe/jammy/ boysenberry/Syrah flavor; long hot/alcoholic/fumey intense/overripe/jammy/boysenberry/Syrah
    finish w/ some tannins; pretty overripe and too volatile/fumey; rather Oz in style. $38.00
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13. Piedrasassi Calif Syrah (14.9%) 2004: Black color; intense very spicy unusual/herbal/spicy/
    tarragon/rosemary chocolaty/M&M/blackberry/Syrah some mocha/roasted/complex nose; soft very
    ripe/boysenberry/Syrah/chocolaty slight herbal some roasted/charred/mocha toasty/oak somewhat
    tannic flavor; long very ripe/boysenberry/Syrah chocolaty some toasty/oak slight herbal some tannic finish; needs 2-5 yrs; a rather unusual/interesting rendition of Syrah. $50.00
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14. Pax Syrah Cuvee Christine SonomaCnty (www.PaxWines.com; 7 SonomaCnty vnyds; 15.6%) 2004: Black color; beautiful toasty/espresso/roasted/charred/oak rather Rhoneish complex blackberry/Syrah some hot/alcoholic nose; soft very spicy/blackberry/Syrah/chocolaty rather roasted/mocha/espresso/charred oak quite Rhoneish flavor; very long toasted/charred roasted/ mocha/espresso blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-7 yrs; lovely very Rhoneish Syrah.
    $64.00
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15. Neyers Syrah NapaVlly HudsonVnyd (14.4%) 1996: Very dark/nblack color; beautiful roasted/
    Rhoneish/smokey green olive some blackberry/Syrah Graillot-like complex nose; soft bit lean/ hard/ dried out very smokey/roasted/toasty some green olive/blackberry/Syrah Rhoneish/roasted
    lovely flavor; very long/lingering bit tannic/dried out very Rhoneish/roasted/smokey/mocha some blackberry/Syrah green olive complex beautiful flavor; very Rhoneish/Graillot-like Syrah; starting to dry out a bit; beautifully mature & complex. Larry's mystery.
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16. Qupe Syrah SantaBarbaraCnty BienNacidoHillside Estate (EB; 13.5%) 1995: Dark color; beautiful smokey/charred/oak/FrancoisFreres roasted/Rhoneish/toasty/green olive slight blackberry/ Syrah quite complex nose; tart bit lean/dried out very Rhoneish/charred/smokey/roasted some green
    olive/blackberry/Syrah elegant/lovely/complex flavor; very long/lingering Rhoneish/roasted/charred bit lean/dried out elegant/complex bit blackberry/blueberry/Syrah finish w/ light tannins; drying out a bit; a beautiful/complex mature Calif Rhoneish Syrah. Steve's mystery.
    
    
    

1. Byron Kosuge is mostly a Pinot specialist who used to work at Saintsbury. He also makes the two KingstonFamily/Chile wines we tried.
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2. Syrah-like Pinots/Pinot-like Syrahs: It's fairly common for those who worship at the altar
of varietal typicity to rail against some of the huge/extracted (especially SantaRitaHills)
Pinots and dismiss them as Syrah-like and not worthy of consideration. I would agree that
some of these Pinots are rather Syrah-like in style, but they still speak to me of PinotNoir,
albeit on a much larger scale.

I also see just the opposite, sometimes I find Syrahs that are rather Pinotish in style; just like a find many Napa Syrahs rather Cabernet in style. The Dehlinger and the Radio-Coteau Syrahs come to mind in that context. These two Peay Syrahs struck me as lighter/more elegant in style than the '03 version; a bit more Pinotish in style as well. Both had beautiful/perfumey aromatics and not the big flavors that one usually finds in Syrahs. The Titans had more high-toned notes; the Bruma more bass notes, more spicy, and deeper; more Syrah-like. Both are lovely renditions of Syrah.
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3. Terlato Syrah: I didn't want to like this wine because of the RichSanford thing. Fortunately,
the wine didn't let me down. Like many DCV Syrahs, it had a lot of Zin-like character and didn't speak much of Syrah to me. A pretty wine, overpriced, overpackaged; but not speaking
much of Syrah to me (worshiping once again at the altar of varietal typicity).
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4. Samsara: This is the Pinot/Syrah effort of Chad Melville. I've been pretty impressed w/ his
efforts thus far. I slightly preferred his Verna's Syrah to this Melville version. This comes from their estate in the SantaRitaHills. Only AdamTolmach gets these Syrah grapes anymore. Their other estate is the Verna'sVnyd, planted in a bit more warmer area up towards LosAlamos. Other folks who get Melville Syrah all get theirs from Verna's.
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5. Piedrasassi: This is the effort of SashiMoorman and PeterHunken, winemakers at Stolpman. It showed a lot of very ripe character as well as some underripe/herbal character. Not sure
where the grapes came from (not likely Stolpman), but it spoke of both PasoRobles and
MontereyCnty Syrah. Interesting wine.
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6. The two mystery wines were pretty spectacular examples of how Calif Syrahs can age. Both showed a lot of Rhone character. Both were starting to dry out and should be
drunk up before they go much further. The Neyers has really developed a lot of Rhone
character that I don't recall being there in its youth. The Qupe is never a very dramatic wine nor of massive proportions when young. It's all about balance. But they seem to age very/very well. Bob's Syrahs, especially the HillSide, has a very distinct aromatic profile of
FrancoisFreres oak. He uses his saignee to season his new barrels and then back blends this
wine to achieve the level of roasted/charred character he desires. I had several yrs ago one of his aged saignee Syrahs he uses for this blending (forget the year) and it was pretty
amazingly good.

TomHill