A Syrah super-tasting
I’d call it a super-tasting, our event on Wednesday in which we sampled 13 of the top Syrahs from California.
The background was Jackson Family Wines’ purchase, about a year ago, of Siduri Wines, which also included the Lee family’s lesser-known brand, Novy. Now, I’d always given very high scores to Novy’s Syrahs and other Rhone-style wines, going back to the 2000 Page-Nord Syrah (94 points). It was clear to me that Novy was a top Rhone producer in California, but I wanted to more clearly understand the wines, especially in light of the competition. So I thought, let’s taste some Novy reds against the most critically-esteemed Syrahs and red Rhone blends in California, and see how things stack up.
I asked Adam Lee for his suggestions as to which Novy wines to include in the lineup, and he suggested 2013 Simpson Vineyard Syrah-Grenache (Dry Creek Valley), 2011 Syrah (Santa Lucia Highlands) and 2013 Susan’s Hill Vineyard (Santa Lucia Highlands, from a part of the Pisoni Ranch). Beyond those, I selected the rest: Saxum 2011 Bone Rock; Tensley 2013 Thompson Vineyard Syrah (with a Santa Barbara County appellation but actually from the Los Alamos Valley); Zaca Mesa 2012 Black Bear Block Syrah (Santa Ynez Valley); Copain 2012 Halcon Syrah (Yorkville Highlands): Alban 2011 Seymour’s Syrah (Edna Valley): Colgin 2012 IX Estate Syrah (Napa Valley): Qupe 2011 Bien Nacido X Block “The Good Nacido” Syrah (Santa Maria Valley); Arnot-Roberts 2013 Clary Ranch Syrah (Sonoma Coast, from way down to the south, near the Marin County line); Kongsgaard 2013 Syrah (Napa Valley, from the Hudson Vineyard in Carneros) and Donelan 2012 Obsidian Vineyard Syrah (Knights Valley).
Let me tell you, California flights don’t get any better than this!
We tasted the wines, as usual, blind. There were eleven of us, and we took our time, discussing each wine separately, but going back and forth. There was quite a bit of unanimity, but for this posting I’m using only my own impressions.
Despite the conventional wisdom that you can’t sell Syrah, these wines should be enough to convince even the most confirmed doubter that, when well-grown and well-made, Syrah is one of California’s best red wines. It’s common to say that there are two styles of Syrah in California: a riper style from warmer regions such as Paso Robles and a more structured style from cooler regions like Edna Valley. In general, this is true, although there are notable exceptions; for instance, Alban’s wines, from Edna Valley, are high in alcohol (the Seymour’s was 15.6%). Still, in general there are two styles: (1) higher alcohol, more extracted, darker in color, softer, richer and fuller in body, and (2) lower alcohol, paler in color, more delicate, less ripe, earthier, more nuanced and crisp. In our tasting, the quintessential #1 style was the Saxum (15.3%, Paso Robles); the quintessential #2 style was the Arnot-Roberts (11.8%, Sonoma Coast/Petaluma Wind Gap), which was so pale it could have been Pinot Noir. (But I liked it a great deal despite the lack of typicity.)
Either style can succeed critically, but it’s fair to say that, among the top critics (including myself, when I was a critic), the former style, #1, gets the better scores. On this occasion, I have to say that the Alban and Saxum wines were not among my favorites. I could and did appreciate the soft charm of the Saxum, but the Alban, at 15.6% alcohol, was just too porty.
My top wines—the style I really love—cannot be described as Northern Rhone or Southern Rhone, but rather is balanced, in a rich, sexy, California way. Tied at 98 points each were the Novy 2013 Susan’s Hill and the Donelan 2012 Obsidian. Both almost exploded the top of my head off. Unbelievable richness and concentration, massively saturated wines, so complex and flavorful you could hardly believe it, yet both of them with superb structure and integrity. Close on their heels was the Colgin, which RJP gave 98 points; all I could muster up was a measly 95! The alcohol on that wine was 15.3%, quite high, but the wine had no heat, or perhaps it’s accurate to say it had a pleasantly warming feel. As good as it was, I wrote, “Needs time.”
I also quite liked the Zaca Mesa, the Copain, the Qupe and the other two Novys—I scored them all above 90 points. While the others didn’t rise to the magic 90 level, they were still delightful; and it might be that, in another tasting with another lineup, they might have shown better. It always strikes me in these blind tastings that the wine’s place in the flight, and the other wines that accompany it, are very important. For example, the Copain (which I gave 90 points) came immediately after the magnificent Donelan; the first thing I wrote was, quote, “Not fair after the last wine,” and some of the other tasters led off their remarks by saying something similar. Which is why it’s so important for the critic to try and set aside everything that’s going on in his head and his palate and try to be fair and objective about every wine. Who knows? Had the Copain come before the Donelan I might have given it 91 or even 92 points. That is the subjectivity factor in tasting, which every honest critic will admit exists. The public needs to constantly be reminded of the shortcomings of every type of wine tasting.
Anyhow, this tasting has provided me with a fresh perspective on Syrah, and I intend to give that sometimes maligned variety more of a drumbeat than I have in the past. At this level, it’s a better wine than Merlot, making it a lovely choice for that steak, pork chop or game—in fact it occupies a distinguished place between heavier Cabernet Sauvignon and lighter Pinot Noir as the ideal medium-bodied, complex, dry red table wine.
* * *
I’ll be in Mexico next week, doing some wine tastings for Jackson Family Wines. Will try to blog everyday. Have a great, peaceful weekend.
“It always strikes me in these blind tastings that the wine’s place in the flight, and the other wines that accompany it, are very important.”
Steve, in your experience participating in single-blind tastings, has the first poured red wine ever been your favorite?
It has been my observation that the first poured wine at any wine tasting gets short shrift. Participants’ palates are still “warming up” to the initial organoleptic exposure to alcohol and astringency.
(Aside: I “recall” Tim Mondavi being quoted by the wine press that he needs to taste upwards of 15 discrete wines before his palate is ready to make discriminating distinctions about samples under evaluation.)
Bob Henry, absolutely the first wine almost always is wonderful. I always come back to it later, to get it right. Can’t be biased for that first wine.
Recently encountered Westwood Syrah from the Annadel Gap vineyard, a cooler site, and was reminded just how great Syrah can be.
And not a Ballard Canyon in the batch? Shame on you! (Joking! You picked some fabulous SBC wines. I’m green with envy.)
Steve,
Interesting tasting -and an interesting group of wines. A few questions:
1) Were the wines popped and poured or decanted? If decanted, for how long?
2) Did those in attendance mark their favorites first before discussing? And how long did you sit with each wine and how did this change your ideas of what you and the others like best, etc?
3) What was the order in which these were poured?
4) Did you each have 13 glasses at all times?
Just trying to understand the tasting itself better. Though I’m sure all of these wines are wonderful, many are being consumed so darned early in their lifetimes that I’m not sure you are getting the ‘true essence’ of what most of these will bring to the table.
In addition, you tried wines from 3 different vintages, each with their own ‘challenges’ for sure.
Cheers
for my two cents, I find the cooler and less ripe styles need more time. Many of my favorite wines are the Wind Gap- Arnot Roberts-Donkey and Goat earlier picked style. That being said I also find I like them much better the longer they are in the bottle.
Also a caveat, I do not ( usually ) like big wine bombs, so as we all know, everybody has different tastes, but those bigger wines almost always taste better young with all that fruit, unless they are buried under too much new oak.
“Had the Copain come before the Donelan I might have given it 91 or even 92 points. That is the subjectivity factor in tasting, which every honest critic will admit exists.”
That’s not subjectivity, that’s test-retest unreliability…
Steve,
If you had inserted a Syrah such as these into the tasting . . .
http://www.terrerougewines.com/product/2009-TERRE-ROUGE-Syrah–ASCENT?pageID=25044AD2-07D7-4542-17EB-2259E6DFDDEB&sortBy=Price&maxRows=10&
[93 pts. Wine Enthusiast and Wine and Spirits Magazine]
[92 pts. Conn. Guide to CA Wine]
— AND —
http://shop.bonnydoonvineyard.com/product/2009-Le-Cigare-Volant-Reserve
[93 points Wine Enthusiast]
. . . where do you think they would have placed based on your personal preference rank order?
~~ Bob
Postscript. Riding the coattails of Larry’s comment [nice seeing you at Rhone Rangers a few Saturdays ago], when I organized my comparative tastings we followed these protocols:
(1) same vintage grape varieties were sampled in common flights — never mixing vintages (thereby avoiding annual weather viability).
(2) all wines were tasted single blind. One person bagged the bottles. A second “randomly” numbered them within each flight. The participants knew each flight’s grape variety and the vintage, but not the identity of the wines.
(3) no wines were decanted — the pours came straight from the bottle. (Participants could swirl their glass as much as they wished to replicate decanting).
(4) flights comprised no more than six wines (same vintage, same grape variety).
(5) participants were instructed no to discuss the wines during each flight’s sampling.
(6) a “Top 3” preference vote was recorded at the conclusion of each flight, after which discussion was encouraged.
(7) during that discussion, the next flight of wines was prepped.
(8) participants retained their flight glass pours throughout the duration of the event, to facilitate retastings.
(9) a “Top 3” OVERALL preference vote was recorded at the conclusion of the event, after which wine were unbagged in ascending numerical pour order, their identities revealed, and further discussion was encouraged.
(10) the event concluded with a light lunch, accompanied by the pours that were left in participants’ glasses. (No food was served during the flights.)
Our goals was to conduct a tasting as true to a scientific experiment as possible . . . minimizing as many distracting “variables” as possible.
Let me make a few corrections — factual and grammatical.
Factual . . .
The 2009 Bonny Doon Le Cigar Volant Reserve is a Rhone varieties blend:
30% Srah, 28% Grenache, 22% Mourvèdre, 20% Cinsault.
Grammatical [in CAPS] . . .
“(1) same vintage grape varieties were sampled in common flights — never mixing vintages (thereby avoiding annual weather VARIABILITY).”
“(5) participants were instructed NOT to discuss the wines during each flight’s sampling.”
“(9) a “Top 3” overall preference vote was recorded at the conclusion of the event, after which THE wineS were unbagged in ascending numerical pour order, their identities revealed, and further discussion was encouraged.”