Waters Loess Vineyard Syrah 2012
Co-fermented with 4% Viognier, Waters 2012 Loess Syrah is crafted from fruit sourced from Leonetti Cellars estate vineyard. Earth, Italian plum, and blackberry reduction weave through seductive notes of brûléed turbinado sugar, earth, and charcuterie. It’s a sumptuous, well structured wine, framed in moderate toast with enough acidic lift to maintain balance. A meandering, lengthy […]
Figgins Walla Walla Valley Estate Red 2011
While the exquisite 2010 Figgins Estate Red merited points well above 95, and the 2012 showed off its pedigree and sumptuous velvety elegance, the 2011 vintage is a good effort in one of the more difficult recent vintages in Walla Walla Valley. As expected, the profile is lighter and leaner on the nose and palate. […]
Walla Walla Vintners Vottavo 2012
Walla Walla Vintners shows of svelte new packaging with the release of this wine—the 2012 Vottavo is a blend of 47% Sangiovese, 32% Merlot, and 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, all from Walla Walla’s Cut Bank Estate Vineyard. Intensely perfumed and infused with sandalwood, exotic spices, black cherries, and plums. The palate is plush, yet elegant, thanks […]
Va Piano Les Collines Vineyard Syrah 2014
Another epic wine Jay shared at a recent Vivino meetup in Seattle. Va Piano’s 2014 Les Collines Vineyard Syrah is the proverbial iron fist in the velvet glove. It’s classic for Les Collines fruit, offering up caliginous tones of steeped blackberries, espresso, char, tilth and bay leaf. The palate is as earth-bound as the nose, […]
Experience Oregon & Washington Wine Country Aboard a Replica Coastal Steamer
Join Me for a 7-Night Wine-Themed Cruise on the Columbia, Snake & Willamette Rivers Evidence of the ice age floods is easy to spot — 15,000 years later, the results are as profound as they are delicious. Lifting a glass of glinting ruby-hued wine, it’s impossible not to appreciate the lasting effects ancient geology had […]
Cayuse Vineyards Armada Vineyard Syrah 2007
From last night’s Vivino meetup, this bottle, the 2007 Cayuse Armada Vineyard Syrah is a dead ringer for a Northern Rhône. Waves of bacon fat, black tea and savory tones dominate the profile of this full-bodied, intense cult wine. At this stage in its development, fruit is no longer the central player, rather it plays […]
W.T. Vintners Stoney Vine Vineyard Syrah 2014
The 2014 W.T. Stony Vine Vineyards Syrah reverberates with abundant blackberry and black cherry notes couched in a complex melange of green hay, black licorice, Chinese 5-Spice, sassafras, roasted meat, and green peppercorn. Medium weight, very Rhône-like in its countenance. Fresh and vivid, nicely balanced, and graced with a minerally vein that suspends itself over […]
King Estate NxNW (North by Northwest) Walla Walla Valley Syrah 2013
From King Estate’s North by Northwest project in Walla Walla is this 2013 Syrah. Ripe and heavy with black cherries, plums, cedar and incense. Juicy black fruit leads the charge on the palate, cradled in moderate toast and lovely earthy-leathery undertones. There’s a nice streak of acidity to add lift to a wine that has […]
Rôtie Cellars Northern Blend 2013
Always solid, the Rôtie’s Northern Blend is composed of 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier, adding subtle sweetness to a nose is fairly brimming over with ripe Rainier cherries, Italian plums, and baking spices. The fruit is sourced from the winery’s own Rocks Estate Vineyard, a site that tends to contribute earthy undertones and, even a […]
Fausse Piste River Rock Vineyard Syrah 2011
I totally respect that Fausse Priste is made by a chef, I find his [Jesse Skiles] wines to be slightly rustic and rough around the edges like that of its maker. This is not a wine that will please everyone, so much the better, it’s a great example of creative small-lot production, with native yeast […]