WTN: Stupid Syrah

For some people, Sunday afternoon in October means Stuart Yaniger and JD getting together for chef battling and bottle after bottle of wine, and perhaps watching football.

Sounds good to me (especially the parts not including football).

After some palate awakeners/cleansers we started with 1999 Domaine du Monteillet St. Joseph Blanc, which was unfortunately some sort of reserve bottling, because it stunk to all hell of oak and had zero fruit left to balance.

Gasping for air we managed to pour glasses of the 2001 Rochioli Pinot Noir River Block which was not bad for California pinot noir. It probably helped that it had a few years of age to tame the fruit, and the oak was certainly luxurious and classy. But, it disappointed on the finish when my Trained Palate kept waiting for the Burgundy minerals-and-magic to occur, and instead all I got was juicy fruit. Not bad. But I’m frightened to know what it cost.

More enjoyment was to be found in the 2003 Edmunds St. John Wylie-Fenaughty Syrah which drank very well from the corkpull, lovely lush fruit with all the baconey herbal notes of balancing complexity you could want (Stuart says Tarragon!). Very pleasing as always.

The 1995 Tardieu-Laurent Cote-Rotie “Les Dames Brunes” was an experiment I had found in my basement, and I was curious to see if the famed Oak Treatment would dissipate with age. Not in this case. No syrah or Cote Rotie to be found.

Seeking better pastures we opened the 1997 Daniel and Rolland Vernay Cote-Rotie “Les Grandes Places” which showed more rusticity, slight volatility on opening, but that blew off, and the fragrant floral gentle Cote-Rotie terroir was a lovely counterpoint to the Sunny Wylie-F. 1997 notwithstanding.

At this point Stuart starts clamoring for more wine to go with the upcoming mushroom frittata, and I need something to help the Yankees beat the Indians, so JD emerges with a lovely bottle of 1998 Gallet Cote-Rotie that is the perfect closing wine. So much depth and beauty on the nose, so much class in the mouth, drinking well now and in the future. Go and get some! And even better if you can find someone to cook killer tomato paella to go with it!

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for the notes. I am surprised at how well you say the ESJ showed at such a young age. Perhaps I won't consign my bottles of the '03 W-F to offsite storage.

Thanks for the notes. I am surprised at how well you say the ESJ showed at such a young age..

I was surprised too. I was thinking that it might need more air, but it was really lovely from the beginning. I came back to it later to see how it developed, but in all fairness it was difficult to taste after the Gallet because the CA richness didn't dance anymore.

But, while each bottle often has its own story, based on this showing there was some definite pleasure to be had at the moment with the 03WF.

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks. I'll keep a bottle handy.