2001 Edmunds St. John California Syrah, $21.99, 14% alc.: Ruby red color; very funky on the nose at first, with tar and barnyard dominating the deep, dark plums and berries, with hints of hibiscus and rosebud emerging as the funk recedes. All earth, iron, dark plums and berries shaded with hints of leather and iodine on the palate, being full bodied, with a good dose of tannins and seeming almost fat, but there’s also some deceptive acidity that keeps it lively. Just keeps opening and opening (it was really singing by the last half of the last glass), so give it plenty of air and it’ll reward you; give it at least two or three years in the cellar and it’ll be even better. Not as nuanced as the 2000 "Wylie-Fenaughty" Syrah we enjoyed a few weeks ago, but it has a lot going for it on its own terms.
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