Cline USA California Los Carneros Syrah 1999
Found this amongst the wines I got out of storage and winced when I noted that even the wine-maker on the back label recommended a 5-7 year cellaring window. After my recent disappointments with a couple of 2000 Rhones (including a rather muted, fading Côte Rôtie), I opened it this past weekend, not expecting too much. It turned out to be doing just fine. Notes as follows: -
Surprisingly black in glass but with brownish brick showing at edge. Distinct nose of black olives and licorice. Clear smell of aged Syrah (Shiraz). Lots of sweet fruit and black pepper on nose. Pepper redolent in mouth too, spicy with cedar touch. Rounded and still showing some blackcurrant. Fuzzy and pleasant. Feels instinctively more Shiraz than Northern Rhône, and if not quite as complex or delicate as some aged Shiraz we’ve tasted in recent years, still refreshing for not being overpowering. Still some fruit to it on second night though final glass was almost buried by tannin.
This wine was carrying a $15 price tag and purchased back in 01 or 02. It’s reassuring to see such an inexpensive wine (though Cline has always kept its prices sensible) mature so nicely. The wine was even better for making up a meal to match its aromas and taste, an eggplant/mushroom/olive risotto. A satisfying night.