WTN: EdmundsStJohn Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty '05..(short/boring)

Tried this last night:
1. EdmundsStJohn Syrah Wylie-FenaughtyVnyds/ElDorado (14.6%) 2005: Dark color; strong smoky/roasted/coffee/NorthernRhone some earthy/blackberry/Syrah fairly complex nose; tart rather Rhonish/smoky/coffee/espresso/pungent some earthy/blackberry/Syrah lightly tannic balanced flavor; very long smoky/roasted/Rhonish/coffee some earthy/blackberry/Syrah fairly smooth/balanced complex finish; in a really nice place right now and should go another 4-6 yrs just fine.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Provoked by PatrickComisky's comments on Zester about EdmundsStJohn and the sound thrashing he was given by one critic a few yrs ago, Larry brought this as a mystery wine. The strong roasted/NorthernRhone character made me imediately thing NorthernRhone. It didn't quite have the floral perfume and the high-toned character that would be CoteRotie, nor the power that would suggest Hermitage; so I guessed it to be something like a StJoseph or Crozes-Hermitage from a distinctive producer like AlainGraillot. The ElDorado earthiness threw me a bit, but I stuck w/ my guess. An EdStJohn Syrah didn't even enter my mind. No "low-brow" Syrah was this. Steve was advised by this critic that if he wanted to make Rhone-style wines, he should do it in France. Maybe...but this was a pretty darned dead-ringer for NorthernRhone.
Tom

This was my favorite wine (out of many I loved) at an ESJ tasting we did a few months ago.
Like the recent Tercero brouhaha, one must wonder a bit about the motive for that thrashing ( and publishing scores below 84 only when he wants to spank someone). It's not hard to believe the wines aren't to the critic's tastes, but why publish those comments?
Glad Steve is getting the recognition (and sales) he deserves.

Thanks for the update, Tom. I haven't broached my cache of this wine yet (I just finished my last '01 W-F recently), but you give me great hope for the future. Interestingly, I was (re)introduced to Steve's wines by Rahsaan at a get-together in Berkeley many moons ago when he brought and opened a then recently-released '01 W-F. After some cogitation, I declared "This tastes to me like a young St. Joseph... and I mean that as a compliment!" I may have been totally misguided in saying that, but at least I'm in good company now!

Mark Lipton
(Now arranging a cougar hunt to start from Peet's in Walnut Square)