Susan & I had our Christmas dinner early for her son & family. With the grilled/butterflied leg of lamb, we tried:
1. Failla Syrah QueSyrahVnyd/SonomaCoast (13.5%) 2001: Med.dark color w/ slight bricking; lovely smokey/pungent some roasted/Rhonish/cracked black pepper/espresso slight blackberry/blueberry/Syrah bit charred/toasty/oak complex nose; rather tart beautiful smokey/pungent/roasted/espresso/coffee/Rhonish smooth/elegant light blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/peppery light tannic quite complex/Rhonish/Calif pseudo-Rhone flavor; very long tart smooth/balanced/elegant smokey/pungent/charred/oak rather espresso/pseudo-Rhone/peppery some blackberry/blueberry/Syrah quite complex finish; dropping a bit of fruit but loads of Calif pseudo-Rhone complex flavor; lovely fully-mature Syrah and should go another few yrs I suspect.
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2. Carlisle Syrah CardiacHill/JemroseVnyd/BennettVlly (215 cs; 15.8%) 2006: Very dark/black color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah bit blueberry/licorice/pungent some toasty/charred/smokey/oak bit peppery/cold-climate pungent bit complex nose; somewhat tart strong/intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/licorice slight peppery/cold-climate huge fruit light toasty/oak flavor w/ strong/smooth tannins; very long intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/licorice/pungent/RCCola some toasty/charred/oak rich/mouthfilling finish w/ big/smooth tannins; lots of huge/primary fruit but starting slowly to show a bit of evolution.
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And a wee BP:
1. QueSyrah: This wine comes from AlRago's highly-regarded QueSyrah vnyd, on TaylorRidge NW of Sebastapol. This is easily the first really cold-climate Syrah vnyd in Calif. Up until the '01 vintage, the grapes went to EhrenJordan. Since then, they have gone to Kurt&DerekBeitler, whom made the wine under the LaBoheme label, and now under the RanchoBodega label. This QueSyrah vnyd is truly one of Calif's great Syrah vnyds. Its grapes are in good hands w/ Kurt & Derek.
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2. Carlisle: Another terrific Syrah from MikeOfficer. The 15.8% alcohol was not at all apparent; no heat or fuminess whatsoever. Huge/primary fruit and moving at a glacial pace.
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3. Failla: This Syrah show a lot of what I call Calif pseudo-Rhone character. Most of these cold-climate Syrahs in Calif would not be mistaken for a great Cote-Rotie, maybe for a Hermitage. But they often have a roasted/espresso/pungent character that bears a lot of resemblance to a Northern Rhone Syrah. This Failla had that in spades.
Tom