TN: Syrah from anywhere but France

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Notes from a tasting lunch, with a theme of Syrah from anywhere but France.

2012 Majella Sparkling Shiraz – mid colour, with a nose of sweet ripe black fruit with some pepper. Smooth on palate and surprisingly good.

1985 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz Langi – something I came across in my cellar and threw out there in case it happened to show decently. It was sound but faded

2004 Clarendon Hills Syrah Brookman – dark wine with tar in the nose and a bit of raspberry. Excellent concentration and a fair bit of soft tannin. Nice.

1994 Swanson Syrah – this Rutherford winery produced a nice wine for my main offering. The nose was more Southern Rhone with what seems like Grenache notes, with nutmeg in the nose and a medium length smooth finish.

2005 Arcadian Syrah Sleepy Hollow Vineyard – dark wine with a black cherry nose, smooth on palate and while it had a medium length sweet finish, it was not what I would call a ripe wine.

2009 Le Vieux Pin Syrah Équinoxe – from a BC winery and the only Canadian wine that day. Dark wine with a nice blue fruit nose, great depth on palate, a very classy wine that sent us wondering of someone had cheated and slipped a Northern Rhone in.

2017 Melville Syrah Estate Donna's Block – off to Santa Rita with this wine. Fairly dark, sweet nose, soft in the mouth and with a hint of green. This one stood apart as being different, but it was interesting and was a good addition to the tasting.

2010 Reynvaan Family Vineyards Syrah The Contender – back up to Washington state (Walla Walla) for this one. Spicy briary nose with a tapenade hint, and enough of what we call garrigue to be confusing when tasted blind. Very nice.

2012 Dutton-Goldfield Syrah Dutton Ranch Cherry Ridge Vineyard – first time sampling this winery for me. Dark wine full of dark fruit, and a smooth long finish – struck me as fully mature now.

Penfolds Grandfather Rare Tawny – I pulled this out as a suitable finishing/cheese wine. Interesting nose with walnuts, figs and although sweet, it was nicely balanced with good acidity. Very tasty.

[Jenise]

My thoughts:

2012 Majella Sparkling Shiraz – Sweeter than expected mid-palate but the dry finish redeemed it.
Nice secondary development, proving that all sparkling shirazes should be aged a bit.

1985 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz Langi – Initial nose of new car mats, but bland on the palate.
Not bad, and it was better later, but overall had been cellared too long.

2004 Clarendon Hills Syrah Brookman – Sweet, earthy, dense, dark purple-black, beautifully balanced and with a luxurious mouthfeel. Took ruling out North America, state by state, to finally switch hemispheres in the guessing. This, btw, is not a producer I have cared for in the past--stylistically too heavy and sweet in a modern way--so this surpassed what my expectations would have been had I known what I was drinking up front. Let's hear it for blind tastings!

1994 Swanson Syrah – What you said. More like grenache than syrah but that's not a complaint, it was really, really good but I don't think there's any runway left.

2005 Arcadian Syrah Sleepy Hollow Vineyard – My wine. Decanted for three hours before I left home. Wasn't a dog or anything but I was definitely hoping for more secondary, even tertiary development on this wine as the 06's got there years ago.

2009 Le Vieux Pin Syrah Équinoxe – Again, what you said. This was my second favorite wine of the day.

2017 Melville Syrah Estate Donna's Block – Coop's first reaction: "odd!" and Bob A asked, "Is it pinot?" I get where both were coming from: the nose was super sweet (a Melville trait) but the first identifiable thing you smelled was not fruit but something from the vegetable world, reminded me of carrot tops (when you buy a fresh bunch and have to snap off the greens? That) but definitely not syrah. There was also cherry, pepper and a sweet earthy flavor like raw rutabega. All that slipped away fairly quickly and was replaced with that overripe poison-spice thing not unlike RAID ant killer. Nothing here that's normal for Melville--I'm guessing it had a mercaptan issue. On CT, I'd mark it as 'flawed'.

2010 Reynvaan Family Vineyards Syrah The Contender – My other wine, also decanted for 3 hours in advance. Syrah with marsanne as a co-ferment partner. Decent ripeness with great structure, black olives, garrique and only mild funk from the Rocks fruit. Ideal for current drinking and the best showing for this wine ever--THIS is what made me fall in love with this producer all those years ago. Garnered 5 first place votes from the 7 tasters present.

2012 Dutton-Goldfield Syrah Dutton Ranch Cherry Ridge Vineyard – Sweet, saturated fruit, modern, tastes younger than 2012, lacks dimension and interest. Group vote for last place, although had others retasted the Melville I think things would have turned out differently.

Penfolds Grandfather Rare Tawny – What you said. Very worthy and appropriate.

[David M. Bueker]

Nice selection, though the Arcadian should have shown better, and Melville jumped the shark a long time ago.

[Jenise]

Friends were members of Melville's club in the 2000-2005 time frame so I tasted quite a few (more pinots than syrahs, admittedly) over the years. They were always too sweet and forward for me when young, but surprisingly they aged well, 10-15 years on the pinots anyway. I would not have expected a 2017 to go south like this did, but maybe the winery's in different hands now.

[David M. Bueker]

Chad Melville is still in charge of the winemaking. His dad is still president of the winery.

I jumped off the Melville train when they did a 16.7% alcohol Viognier (IIRC a 2004) that was in a club shipment.

[Jenise]

Still think it might be a mercaptan problem. Another note from a CTer was a definite do-not-like from someone obviously familiar with the brand, and he mentioned strange vegetal flavors too.

Syrah from anywhere but Europe. Outside France, as you know, Switzerland makes some very good wines from Syrah in their part of the Rhône valley. I have also had very good Syrah from the Fontodi estate in Tuscany, which is high enough to keep some freshness in the wines. Otherwise I am not too keen on warm climate Syrah/Shiraz from the Mediterranean area.

In the New World, my favourites have been from New Zealand, which has a cool enough climate to suit my taste. I have heard good of some from South Africa but IIRC have never had one. From Australia Clonakilla stands out for finesse.

[David M. Bueker]

Not that you are likely to see any of it in France, but there's some wonderful cool climate Syrah coming out of areas near Santa Barbara, California. There are some sub-regions around that area that get a lot of Pacific influence, making them much cooler than would seem logical for someplace so far south.

Here's my two cents.

2012 Majella Sparkling Shiraz – My starting wine. Light nose with cherry notes; medium bodied, quite elegant, plum and cherry
on the dry finish (B+).

1985 Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz Langi – Long gone. (NR)

1994 Swanson Syrah – Cinnamon, cherry, earthy notes on the nose; medium bodied, elegant, but I thought the fruit was fading on this and was past its 'best by' date (B).

2004 Clarendon Hills Syrah Brookman – Quite dark colour, earthy, tarry plum nose and palate; concentrated, rich palate
(B+/A-).

2005 Arcadian Syrah Sleepy Hollow Vineyard – Cherry and spice on the nose. Quite an elegant style, with pepper, cherry and plum, nice pure fruit flavours, classy (A-). One of my favorites.

2009 Le Vieux Pin Syrah Équinoxe – Smoke, earth red fruits on nose; pure, medium bodied palate with a lovely deep, rich and balanced flavours. I was very surprised this was a BC wine and from 2009 - well done. One of my favorites of the day (A-).

2017 Melville Syrah Estate Donna's Block – My wine. Very different, as previously noted. I vaguely remember a similar, very savory note when I first tasted this at the winery, but it wasn't as extreme as this bottle was. Tea and vegetables on the unique nose; medium bodies, cherry, lots of pepper, tea and cinammon. I didn't get the 'Raid' taste, but it definitely was an outlier and I don't know if it was mercaptans or just an extreme wine (lots of whole cluster, pure sand block). Either way, it wasn't great on this day (B).

2010 Reynvaan Family Vineyards Syrah The Contender – Rich plum, vanilla and tar on the nose. Deep rich fruits, a little funk, pepper, leather, seamless on the medium to full bodied palate. A little modern, but very nice (A-). Another favorite.

2012 Dutton-Goldfield Syrah Dutton Ranch Cherry Ridge Vineyard – Dark in colour with deep cheery, tar and plum; similar flavours on a rich, saturated palate. Again rather modern and international in style. (B/B+)

Penfolds Grandfather Rare Tawny – Nicely balanced, classic Aussie tawny.

[Jenise]

John, appreciate your notes. And thank you for the Majella. I was pleased to see a bunch of geeks really enjoying a sparkling shiraz (and I note, it was WOTN for Alvin!). I'm going to check my cellar for Majellas, I'm pretty sure I have two.