TN: 06 Dunham Syrah, 16 Vieux Pin Syrah

2006 Dunham Cellars Syrah - this Walla Walla wine (can't type that without channeling Looney Tunes)) was still fairly dark, and had a ripe nose of black fruit, sweet fruit on palate with some acidity but seemed a tad unfocussed. Maybe just not my style of syrah.

2016 Le Vieux Pin Syrah Violette - this early maturing B.C. wine was much more to my liking stylistically. It was more red than black, had a nose of black cherry, roasted meat and pepper and a long clean finish. Much more in the idiom of a Northern Rhones and much more to my taste. Interesting comparison.

[Jenise]

Was it just plain Syrah? Even back then, they were doing two syrahs, Lewis Vineyard which was bold/extracted/American in style and a French-something, Frenchtown or Frenchman's Creek or something like that, which was more restrained and definitely aiming for Northern Rhone character. When we visited the winery in 2009ish, I tasted both and bought a six pack of the F-word one. All gone now but I'm pretty sure it was '06. If yours was neither of these, then you had a basic, entry-level bottle that did well just to last this long.

Just the regular syrah and I had seen some poor reviews so I was aware that it might be fading, but it wasn't .