We tasted last week at Pig+Fig five older Donkey&Goat Syrahs:
1. Donkey&Goat Syrah Mendocino (14.1%; U) 2007: Dark color w/ some bricking; fairly strong fragrant/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry lightly spicy rather Mendo/tomatoey fairly dusty/OV/earthy some cedary/pencilly/oldRedslightly tired bit complex nose; lightly tart rather cedary/pencilly/oldRed light blackberry/Syrah slight dusty/OV/earthy rather tired flavor w/ light gentle tannins; med.long cedary/pencilly/oldRed finish; some old Mendo Red character but rather on the tired side.
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2. Donkey&Goat Syrah PerliVnyds/MendoRidge (14.5%; U) 2007: Med.dark color w/ some bricking; slight herbal strong rather spicy/blackberry/Syrah rather c-c/black pepper some dusty/OV some cedary/toasty/oak slight w-c/Rhonish rather complex lovely nose; lightly tart some spicy/blackberry/Syrah bit dusty/earthy bit c-c/black pepper slight w-c/Rhonish/roasted fairly complex lovely flavor w/ modest chewey tannins; very long spicy/Syrah/blackberry finish; lots of MendoRidge/c-c quite spicy/blackberry/Syrah character; quite a nice fully mature Syrah.
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3. Donkey&Goat Syrah Reserve PotatoPatchBlock/PerliVnyds/MendoRidge (14.5%; U) 2006: Dark color w/ light bricking; intense blackberry/Syrah/ripe/spicy strong c-c/black pepper some Rhonish/roasted/smokey some toasty/oak bit dusty/OV rather complex nose; fairly tart/tangy strong Rhonish/roasted/smokey/smoked meats strong ripe/blackberry/Syrah/very spicy rather rich/lush complex beautiful flavor w/ modest ripe tannins; pretty close to its peak & can probably go another few yrs; a beautiful fully mature Syrah.
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4. Donkey&Goat Syrah FenaughtyVnyd/ElDorado (14.1%; U) 2007: Dark color w/ slight bricking; strong blackberry/Syrah/bit spicy some toasty/oak strong ElDorado/mushroomy/earthy bit complex lovely nose; fairly tart/tangy bit lean/austere strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy rather earthy/mushroomy/ElD some toasty/oak flavor w/ light hard tannins; still fairly young but not going to get a whole lot better.
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5. Donkey&Goat Syrah TheRecluse BrokenLegVnyd/AndersonVlly (14.1%; U) 2007: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; strong c-c/black pepper some toasty/oak quite strong blackberry/Syrah/very spicy some toasty/oak beautiful AndersonVlly fairly complex/perfumed nose; quite tart/tangy rather c-c/black pepper quite structured fairly strong Syrah/blackberry/quite spicy fairly c-c/black pepper somewhat complex flavor w/ ample hard tannins; a rather hard/structured c-c/peppery Syrah that needs a bit more age; a bit on the hard/lean side & needs more aromatics.
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More pertlefluck from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. I have, of course, followed D&G from the very start when they first showed their wines at an early Ft.Mason RhoneRangers tasting. I was struck by the passion Tracey & Jared showed for their work w/ Rhone varieties.
Except for the Mendocino '07, all of these Syrahs were in remarkable good shape but not going to get any better. The Perli Reserve was my easy favorite of the bunch, followed closely by TheRecluse.
Tom