WTN: Wylie as a solo artist

[David M. Bueker]

• 2009 Edmunds St. John Syrah Wylie - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado County (12/5/2023)
  I had opened a bottle from another producer that was corked, so this was a last minute stand-in that received no air/decanting - purely pop and pour. It took maybe 30 minutes, but this blossomed into a mature Syrah with high-toned black cherry fruit, and subtle underlying brushy/smoky elements. Structure largely resolved. Not the most complex ESJ Syrah, but perhaps that's a function of the Wylie fruit standing alone without its Fenaughty partner. Feels like a drink now/soon wine, and given that it was bottled under DIAM5 I'll definitely try to do so. No sign that the closure is an issue, but not planning to press my luck.

It's been a very long time since I've tasted that wine, primarily because it seemed so ferociously tannic post-bottling. I'm a bit shocked, given the reputation our Syrahs seem to have gotten, over the years, that this sounds like it ought to be a drunk at only 14 years on. So, now I'm looking forward to tasting it sooner rather than later. Thanks for the notes, man.

Steve

Thanks for this note, David. I still have two bottles, set aside long ago because the wine was a brute then.

[David M. Bueker]

My last taste was in 2016, and it was still pretty darned rough. I guess seven more years made a real difference.