I was a table steward at the neighborhood wine tasting last night which featured syrah and grenache wines. I tasted most of the 40-odd wines that showed up, and predicatably liked only a few. These are the few that moved me to take pictures of the labels--for better or worse.
2019 Martin Ranch Winery Thérèse Vineyards GSM Santa Clara Valley
Burnished lighter red color and tasting older than it is, this was one of my favorites. Soft, gently evolved, and complex flavors of mixed fruit compotes represent this area at the southern base of the Santa Cruz Mountains very well. At peak, though.
2015 Chaberton Estate Winery Syrah British Columbia VQA
30ish years ago a French couple moved to BC and started a winery in the then-countryside 50 miles southeast of Vancouver among farms and horse ranches. They also opened a bistro. They named it Chaberton. My Europhile palate likes their wines quite a bit. This is the first one I've ever had with any age on it. It came across as fairly roasted, which is either because 2015 was hot (and it was) or because it wasn't decanted ahead of time (it wasn't) and given a chance to open up and show it's charms. We'll never know, but I'll bet on the latter. I liked it.
2020 Yalumba The Y Series Shiraz/Viognier South Australia Shiraz Blend
Like the last CT reviewer, I was very impressed with this wine: "super solid" he said. I'm especially impressed--amazed, even--this morning realizing that whoever brought it to last night's tasting probably only paid about $10 for it. Flavors were on point, it has definition and structure, and it's not the Aussie sugarbomb one expects at this price point. Well done, Yalumba, well done!
2021 Michael-David Vineyards Syrah Sixth Sense Lodi
This lives up to the Michael David reputation for sweet, heavy, goopy high alcohol Lodi product. 15.6%, and you can taste it. I hated it.
2020 Franck Massard Garnacha Catalunya
There were a lot of sweet Spanish grenaches last night, and this stood out for being merely decent. Light-medium bodied and on the plain side but at least its dry and minerally. When I saw on CT this morning that it's actually a Naked Wine product, I wasn't surprised since "on the plain side" describes virtually every wine of theirs I've had the misfortune to drink. Didn't realize we had a subscriber in the neighborhood.
2015 Two Vintners Syrah Some Days are Stones Walla Walla Valley
Based on someone else's bottle, in Oct '22 I reported that this wine was on its way out but I now realize that must have just been a bad bottle. This one from my own stash last night was, if anything, still reaching new heights with roasted cherries, rocks funk, and leather notes. Definitely one of the best wines there.