2001 Edmunds St. John Syrah Wylie Fenaughty El Dorado County California. $15.99. Chambers Street; Lyle/Asimov bottle. 14.5% alcohol. http://www.edmundsstjohn.com
I loved this wine; Steve's notes say it all. 5*.
Notes: The 2001 Wylie-Fenaughty Syrah is a nice follow-up to the 2000 version. It's ever-so-slightly bigger, yet it's a bit finer, too. The 2000 was lauded in numerous publications as the kind of Syrah that bridges the gap between French and California styles in a more successful way than most, and the 2001 was quite favorably reviewed by numerous prominent critics.
2001 was a very fine growing season providing great ripeness in a manner slow enough to ensure great flavor depth and tannin maturity. This is a big mouthful of wine that's smooth as silk.
Fruit Sources: Fenaughty Vineyard is situated in the Apple Hill district, above Placerville, in the Sierra foothills, south of the American River canyon, at roughly 2800 feet elevation. Soils are clay-loam, of volcanic origin. Wylie Vineyard is at the same elevation, north of the American River Canyon, near Georgetown, on a very rocky hilltop, in poor soil with low moisture retaining capacity, for which reason it tends to ripen several weeks before the Fenaughty site. Typically then the Wylie Syrah lends richness and power to the blend, with the fruit character of cherry, the scent of ripe olives, and a smokiness, as well. The Fenaughty fruit, ripening in a cooler setting gives the perfume of violets, raspberries, and cracked pepper to the mix, and very pretty ripe tannins.
Winemaking: Grapes de-stemmed into open-top fermenters. Cap punched down manually 2-4 times daily. Wine pressed at dryness, into 20 year old French puncheons, where malolactic fermentation proceeded spontaneously. First rack in March after the vintage. Racked again in early summer, then bottled in August, 2002.
Winemaker's Tasting Notes: Quite dark red, aromas of violets, smoke, olive and ripe cherry stand out. Full and supple in the mouth, with great precision of flavor, offering smoked ham, sorrel, lavender across the palate, and finishing long with velvety tannins. Great for current drinking, should improve for another 3-5 years, if not a bit longer.
TOTAL PRODUCTION: 550 cases.