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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.3 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 42 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Rbhan12 on 2/22/2023: Part of a large tasting, wasn't able to take detailed notes.
For a 2006 I thought this wasn't showing much age. Beautifully balanced fruit, medium-full bodied, but had a nice framework of tannins and acidity that kept it focused. Really enjoyed this and thought it unlike most goopy rich Cali syrah.
Drinking beautifully now but can cellar for awhile longer. (653 views) | | | Tasted by Peech on 3/29/2022 & rated 91 points: pop and poured. Sooooo ripe, soooo jammy, sooo sharp and alcoholic. Like alcoholic Ribena. Lots of overripe honeydew melon. So sweet on the palate. (797 views) | | | Tasted by Peech on 3/11/2022 & rated 94 points: drank 20 minutes after decanting. Very ripe and extracted, really sweet, nice and fragrant, oaky. More open an hour after decanting, really sweet and syrupy on the nose. (811 views) | | | Tasted by Peech on 10/9/2021 & rated 95 points: decanted 15 minutes after opening. Initially served too warm. Really jammy nose with blueberries, leather, potpourri, cedar, eucalyptus notes. Fragrant and delicious Californian syrah. One hour in decanter the nose was beautiful and luscious, but the acidity got higher on the palate and the tannins got a little grippy. (243 views) | | | Tasted by brettay on 5/13/2021 & rated 94 points: One of the very few California wines I’ve had that had improved with age. Loads of olive, red currant, black cherry, violet, earth, iron fillings, minerals. The savory elements are prominent but the fruit is still wonderfully supple. It almost goes a bit too far as the fruits have just a slight raisin component however the complexity and savory elements give it great breath of flavors. Super interesting and not like any California Syrah I’ve had. (1314 views) | | | Tasted by Peech on 2/16/2021 & rated 92 points: really ripe and jammy upon opening. Served 1½ hours after decanting. Not as sweet as expected on the palate. Minty and metallic. Acidity was higher than expected, and tannins were still here. (952 views) | | | Tasted by mxpbuy on 2/15/2021 & rated 92 points: PnP. Still a very big wine with over-the-top ripe/nearly jammy black fruits. Alcohol came through a touch too much for my taste, but there is certainly a lot going on with this wine and it more than just a fruit bomb. (1025 views) | | | Tasted by jshufelt on 12/9/2018 & rated 90 points: On the one hand, it's the best showing yet for this vintage - still a fair amount of blackberry fruit present, along with a saline note lying somewhere between beef blood and sweat, with a modest amount of unresolved tannins on the finish. On the other hand, that saline note lies quite far in the background; most of what is here is blackberry liqueur, and not much more. I don't see those remaining tannins changing the story a great deal. (1512 views) | | | Tasted by mclanew on 11/11/2018 & rated 92 points: Very youthful still. The nose is flamboyant with blackberry, smoked meats and violets. The body is thick and concentrated with blackberry, minerals, smoked meat and spice flavors coming through. I rate this less than I did a few years ago as I think it has taken on a bit of a sweat jammy element that mars some of the wines focus but still overall a very good wine. (1401 views) | | | Tasted by canan on 6/16/2017 & rated 95 points: BYO Dinner (AOC): Jammy and fresh blackberry fruit and still very young wine??? Needs update.. (2722 views) | | | Tasted by jshufelt on 12/31/2014 & rated 85 points: Decanted for two hours before service. There are occasional hints of something nice in here, but they're buried underneath astringency and tannins, making it an unappealing drink right now. (3869 views) | | | Tasted by AlexHop on 10/16/2014 & rated 95 points: Nose is pepper and a little floral. Big huge mouth with fruit and pepper and dark fruit. Very long beautiful finish. Tasted at Meadowood. (3893 views) | | | Tasted by mclanew on 4/18/2014 & rated 94 points: Wow this is good. Beautiful nose but then just opens with layers of flavor and a fleshy mouth feel. Concentrated black fruits, smoke, roasted meats, spices. Long finish and great balance. (3770 views) | | | Tasted by Papies on 4/16/2014 & rated 93 points: San Francisco; 4/15/2014-4/18/2014 (San Francisco Area): Young and rich with spicy nose, roast meat feel. Good solid core of ripe fruit that carries the wine from start to finish. Young wine and on the fruit, very much a cote rotie style wine with a riper Californian edge. Elegant and full of promise. Should be treated like a great cote roties and allowed to age . Very very good. 93 at this stage but lots of potential. Wait 5yrs (4466 views) | | | Tasted by theodore3 on 3/14/2014 & rated 90 points: Just ok. Decanted for an hour but still a bit tart. (2833 views) | | | Tasted by dougie on 10/11/2013 & rated 93 points: Eucalyptus and mint. Deep wine with a great deal of complexity. Not sweet or syrupy what so ever! Fruit did come out more towards the end. Decanted for an hour and drank over 4 hours. (1970 views) | | | Tasted by TastesGoodToMe on 1/1/2013 & rated 91 points: Excellent Syrah. But I agree with PETITBLANC that this was "a bit thin and alcoholic midpalate". I liked the '07 much more. (2548 views) | | | Tasted by petitblanc on 10/19/2012 flawed bottle: Not sure where this bottle got damaged along the way, but showing VA and little else. (2184 views) | | | Tasted by mrmedoes on 6/5/2012 & rated 94 points: Wow... Fantastic example of a single vineyard syrah - approachable but with such a depth behind it. Seriously wowed me from my base expectations. Not the type of score I gladly throw around, but I would buy all day at the $80ish I acquired at (not sure about list price). (2475 views) | | | Tasted by petitblanc on 1/14/2012 & rated 91 points: Looking fairly inky in the glass. Lovely floral nose, just a bit thin and alcoholic midpalate, although the solid of core of blueberry was quite pleasant . Black pepper added complexity after a little time in the glass. This was generally warm and simple, but still fun to drink. (2422 views) | | | Tasted by jshufelt on 12/27/2011 & rated 88 points: Pop and pour into a decanter, and started drinking straightaway, which was unfair to the wine, but so it goes. In the glass, opaque maroon-red. On the nose, an initial burst of alcohol that blew off after about 10 minutes, followed by a blast of somewhat astringent blackberry and a touch of dill, with a long tannin-driven finish. Not at all sure where this is going, but again, this really needed a multi-hour decant. (2180 views) | | | Tasted by cortoncharlie on 8/19/2011 & rated 85 points: YUCK! over extracted fruit bomb. (1999 views) | | | Tasted by salil on 5/29/2011 & rated 93 points: Fantastic. Power matched with elegance and a sense of restraint, layering dark fruits, floral elements, earth and other savoury elements together in a seamless package. This is a big wine, but really well balanced with a sense of freshness to the fruit flavours, great balance and flavours that just persist and resonate long after each sip. (1926 views) | | | Tasted by Jay Hack on 5/29/2011 & rated 92 points: I'm a bit hazy on this wine as I only had a small taste after having had a lot of other things to drink. This reminded me of a number of other Kongsgaard syrahs that I have had, and they were all outstanding. Great depth f fruit without sweetness, meatiness and full palate coverage. (2112 views) | | | Tasted by arniec on 12/30/2010 & rated 92 points: Medium weight. Lots of fruit. Very nice. (1879 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Vertical Tasting of Kongsgaard Syrah (May 2016) (5/1/2016)
(Kongsgaard Syrah Hudson Vineyards Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Issue #10 (12/4/2011)
(Kongsgaard Syrah Hudson Vineyard) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2009, IWC Issue #144
(Kongsgaard Wines Syrah Hudson Vineyards Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2008, IWC Issue #138
(Kongsgaard Wines Syrah Hudson Vineyards Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and JebDunnuck.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Kongsgaard Producer website | Kongsgaard discussion at calwineries.com
John and Maggie Kongsgaard own one of California’s few cult wine labels. Along with their estate vineyard east of the town of Napa, they also buy grapes from Carneros and St Helena. Human intervention is kept to a minimum at every step of the winemaking process. Owners John and Maggie Kongsgaard recently built a new winemaking facility in a cave east of the town of St Helena. They made their first vintage there in 2006.
“The Judge” is one of the most sought after Chardonnays in California. It is made with grapes from hillside vines grown east of the town of Napa. Amazingly, only one-half of a bottle is made from each vine. The wine is named after John Kongsgaard’s father, who was a judge in Napa for many years.
The Kongsgaard Napa Valley Chardonnay is made with grapes from the same estate vineyard as The Judge. It was fermented and aged in new French oak barrels with gentle lees stirring. It was not fined or filtered before bottling.
The Kongsgaard Napa Valley Syrah is made with grapes purchased from Hudson Vineyard in the Carneros AVA. The 2.7 acres of Syrah on Lee Hudson’s property are thinned to once cluster grape cluster per shoot, making yields very low. It is aged in 50% new French oak barrels for 2 years and is not fined or filtered.
Kongsgaard also makes a very small amount of a Viognier and Roussanne blend. It is fermented with its natural yeast and is aged in French oak for 10 months.Syrah Varietal article (Wikipedia) | (Wines Northwest)
Note that some producers in the Northern Rhone distinguish between simply Syrah and "Serine", the latter described as ‘an ancient clone of Syrah, the berries of which are more oval-shaped and less deeply pigmented than Syrah’ by producer Tardieu-Laurent. USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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