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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.6 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 58 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by doctornoah on 5/8/2023 & rated 88 points: River School Auction Tasting (Washington DC): A nice wine but fairly obviously new world. Decent length and good flavor. A bit outclassed by its company. Still, Carole Meredith is my hero. (505 views) | | | Tasted by mtaczak on 4/6/2023: my bottle was winery direct and well stored since purchased, but it also was tart and thin with little to offer 🤷♂️ (367 views) | | | Tasted by Rieslingfan on 10/15/2022: Pretty surprised at the mixed reception this gets on CellarTracker. I thought this bottle was delicious. No decanting, as it replaced a bottle from a different producer that was corked. Loads of deep, dark berry fruit, rare meat and eventually a higher toned raspberry and lavender finish. Fine balance, so I have no worries about waiting on my last bottle. This should go on quite well for another 5-10 years with no problem. Nice way to commemorate the recent release of their 2020 Syrah, which is the next to last vintage. (909 views) | | | Tasted by MindMuse on 2/17/2022: Note is well after consumption, so not detailed, but given I see some off experiences of late I'll chime in. My bottle was quite sound and quite excellent, belying it's age of over 12 years. It was Northern Rhone-ish in style and very enjoyable. (992 views) | | | Tasted by oenophilemoose on 7/11/2021 flawed bottle: Second flawed bottle and/or poor wine with four more to go. I don't have much hope. Horrible! Purchased from WineBid.com with no hope of returning for refund or replacement. Caveat emptor! (1392 views) | | | Tasted by Drinkslogger on 3/21/2021 flawed bottle: I have been drinking wine for 12 years. This is the most acidic bottle yet. The nose was elegant, seductive, and beautiful. The palate was: Did someone squeeze lemon into my wine?
Seeing that there are some mixed reviews below. I am probably just one of the many unlucky ones to get a bad bottle.
Sad and disappointing. (1159 views) | | | Tasted by jfkwines on 2/5/2021 & rated 91 points: Such a deep ruby red. Agree with alot of MattMauldin's notes below. After a bunch of dark red fruit in the front end, some bbq smoke shows halfway through in the mouth. Drink now as this is in the zone (1066 views) | | | Tasted by MattMauldin on 1/30/2021 & rated 92 points: Two hour decant. Deep ruby color, clearing at the edges. Lively aromatics - showing snappy blackberry & currant, mesquite smoke, fresh violets, sassafras, tapenade, hints of bay leaf and clove. Succulent open fruit on the palate, secondary flavors consistent with the bouquet, and adding hints of melted stone and balsamic reduction. Medium-bodied, densely structured but pliable. Bright integrated acidity, and thick juicy tannins, slightly angular, finishing with nice length. Mid-secondary with hints of maturity on the palate, squarely in its drinking window. (972 views) | | | Tasted by DavidDay on 11/16/2020 & rated 94 points: This wine was really drinking outstanding, it could have five to ten years ahead of it. Give it a little time in the glass the fruit really develops, very reminiscent of a northern Rhone. (880 views) | | | Tasted by hankj on 5/1/2020 & rated 75 points: My palate favors acidic old-world style wines. I love Barolo, Burgundy, Sicily etc. I dislike flabby wines. Big fat California Pinots for instance - some of them that retail over $100 I find literally undrinkable.
So this review is not coming from a neophyte taster tuned to flabby high alcohol Michael David dreck. I've been interesting in wine for 30 years and have tasted 1000's and 1000's.
The acid level of this LM is absurd, totally out of balance. I would be shocked if it was natural acid - to me it comes across really clearly as added tartaric.
I'm not sure why the acid is so out of balance in this wine. I suspect that the winemakers, who are incredibly expert and dialed in, got too cute with this vintage, as people who are dialed in experts can sometimes tend to do. I seems to me that they were focused on "going for something" with this bottle (long cellar life then a big reveal, hipster searing acidic style, middle-finger to the fat syrahs all around them?) and in the process lost stepped-back perspective on the wine itself.
Or maybe some cellar rat just screwed up handling a big sack of acid.
At any rate, this wine opens out of balance with way too much acid, then fluffs up some around the acid masking it a little, but not enough. Then fades on the second day showing too much acid in its third and worse perspective.
I really like LM Syrahs, have issued many 90+ scores. But this one is requiring me to look at the imbalance and see the emperor's new cloths. As much as I want to be part of the acid and cool cult-wine loving intelligentsia, I'm calling this one as it hits my tongue: an utterly disappointing vintage from a normally solid label.
75 points - squarely in the middle of "below average" in CT's scoring guide.
To be fair this wine has a great nice nose. If one only had to smell it that would be ideal. (828 views) | | | Tasted by travelme on 4/25/2020 & rated 91 points: Similar to my last bottle (see previous notes) but this wine took a lot of time to open up. After 2 1/2 - 3 hours it kept improving and changing from sip to sip. I have one left in my cellar that I will look to enjoy sometime soon! (683 views) | | | Tasted by silton on 4/3/2020 & rated 88 points: Much better after a few hours during which it gained some heft and a touch of sweetness that it needed. Still underwhelming on the acidic/shrill side, like a lesser Wind Gap, with the aroma outclassing the palate as at least one previous note observed. 87-89. (763 views) | | | Tasted by MissHighwater on 1/26/2020 & rated 89 points: This was a real surprise - Deep dark fruits on the nose, promising much - but then slightly startling acidity on the palate. Whilst finding aromas to enjoy in this, I'm not sure this wine really hangs together and looking at previous comments opinions seem divided. I drank this with lamb and if you can't drink a Syrah at this price with roast lamb - Well, I'm not sure where I'm going to go with this one! (850 views) | | | Tasted by Nanda on 1/2/2020 & rated 91 points: Big nose of savory black fruit with saddle and herb accents. Palate is similar in flavor. Moderate richness with plenty of balancing structure. Still in an early part of its drinking window. (973 views) | | | Tasted by oenophilemoose on 6/24/2019: Absolutely too much acidity to enjoy, even with hearty food. Maybe just a bad bottle since it was purchased from an online auction website. Caveat Emptor. (833 views) | | | Tasted by travelme on 3/16/2019 & rated 92 points: A terrific bottle of wine. Great QPR. Wondering if there is bottle variation on this based on previous notes. My bottle had great aromatics on the nose and had a rich and long finish on the palate. I got notes of blackberry, raspberry, a slight hint of forest floor, and some residual tannin. I have another two bottles. Can’t wait for the next one. (925 views) | | | Tasted by dbay on 10/13/2018 & rated 90 points: Deep ruby. Aromas of black cherry, violets, black plums, hint of tomato leaf, vanilla. On the palate the wine is dry with medium plus acidity, medium fine integrated tannins, medium plus body with flavors of black cherry, black olive saltiness, black plums, chocolate, toast. Finish is medium and primarily of dark fruit. The wine surprisingly has aged nicely, and substantially better than the last bottle we opened (was that one spoiled)? This wine is well balanced with complex aroma and flavor palate, and a medium finish. The wine is very good, but the finish falls a bit short of expectation. (1259 views) | | | Tasted by gwilliams68 on 6/29/2018: overly acidic. Don,t hold out much hope for other 5 bottles. (1419 views) | | | Tasted by theRealPepe on 4/6/2018: A powerful, large-scale Syrah opened too soon along with an inappropriate food pairing. I think it deserves at least another 5 years before opening. But killer aromatics though. (1606 views) | | | Tasted by Diane (LI) on 9/15/2017: This was not my favorite vintage, but this was the best showing. Dark fruit, olive brine - leaning more towards old world. Acidity seems to be poking out a bit. It has been over 3 years since I had the 2009, and it is coming together, but maybe it needs more time. (1892 views) | | | Tasted by Tarpon222 on 8/26/2017 & rated 89 points: Good color, nice nose, syrah rich, unimpressive finish. Drank over 3 nights and didn't see much change. Maybe just not my style (1735 views) | | | Tasted by t_moderne on 12/24/2016 & rated 90 points: Pop and pour and served with food at the end of a dinner.
This was a bright and herbal wine, showing a wonderful mix of dark fruit with a savory element of mint and some eucalyptus. Clean and bright and mouth watering, with elements of a cool climate syrah.
Enjoyable. (2234 views) | | | Tasted by TastesGoodToMe on 10/18/2016 flawed bottle: I hate when this happens. Flawed. (2154 views) | | | Tasted by dbay on 5/18/2016 & rated 75 points: Not sure what others are talking about. Cherries on the nose. Sour cherries and high acidity on the palette. I am wondering if the wine is turning into vinegar. Slightly depressed as I realize I have 5 more bottles and if they are as undrinkable, then this was a bust. (1981 views) | | | Tasted by amoryb on 3/21/2016: Second night is better than the first. A lot of acid on the front, a nice savoriness in the middle, and very light pepper on the finish. A tiny bit of citrus going on with some sour cherry. Somewhere in between a syrah and a pinot? (1979 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Issue #10 (12/4/2011)
(Lagier Meredith Syrah) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (8/22/2011)
(Lagier Meredith Syrah) Barrel sample - dark purple red violet color; gorgeous, deep, tart black fruit, roasted black fruit, tar nose; tasty, tar, tart black fruit palate with near medium acidity; medium-plus finish 93-95 points (in barrel 22 mos.; another delicious vintage of Lagier Meredith) 93 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JebDunnuck.com and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Lagier Meredith Producer website
"Syrah is our flagship wine. We’ve grown it since we began in 1994. Our vineyard site, with shallow rocky soil derived from an ancient uplifted seafloor and bathed in cool marine air from the nearby San Pablo Bay, brings out the best of Syrah’s savory, spicy, and floral attributes. Our wines are balanced, complex and long-lived. They reflect the restraint imposed on the vines by our mountain setting."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)Mt. Veeder Mt. Veeder (Appellation America) |
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