syrah smackdown

So, it came to pass that there would be a syrah smackdown to go along with the annual pinot smackdown. Twelve contestants stepped into wally's house for yet another smackdown and it would test our palates and wills

Jim Mack brought both of these and put them in different bottles for us to compare againnst each other. I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with the Jemrose grenache, and while I may have scored it 1 pt less, I would rather drink it then the Sine Qua Non as it was more classic grenache and extremely well balanced

• 2004 Sine Qua Non Into the Dark 94 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast

  nose: very rich and big nose of black fruits, dark red fruits, black cherries and just choc full of spices. Sickly deep and very pungent with big tones of fruit, but nowhere close to being rampant or over the top, just lots of dark fruits
  
  taste: great medium weight on the palate with rich tones of anise, black berries, black cherries, spices and black fruits
  
  overall: A massive wine. Extremely big on fruit while still holding some good balance to keep the massive fruit in check. Very rich and big, this certainly packed a wallop while holding back a bit, definitely a heavyweight boxer of a grenache

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• 2007 Jemrose Grenache Foggy Knoll 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley

  nose: wonderfully balanced nose with pure tones of red fruits, red cherries, red currants, dark berry tones, with some black and red licorice tones. Great depth and polish on the nose with really good purity
  
  taste: great medium feel with polished tones of dark spices, red fruits, red cherries, red and black licorice and some bits of dark berry tones. Nice tannins support this well
  
  overall: this was blind, and a excellent grenache that really made me take notice. Nowhere close to over extracted while possesing really good fruit and great aromatics. this was served right next to an 04 into the dark, and this held up very well

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There was a kutch rose that I didn't really get good notes on along with these

• 1998 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  nose: like walking into an armory on the nose as it is dominated by gun flint and gun powder tones with loads of minerals, sea shells and lemon peel tones behind it. good depth and really nice evolved flavors
  
  taste: good light feel that is lacking on the mid palate with tones of gun flint, sea shells, and lemon peels with some bits of white fruits. The acidity is well in check right now. While it is very intriguing on the nose, it lacks a bit on the palate as it just doesn't carry through the depth that was present on the nose
  
  overall: an interesting and mature chablis. Really nice on the nose, but lacks a bit on the palate, of course this was a pop n pour, so there may have been some added depth with more air, but I didn't get a chance to revisit this

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• 1995 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  nose: lovely nose with real good depth and expressive tones of green apples, figs, bits of peaches and peach pits along with a touch of white fruits
  
  taste: real good medium+ acidity gives this good backing with some nice residual sugar poking through along with well balanced tones of peaches, white blossoms, green apples, white fruits and some slight hints of cheeses
  
  overall: a real classy riesling. Great feel and length on the palate showing off its pedigree with nice acidity and residual sugar to help it along. May need a bit more time, but is certainly a real fun riesling right now

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• 1997 Ojai Syrah Cuvée Henry Daniel 91 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley

  nose: very pungent nose filled with dark red fruits, dark red cherries, smokey tones and some bits of meat and black berries. Really well balanced with excellent depth and a black fruit core
  
  taste: good weight with a real nice medium/full feel of dark red fruits, dark spices, meaty tones, and dark red cherries. Nice tannins back it up with good depth
  
  overall: an excellent wine. Showed off a nice dark fruit profile that carried through on the palate that made it very enjoyable and sumptuous

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• 2005 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Château d'Ampuis 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  nose: big and pungent nose filled with black pepper, anise, tobacco, leather, and black cherries. Extremely deep and expressive that just screamed northern rhone to me
  
  taste: massive tannins, and also massive depth with a real smooth medium/full feel of black pepper, tobacco, leather, black cherries and some bits of spices. Very big tannins give away its youth on the palate, but a lot to like already
  
  overall: a wine that I would love to have in my collection. Extremely young, but also extremely expressive, this was scratching me where I itched and the only dissapointment was that this was a big blind tasting and I couldn't spend more time with this wine

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• 2007 Domaine des Escaravailles Côtes du Rhône Villages Roaix Les Hautes des Granges 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône Villages Roaix

  nose: big and rich nose filled with camphor, black cherries, ripe berry tones, black berries and some bits of dark chocolate also sneaks its way in. Good depth that really jumps right out of the glass
  
  taste: great big and full feel with rather sneaky tannins. Excellent tones of black cherries, ripe berries, black berries and some dark chocolate balances out well together
  
  overall: I confused this one for a new world wine blind. Big and rich while not being over the top, this was very interesting and would be interesting to revisit in a few years as the tannins were fairly deceptive

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• 2004 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa

  nose: extremely deep and filled with all sorts of rich tones of mint, blueberry pie, black berries, dark red cherries, and eucalyptus. Unabashedly aussie and there was no mistaking it for anything else blind. Great balance on the nose to hold back the big fruit
  
  taste: big full bodied feel that is packed with deep tones of black fruits, mint, black berries, dark red cherries and eucalyptus. Nice silky tannins to back it up and add a bit of backbone to the wine
  
  overall: a real stellar wine. This won WOTN and was my personal WOTN. Big, but balanced, this showed off that when they do it right down under, they make some tremendous wines that are worthy of their own place

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• 2004 Cayuse Syrah Bionic Frog 92 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  nose: real nice smokey backdrop on the nose with well defined tones of charcol, dark red cherries, bits of dark floral tones, mineral rich earth tones, and some slight hints of chalk. Excellent depth that really draws you in
  
  taste: lovely and balanced with rich and deep tones of mineral rich earth, smoke, charcol, dark red cherries and some bits of spice. Good tannins that are more there for support with a real nice medium/full feel
  
  overall: when this was blind, I thought it was an old world wine. Great balance and richness to it that encompasses all that I enjoy from syrah. My first crack at a cayuse, and I really look forward to trying another one

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• 2002 Arrowood Syrah Saralee's Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  nose: rich and powerful while having a cool aspect with tones of black fruits, pine forrest, red cherries and red currants. Really good depth with some real nice punch behind it on the nose
  
  taste: real nice and rich medium/full feel with good tones of black fruits, red cherries and red currants. Nice depth on the flavors and picking up the slack where the complexity may taper off
  
  overall: Very enjoyable with good balance and nice fruit. Comes across as fully ready as the tannins aren't in the forefront and the flavors seem to have hit a good place

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• 1997 Dehlinger Syrah Goldridge 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  nose: real dark and meaty nose with black fruits, dark cherries and bits of spices. Real nice nose with good depth, but lacking some complexity that would really make this wine
  
  taste: lacking a bit of depth on the palate that the nose had. Good medium feel of dark red cherries, berries, and dark red fruits
  
  overall: A wine that really teases you. Definitely showed some age as there was some bricking and browning at the rim with lighter color. This may have been slightly better a year or two ago, but is certainly an excellent syrah right now that is worth drinking

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• 2002 Two Hands Shiraz Bad Impersonator 87 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  nose: a rather oddball nose that is hard to pin down. A bit on the simple side with pine forrest and black fruit, but has a disjointed quality though its accompanied by decent depth
  
  taste: good tones of dark red fruits, black cherries along with bits of pine tones. decent depth, but comes across as a bit simple with little complexity
  
  overall: I found this odd and disjointed. It had a good medium/full feel, but at the same time I found this a bit hollow. I didn't find the fruit fully cohesive at this stage and am not sure how to gauge how this will age

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• 2006 TOR Syrah ROCK Judge Family Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley

  nose: very pungent and expressive nose filled with dark red cherries, blackberries, black currants, and rich tones of berries. Great depth on the nose that adds to its expressiveness and makes it very attractive
  
  taste: great depth strikes you right off the bat with a good rich full feel to it. Well placed tones of pepper, dark red cherries, blackberries and black currants all work well together with good supporting tannins that are certainly present, but not overbearing
  
  overall: a beautiful wine right now that has the ability to get better with a few more years. Not hedonistic and certainly not a fruit bomb, it has a great purity of fruit with great depth that makes this wine certainly stand out

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• 2000 Saxum Bone Rock James Berry Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

  nose: real good melded tones of black licorice, black cherries, black fruits, red cherries and dark berries. Very dark profile with good depth and balance of teh big fruit that exists on the wine
  
  taste: very big tannins with a real big and full feel with rich tones of black licorice, black cherries, dark berries and bits of red cherries. Very rich, but not full throttle
  
  overall: really good feel and balance with this wine. Has a lot going for it, but this seemed a bit hollow on the mid palate and lacking a bit on the finish. A lot of promise with the wine, maybe it needed a decant or a bit more aging

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• 2006 Quivet Cellars Syrah Hulda Block Las Madres Vineyard 87 Points

  USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros

  nose: very jammy nose that comes across as simple with nice tones of red and black fruits, red licorice and red cherries. Came across as run of the mill and non-descript
  
  taste: nice medium tannins with a medium/full feel. Jammy flavors that lack a bit of depth of red fruits, red licorice and red cherries
  
  overall: there were others that liked this a lot more then I did when the scores were revealed. I found this to be a very good wine, but it came across to me more as a $10-15 aussie shiraz in style and feel and it lacked some depth for my taste

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• 2005 DuMOL Syrah Eddie's Patch 86 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  nose: really nice nose with good depth showing off tones of roasted coffee beans, dark red cherries, smoke, and bits of pepper with some oak. Well balanced with good depth
  
  taste: not sure what happened on the palate here. Its completely dominated by oak and has some muted red fruits. A jekyll/hyde sort of thing happening and is very dissapointing
  
  overall: The oak domination on the palate killed for me what was a really good wine. Not sure what happened as there wasn't anywhere near as much oak on the nose. I'd like to try this again to see what the deal was

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• 2005 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 90 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  nose: very pungent and powerful nose jam packed with red fruits, rich tones of red cherries, cassis, black fruits and loads of black cherries. Great depth, and excellent balance with the big fruit tones melding together very well
  
  taste: Excellent medium/full feel with really good balanced flavors of red fruits, red cherries, cassis, black cherries and some bits of camphor and black licorice. While the flavors are really good, they seem to be lacking a bit of teh depth and expression that they possesed on the nose
  
  overall: I made sure to decant this for 5 hours or so and then bottle aired it for two hours after putting it back in the bottle. Maybe it needed more air or some more time sideways. Wally had some of this over the next two nights and he told me that it showed a lot better, c'est la vie

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• 2003 Big Basin Vineyards Syrah Rattlesnake Rock 91 Points

  USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

  nose: real attractive and cool nose with great tones of pepper, dark red cherries, black currants and some real nice tart red fruits. Certainly not a blow away nose, but one that seems to have a real confidence about it
  
  taste: excellent medium/full feel with well balanced and cool tones of dark red cherries, dark berries, black currants, and some really nice bits of red fruits
  
  overall: a real attractive and cool syrah. Not neccessarily going to win that many blind contests, but a very enjoyable syrah that I would love on its own to let it do its thing and spend time with it

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• 1999 Saint Cosme Côte-Rôtie 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  nose: very funky nose that initially to some came across as corked. A decent amount of brett on the nose, but it doesn't completely dominate with good balanced tones of charcol, black pepper, black cherries and bits of spices. The brett started to blow off a bit with some extra time in the glass
  
  taste: very pretty and elegant medium/full feel with good tannins providing silky tones of black fruits, floral bits, charcol, black pepper, and some hints of brett. Nowhere near as much brett on the palate as there was on the nose
  
  overall: a very controversial wine. Someone said that they thought it was corked, and those that were down at that end of the table gave this wine some bad scores while those that were at my end of the table generally enjoyed the wine a lot.

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• 1994 Araujo Estate Syrah Eisele Vineyard 84 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  nose: this was heavily oaked on the nose to where it dominated the other tones. Some black currants and dark fruits lurked beneath, but the oak was the over riding tone and for me it was bothersome
  
  taste: extremely tannic and full bodied. Lots of oak with some black cherries, but is a bit hollow on the mid palate which is also bothersome
  
  overall: this was a shock when it was revealed. This just didn't work for me and the oak just masked any possible flavors, which was very dissapointing. I don't know if this had been decanted or not, but it probably could've used more decanting if it was, and if it wasn't, it certainly could've used it

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• 2005 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  nose: on the tight side, but what is already there is very deep and moving with beautiful tones of black and white pepper, black cherries, leather, cigar wrapper, and hints of spices. There is so much going on with the nose that its hard to really get down everything in the short time span that I had with it
  
  taste: deft balance and very deep with beautiful tones that just scream northern rhone. Great tones of charcol, some smoke tones, black and white pepper, black cherries, and leather
  
  overall: a barely born puppy that has top quality written all over it. While sometimes La Chapelle can dissapoint, I don't think that there's any worry with that here as this wine will reward those that are patient with it.

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• 2007 Biggio Hamina Cellars Syrah/Viognier XX Deux Vert 91 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton

  nose: really good depth on the nose with red fruits, black cherries, peppercorns, and black fruits. Very well balanced and comes across as more old world
  
  taste: great medium feel with smooth tones of dark spices, peppercorns, black fruits and black cherries. Nice tannins to provide support
  
  overall: this came across as being old world. To me I thought it may be the CdP ringer in the lineup as it came across that way a bit

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• 1990 Clos du Mont-Olivet Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Cuvée du Papet 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  nose: very evolved on the nose with bits of olives, smokey tones, tart red fruits, red cherries and some spices. Nice balance, but nothing really jumping out of the glass, and this is rather lost in the sea of syrahs taht were being tasted
  
  taste: comes across as slightly tired on the palate with nice tones of red fruits, smoke, olives, cherries and various spice. While it seems a bit tired, the balance and depth is certainly there
  
  overall: a shocker when revealed. Who knows the provenance of the bottle as when this was revealed, it was rather surprising for a 90 CdP to come across like this. Another controversial wine as some people utterly hated it while some(like me) enjoyed it

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• 2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Nose: this was straight pop n pour, and with about 5 minutes of swirling the nose just started to come to life. Very youthful and powerful nose that was just screaming with deep tones of mineral rich earth, all sorts of meaty tones, black cherries, and campfire smoke. This is shocking at how deep it was right from the bottle and just showing itself off as a brusier of a chave
  
  taste: ridiculously tannic, but with a real sexy medium/full feel with deep tones of mineral rich earth, roasted meats, black cherries, charcol and some smoke tones. The tannins are very strong as would be expected, but it still showed off some of what should become an absolutely stunning wine
  
  overall: I'd love to taste this after a day on decanting as I have no doubt that it show very stunning for such a young chave. Very deep and pure that just begged for more time than it deserved at the end of a long night. just giving a tease of a peak of what's to come

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• 2000 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive 93 Points

  France, Alsace

  nose: very pungent nose filled with fresh tones of apricots, pears, green apples and a good dose of nectarines. Excellent depth that one would expect from ZH that has a classy air to it
  
  taste: great medium feel with deep tones of apricots, green apples, necartines, bits of tree fruits and a nice mineral under current. good acidity that works well as it doesn't dominate but is noticeable at teh same time
  
  overall: really starting to drink. Doesn't fully come across as mature, but certainly in a drinking range. Its always fun to drink ZHs and this was no different

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The quality of the wine overall was higher then it was at the pinot smackdown. There were also some wide ranges of scores, obviously indicating that some people's palates were awful and too willing to be open to suggestion of others. At the end of the night, there were a lot of bottles drunk and lots of fun was had, along with a Yak palate being awarded to the bringer of the worst wine. Onto next year and hopefully then wally won't win