Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Syncline, 9/29/2017

  (Syncline Mourvedre) Hello friends. James and Poppie Mantone’s Syncline is unquestionably among the upper echelon of Washington wineries. They’ve proven it vintage after vintage with consistent expressions of freshness, purity, and transparency. If others mistakenly overlook them in discussions of best Washington wineries, I can only chalk that up to Syncline’s out-of-the-way location in the Columbia Gorge. The Gorge is a special appellation; for my money, the most breathtakingly beautiful region in the northwest for wine touring. Unfortunately, this has been a brutal summer for the region, with the Eagle Creek fire kicking off on Sept 2 and continuing to burn large swaths of this gorgeous area. I asked James for an update for our list members, and here is what he sent along: The Eagle creek fire has garnered a lot of attention and has been on the minds of every winemaker sourcing Columbia Gorge grapes. The fire started late Labor Day weekend, trapping about 140 hikers and launching the fire into the news. Hot, dry east wines quickly pushed the fire towards Portland and in the span of a day traveled about 15 miles. During this period many houses were evacuated and the fire moved to the top of the priority list as it threatened Portland’s drinking water. Luckily for us, during this intense period the smoke was pushed away from all the vineyards. West winds returned and we faced our first day of smoke, obliterating our views across the Columbia. Fortunately, the west wind blew most of the smoke south of the major grape growing areas, raining burned and intact fir needles in the upper Hood River Valley. With continued west wind the fire burned within 4 miles of orchards within Hood River valley. Throughout this 10 or so days, we had maybe a total of 15 hours of intense smoke, and many days of haze. Concerned about smoke taint and knowing that it is only detectable once fermentation begins we undertook a super fun project. We harvested 1/4 ton mondeuse and gamay, destemmed it, and fermented it with native yeasts to both see if we could detect any smoke taint and to also make a super fun red pet nat. Since then we have harvested Gorge chardonnay and pinot noir for sparkling, Gorge Gamay, and Gorge Syrah. Not one fermentation is exhibiting any sign of smoke taint, however they all are ridiculously tasty. We don’t (yet) have Syncline’s Gamay-Mondeuse Pet Nat. In the meantime, here is a trio of beauties from this wonderful winery: Syncline has made a lot of Mourvedre over the years – some single-vineyard, some a blend of sites – and Wine Enthusiast has reviewed many of them, a full dozen to be exact. But neither Paul Gregutt nor Sean Sullivan has even gone above a 92pt review. Until the November issue of Enthusiast, which will contain a 93pt review for Syncline’s 2015 Mourvedre: Wine Enthusiast: Copyrighted material withheld. In fact, as I dig further, I see that 93pts is the strongest review for Washington Mourvedre in Wine Enthusiast’s entire history. There are ten 93pt reviews over the years, with prices ranging from $42 to $60. All that to add some context and to say: this is a pretty damned good Mourvedre for the asking tag. It comes entirely from Alder Ridge and Coyote Canyon vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills, fermented with 20% whole clusters, and fermented and aged almost entirely in old Nomblot concrete cubes for 16 months. Listed alc is 14.7%, and this kicks off with a dynamite nose, combining plummy fruit, exotic spice (anise, leather), and Mourvedre’s signature gamey savory tones. Super intense on the palate and seamlessly textured, this carries wave after wave of delicious fruit, all lifted by grapefruity acidity with a just-right dash of bitters. Expressive, evocative Mourvedre; doubtless one of the best to come out of our state