Community Tasting Note

Frank Murray III wrote:

Friday, December 19, 2014 - Opened yesterday, no decant. Saved 1/2 bottle for today, as the wine last night reflected structure and grip so I figured the aeration would bring the wine more completely out of its shell. Let me begin with a few observations. First, this wine is intensely dark, virtually pitch black in the stem. Aromatically, lots going on with an intriguing duality of both bacon fat and flowers in the aromatic, which is a combination I have found in some of the cooler climate Copain syrahs, for a comparable. With air, this fades out leaving some olive, purple flower and potpourri. The texture? Dense, stuffed, with a charcoal-laced, earthy dark berry, boysen and black cherry fruit. Buried in all that is red fruited acidity, which for some at the table last night was a bit too much. However, I will say that the bottle that was getting all the attention last night was the Caymus 40th Anniversary cab, which seemed to have no acid and while I didn't want to spoil that experience for the table, the Riverain clearly crushed that wine across the board, including on the acidity. Back to tonight, as this wine sits, the stuffing mellows a bit more and the wine starts to smooth out with a glassy quality, yet there is a pile of iron and dark tinged fruit in parallel. FWIW, at no time in my tasting here did the wine get gloppy, hot or boozy. If I recall, this is made in old barrels, with a good amount of whole cluster, which adds an herbal, green olive quality in the wine, as well. For full disclosure, the label is owned by a close friend but to dissuade any pessimism or perceived bias, I bought these bottles from my friend and created this note on my own accord—I’m not shilling here, just telling the story of my glass. Putting that now aside, CA syrah should aspire to drink and express in the way this wine is crafted. If enjoying color, acid, depth, removing wood and booze is wrong for wine, then color me wrong and this wine all right! Drink window? Hell, I suppose this wine could sit open for 4-5 days and be just fine so drink now with a decant/slow ox to get a sense for the depth and quality, but know it's going to go another 5-8 years for sure.

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