I was surprised to see it has been over 6 years since my last bottle. Smokey olives accenting the mix of tart, red and black fruit would have had me guessing northern Rhone if I had tasted this blind. The wine is soft, and the fruit has faded some. We enjoyed this with grilled Delmonico steaks. I agree with FMIII. I would drink this sooner rather than later to enjoy the remaining fruit.
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Just a superb domestic Syrah. Quite lightweight, especially on opening. Took 2 hours for this to really shine with all the good stuff: olive, bacon, herbaceousness, slightly purple floral character, excellent clarity of fruit, superb but not overdone acidity, low alcohol, just gorgeous, very pretty. No rush at all. 12.8%
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Purchase on Berserker Day. Tried out my new Coravin. This is a really interesting wine that is not a crowd-pleaser. This is for wine nerdy and for all the right reasons. 12.8% alcohol built to last this is multi-dimensional with lots of herbal, soy, olive, and a dark brooding nature. great food wine Can't wait to revisit. Old world flavors in a new world wine.
Wow. This may be one of the best domestic syrahs, maybe any syrah, I have had. Still very inky black. Lots of roasted meat, ash, violets, and umami on the nose. This is the sort of wine that I could just sniff all night. Lovely tight taste in the mouth, with a sweet ashiness that segues into a nice long finish. This is a lovely wine at the moment. Note to self -- wait at least five years for the next one, and don't touch the 2012s at all!
wow, 4 years since I last tasted. This was a 3L beast from FMIII, a gift from Steve. Really holding up nicely with the black olive note I enjoy so much and dark sticky tar. Fruit on the attack seems to be backing down compared to initial tastings.
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From an etched 3 liter. I helped sort these grapes back on October 30th, 2011, when harvest took place. I remember Steve and Dean, along with his wife Laurie, as we all helped on the sorting table as the wine went to the crusher/destemmer. I've got photos of this day framed on the wall of my wine room. It was great to see the Riverain team start this journey, and when Steve gave me this bottle earlier in 2019, I knew we could use it for a good occasion, which is today. We're hosting our annual Friends and Family Thanksgiving event so we'll get this big boy bottle into a lot of glasses today, along with some good photos too. As for the wine, we dug the cork out as it just wouldn't budge. Once out, we poured off a glass to see how it was doing. The cracked black pepper that had been such a feature of the wine is still here but it's less intense, instead now joined by some soy, cooked meat and teriyaki. Beef jerky, tangy red fruit and some citrus. You might fool me blind that this wasn't Rosella's or Garys' vineyard from the Santa Lucia Highlands, as it gives off all of those cooler climate Syrah markers. My sense is that this wine has reached maturity, especially telling because of how it tastes from the large format so my advice is to drink these in the next year or so and catch the wine in a great place
Very nice effort in a 'difficult' vintage. Beautiful red fruits with fresh cracked pepper. Darker on the noses than palate. Lean but not lightweighted. Drank well over 5hrs and still fresh on day2.
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Preface: Pulled the cork at 1 PM for a sample pour. Initially very tight, let it sit and "slow O" until 3 PM when I poured another small glass, still kinda closed off. It wasn't until 5 PM, 4 hours (and a couple small glasses) later that this really started to open up and sing.
Nose: Lighter in the stem aromatics but with a good dose of white pepper and a hint of olives, there's no shortage of rich (not ripe) darker fruits.
Palate: Bright, smooth and slightly creamy. The fruit trends a little lighter with notes of dark cherries. Not really picking up a strong tannic presence, but they are there, wonderfully integrating into the overall balance of the wine.
Finish: Here is where the black pepper really shows up for me. Along with the pepper, I'm getting great notes of stewed meats and the fruit that was starting to lighten up is coming back around to the dark side.
Thoughts: I'm really digging on how the leaner aspects of 2011 are playing against the wine's overall style. It's like it wants to be a little bigger (but in no way overblown) but it's being held back, which strikes an excellent balance for me. The aromatics were amazing, I found myself constantly putting my nose back in the glass for another smell. Just an overall enjoyable drink.
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Riverain Dinner (My House In The South OC): I have drank about 1/2 dozen of these since release and this wine keeps on making me smile. The black pepper aromatic is like a freshly ground smell, just distinctive and beautiful. The fruit this time showed a bit taut, dark and juicy with cooked meat. Still so good and aging great, and as a 2011, don't make the mistake of dismissing this wine for a vintage bias. Quite the opposite, as the vintage really did wonders for it. Very good again.
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Riverain Winemakers Dinner with Steve Nordoff (FMIII in the OC): This continues to be my favorite Syrah. Dead ringer for a Northen Rhone. Incense, olive, sage, charcoal. If you like lots of moving parts and wine that challenges you, then here you go. It's getting better with age. Good lord...
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This drank solid once again. The aromatics of pepper continue to be such a great signature for this wine, along with the inky color. Yet, under that color is not a large framed wine, but one that is more elegant and well weighted, showing the gifts of the lighter vintage. Love this 11, always have.
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Should've decanted wine for 3-6 hours. Or waited 3-4 years. Nice acids which were refreshingly cool. Moderate tannin. Definite 'cool climate' profile here.
Edit: I forgot to say that I liked this wine and have full confidence it's going to morph into something terrific. A sip this morning revealed more going on and a hint of some of the benefits of air and aging. This wine is probably even better drunk the next day if consuming in the near term. 92++ points
12.8% abv. Dark ruby red. Spice and black fruit aromas. On the palate black cherry, smoke, black pepper. Nice mouthfeel, excellent depth and length. A fine effort from an outstanding vineyard and a cool vintage. Should continue to improve.
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This showed very well last night. Initially I thought it was more red fruited but as it opened the fruit turned darker, and seemed more black in tone. I think this is 30% (?) whole cluster and it showed with quite a bit of white/black pepper and some black olive accents. I really enjoy this cool climate style of Syrah with the dialed back ripeness and alcohol.
The wine is showing good evolution forward. With about 90 mins of air, some good dark red and black fruit qualities, a weightier black cherry would be a good descriptor. Good presence of black pepper and black olive and still good structure and acidity. Lovely at this point with great color and only upside ahead.
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Opened about 8 hours ago, allowed to sit with the cork inside, not decanted. At this stage, and with a light chill (as room temp is about 78), the wine shows distinct character. Cooked meat, roasted red cherry fruit and pepper. All of this through a crappy, heavy wine glass with a 2 inch bowl. Will be taking to dinner where I can hustle down a finer stem to really form an impression to complete my note....over dinner, this smoothed out and the tar came out, along with the olive and the fruit lends more towards black cherry. I think this is at it's best in 2 years, as that allows for the residual structure from the tannin to integrate. I enjoy the Northern Rhone quality of this vintage, the color, the acid and low alcohol. For me, that makes it stand up well.
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This seemed like an appropriate bottle to open on an incredibly rainy day. There are rivers running through my yard. Popped the cork about an hour ago and the wine is still pretty tight. On the nose, I get some smoke, floral notes, tar and charcoal. On the palate, some tart black cherry, darker fruits, light black olive and as others have said, a rocky note. Shows the cool climate with good acidity, medium weight, and lower alc. Pretty smooth texture with lighter tannin. I have a little less than half a bottle for tomorrow. Pretty good now. We'll see what happens with some air.
Poured for some major wine snobs that only like their Syrah "Rhone and Northern", but they were intrigued in seeing what Thomas Rivers Brown is doing with this grape. The wine was impressive out of the chute, with a great tar / graphite component that balanced very well with the very dark fruit. Plenty of extracted mouthfeel, but none of that over-the-top syrupy or alcohol thing that usually accompanies it. Very enjoyable, and after an hour, it really came together into something that I'll be looking forward to try 6 months from now.
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Falltacular 2014 (FMIII in the OC): Quick addition to my comments from a year ago. Basically the same but an olive and tapenade note has emerged in the last year. Nice mineral structure as well.
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This is my 3rd bottle, with spacing of one year between this bottle and the last. Tonight, I was able to enjoy the wine over dinner, with the benefit of air working on the wine. When first opened, it was juicy and aromatic, and with air, it unwrapped nicely. In the last glass, the palate had filled in with blue fruit, charcoal, showing an aromatic quality of pepper and smoke. All taken together, the wine is juicy, representative of the vintage. I don't find oak or alcohol here, and labeled at 12.8%, it would be true to that #. This is very good and in the spectrum of syrah I enjoy now, with acid and blue fruit, showing some astringence still in the finish. I bought 2, will let the next bottle rest until 2015, and drink the last one by 2017. Good work here Steve and Thomas.
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I was fortunate enough to be offered a pour from an unlabeled bottle when a guy in the corner whispered something and I turned to see Steve holding his first vintage of Syrah. This was recently bottled/shipped and he was nervous and excited at the same time. Hey, now I'm excited.
Color is very dark, nearly black with blue highlights flashing around in the glass in full sunlight. Nose composed of light floral, dark toast, cassis and blackberry. These are positive signs leading to my first taste. Lots of talk regarding balance these days and I'd use that descriptor here because of the equal weight of the various components. Dark fruit, mild stem notes, just a bit of garden herbs, and white pepper adding the spicy edge. Medium weight to the wine and tannins were lively. Finish is medium. Very enjoyable wine and Steve should be proud, no doubt.
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Bottle open 24 hours, sat under cork after last night's dinner, with about 1/4 left for tonight. I believe the alc on this is 12.8%, and there's no heat in this wine anywhere so that to me seems on target. Aromatically, this shows a real signature of black pepper, cool climate as Jim Mack's property is along Bennett Valley Road. Light whiff of purple flower, smoke and stem, as this contains about 1/3rd whole cluster, although it doesn't punctuate the wine as the pepper has that role here. The palate is flush with inky, dark fruit, which is similar to the wine's color--very dark, a glass stainer, like Switchback or Carlisle petite color. Yet, with the low alc, the fruit doesn't get ripe in tone. Instead, it's similar to some of the Copain stuff, where I find deep color and concentration, yet the fruit expresses an earthy character, like black cherry, dark berry that is without the sweet ripeness. A real inky expression of syrah. There is some light tannin and astringence that hangs over the fruit, although the texture is fairly smooth and pretty resolved. Black olive in the finish, along with some tar, garrigue (stems?) and a light rocky note. I'll give an ITB-like disclaimer, as I know the owner of this label well, and he's a close friend, and to disquiet any assertion I sweetened this note or jazzed it up, I flat out did not. I wrote my note as I found the wine, an inky, dark syrah that really shows a deep core of earthy, food friendly fruit with a nice balance and mineral in the finish. It paired dynamite with my pizza last night and is doing just great with no food tonight--just a laptop and a big 'ol Schott Zwiesel stem. For a drink window, now through 2015 would be my recommendation. Good on you, Steve. FWIW, this wine is made my Thomas Brown, who doesn't make syrah so it was cool to see how he crafted this up.
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3/12/2021 - Outplaying Likes this wine:
I was surprised to see it has been over 6 years since my last bottle. Smokey olives accenting the mix of tart, red and black fruit would have had me guessing northern Rhone if I had tasted this blind. The wine is soft, and the fruit has faded some. We enjoyed this with grilled Delmonico steaks. I agree with FMIII. I would drink this sooner rather than later to enjoy the remaining fruit.
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9/30/2020 - Benj wrote: 93 Points
Just a superb domestic Syrah. Quite lightweight, especially on opening. Took 2 hours for this to really shine with all the good stuff: olive, bacon, herbaceousness, slightly purple floral character, excellent clarity of fruit, superb but not overdone acidity, low alcohol, just gorgeous, very pretty. No rush at all. 12.8%
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8/15/2020 - TLR Likes this wine: 97 Points
Purchase on Berserker Day. Tried out my new Coravin. This is a really interesting wine that is not a crowd-pleaser. This is for wine nerdy and for all the right reasons. 12.8% alcohol built to last this is multi-dimensional with lots of herbal, soy, olive, and a dark brooding nature. great food wine Can't wait to revisit. Old world flavors in a new world wine.
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3/8/2020 - Ron Slye wrote: 96 Points
Wow. This may be one of the best domestic syrahs, maybe any syrah, I have had. Still very inky black. Lots of roasted meat, ash, violets, and umami on the nose. This is the sort of wine that I could just sniff all night. Lovely tight taste in the mouth, with a sweet ashiness that segues into a nice long finish. This is a lovely wine at the moment. Note to self -- wait at least five years for the next one, and don't touch the 2012s at all!
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11/26/2019 - brigcampbell wrote:
wow, 4 years since I last tasted. This was a 3L beast from FMIII, a gift from Steve. Really holding up nicely with the black olive note I enjoy so much and dark sticky tar. Fruit on the attack seems to be backing down compared to initial tastings.
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11/24/2019 - Frank Murray III wrote:
From an etched 3 liter. I helped sort these grapes back on October 30th, 2011, when harvest took place. I remember Steve and Dean, along with his wife Laurie, as we all helped on the sorting table as the wine went to the crusher/destemmer. I've got photos of this day framed on the wall of my wine room. It was great to see the Riverain team start this journey, and when Steve gave me this bottle earlier in 2019, I knew we could use it for a good occasion, which is today. We're hosting our annual Friends and Family Thanksgiving event so we'll get this big boy bottle into a lot of glasses today, along with some good photos too. As for the wine, we dug the cork out as it just wouldn't budge. Once out, we poured off a glass to see how it was doing. The cracked black pepper that had been such a feature of the wine is still here but it's less intense, instead now joined by some soy, cooked meat and teriyaki. Beef jerky, tangy red fruit and some citrus. You might fool me blind that this wasn't Rosella's or Garys' vineyard from the Santa Lucia Highlands, as it gives off all of those cooler climate Syrah markers. My sense is that this wine has reached maturity, especially telling because of how it tastes from the large format so my advice is to drink these in the next year or so and catch the wine in a great place
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3/13/2018 - jhemming wrote: 93 Points
Very nice effort in a 'difficult' vintage. Beautiful red fruits with fresh cracked pepper. Darker on the noses than palate. Lean but not lightweighted. Drank well over 5hrs and still fresh on day2.
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4/15/2016 - bu11itt Likes this wine: 92 Points
Preface: Pulled the cork at 1 PM for a sample pour. Initially very tight, let it sit and "slow O" until 3 PM when I poured another small glass, still kinda closed off. It wasn't until 5 PM, 4 hours (and a couple small glasses) later that this really started to open up and sing.
Nose: Lighter in the stem aromatics but with a good dose of white pepper and a hint of olives, there's no shortage of rich (not ripe) darker fruits.
Palate: Bright, smooth and slightly creamy. The fruit trends a little lighter with notes of dark cherries. Not really picking up a strong tannic presence, but they are there, wonderfully integrating into the overall balance of the wine.
Finish: Here is where the black pepper really shows up for me. Along with the pepper, I'm getting great notes of stewed meats and the fruit that was starting to lighten up is coming back around to the dark side.
Thoughts: I'm really digging on how the leaner aspects of 2011 are playing against the wine's overall style. It's like it wants to be a little bigger (but in no way overblown) but it's being held back, which strikes an excellent balance for me. The aromatics were amazing, I found myself constantly putting my nose back in the glass for another smell. Just an overall enjoyable drink.
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10/4/2015 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Riverain Dinner (My House In The South OC): I have drank about 1/2 dozen of these since release and this wine keeps on making me smile. The black pepper aromatic is like a freshly ground smell, just distinctive and beautiful. The fruit this time showed a bit taut, dark and juicy with cooked meat. Still so good and aging great, and as a 2011, don't make the mistake of dismissing this wine for a vintage bias. Quite the opposite, as the vintage really did wonders for it. Very good again.
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10/4/2015 - brigcampbell wrote:
Riverain Winemakers Dinner with Steve Nordoff (FMIII in the OC): This continues to be my favorite Syrah. Dead ringer for a Northen Rhone. Incense, olive, sage, charcoal. If you like lots of moving parts and wine that challenges you, then here you go. It's getting better with age. Good lord...
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8/30/2015 - Frank Murray III wrote:
This drank solid once again. The aromatics of pepper continue to be such a great signature for this wine, along with the inky color. Yet, under that color is not a large framed wine, but one that is more elegant and well weighted, showing the gifts of the lighter vintage. Love this 11, always have.
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3/3/2015 - arthrovine wrote:
Pop'n' poured. Followed over 3 hours.
Should've decanted wine for 3-6 hours. Or waited 3-4 years. Nice acids which were refreshingly cool. Moderate tannin. Definite 'cool climate' profile here.
Edit: I forgot to say that I liked this wine and have full confidence it's going to morph into something terrific. A sip this morning revealed more going on and a hint of some of the benefits of air and aging. This wine is probably even better drunk the next day if consuming in the near term. 92++ points
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1/21/2015 - Mike Dildine Likes this wine: 93 Points
12.8% abv. Dark ruby red. Spice and black fruit aromas. On the palate black cherry, smoke, black pepper. Nice mouthfeel, excellent depth and length. A fine effort from an outstanding vineyard and a cool vintage. Should continue to improve.
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9/17/2014 - Outplaying wrote:
This showed very well last night. Initially I thought it was more red fruited but as it opened the fruit turned darker, and seemed more black in tone. I think this is 30% (?) whole cluster and it showed with quite a bit of white/black pepper and some black olive accents. I really enjoy this cool climate style of Syrah with the dialed back ripeness and alcohol.
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9/16/2014 - Frank Murray III wrote:
The wine is showing good evolution forward. With about 90 mins of air, some good dark red and black fruit qualities, a weightier black cherry would be a good descriptor. Good presence of black pepper and black olive and still good structure and acidity. Lovely at this point with great color and only upside ahead.
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5/9/2014 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Opened about 8 hours ago, allowed to sit with the cork inside, not decanted. At this stage, and with a light chill (as room temp is about 78), the wine shows distinct character. Cooked meat, roasted red cherry fruit and pepper. All of this through a crappy, heavy wine glass with a 2 inch bowl. Will be taking to dinner where I can hustle down a finer stem to really form an impression to complete my note....over dinner, this smoothed out and the tar came out, along with the olive and the fruit lends more towards black cherry. I think this is at it's best in 2 years, as that allows for the residual structure from the tannin to integrate. I enjoy the Northern Rhone quality of this vintage, the color, the acid and low alcohol. For me, that makes it stand up well.
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4/30/2014 - Outplaying wrote:
This seemed like an appropriate bottle to open on an incredibly rainy day. There are rivers running through my yard. Popped the cork about an hour ago and the wine is still pretty tight. On the nose, I get some smoke, floral notes, tar and charcoal. On the palate, some tart black cherry, darker fruits, light black olive and as others have said, a rocky note. Shows the cool climate with good acidity, medium weight, and lower alc. Pretty smooth texture with lighter tannin. I have a little less than half a bottle for tomorrow. Pretty good now. We'll see what happens with some air.
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4/18/2014 - rstark wrote: 93 Points
Poured for some major wine snobs that only like their Syrah "Rhone and Northern", but they were intrigued in seeing what Thomas Rivers Brown is doing with this grape. The wine was impressive out of the chute, with a great tar / graphite component that balanced very well with the very dark fruit. Plenty of extracted mouthfeel, but none of that over-the-top syrupy or alcohol thing that usually accompanies it. Very enjoyable, and after an hour, it really came together into something that I'll be looking forward to try 6 months from now.
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2/23/2014 - brigcampbell wrote:
Falltacular 2014 (FMIII in the OC): Quick addition to my comments from a year ago. Basically the same but an olive and tapenade note has emerged in the last year. Nice mineral structure as well.
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2/19/2014 - Frank Murray III wrote:
This is my 3rd bottle, with spacing of one year between this bottle and the last. Tonight, I was able to enjoy the wine over dinner, with the benefit of air working on the wine. When first opened, it was juicy and aromatic, and with air, it unwrapped nicely. In the last glass, the palate had filled in with blue fruit, charcoal, showing an aromatic quality of pepper and smoke. All taken together, the wine is juicy, representative of the vintage. I don't find oak or alcohol here, and labeled at 12.8%, it would be true to that #. This is very good and in the spectrum of syrah I enjoy now, with acid and blue fruit, showing some astringence still in the finish. I bought 2, will let the next bottle rest until 2015, and drink the last one by 2017. Good work here Steve and Thomas.
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2/17/2013 - brigcampbell wrote:
I was fortunate enough to be offered a pour from an unlabeled bottle when a guy in the corner whispered something and I turned to see Steve holding his first vintage of Syrah. This was recently bottled/shipped and he was nervous and excited at the same time. Hey, now I'm excited.
Color is very dark, nearly black with blue highlights flashing around in the glass in full sunlight. Nose composed of light floral, dark toast, cassis and blackberry. These are positive signs leading to my first taste. Lots of talk regarding balance these days and I'd use that descriptor here because of the equal weight of the various components. Dark fruit, mild stem notes, just a bit of garden herbs, and white pepper adding the spicy edge. Medium weight to the wine and tannins were lively. Finish is medium. Very enjoyable wine and Steve should be proud, no doubt.
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2/5/2013 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Bottle open 24 hours, sat under cork after last night's dinner, with about 1/4 left for tonight. I believe the alc on this is 12.8%, and there's no heat in this wine anywhere so that to me seems on target. Aromatically, this shows a real signature of black pepper, cool climate as Jim Mack's property is along Bennett Valley Road. Light whiff of purple flower, smoke and stem, as this contains about 1/3rd whole cluster, although it doesn't punctuate the wine as the pepper has that role here. The palate is flush with inky, dark fruit, which is similar to the wine's color--very dark, a glass stainer, like Switchback or Carlisle petite color. Yet, with the low alc, the fruit doesn't get ripe in tone. Instead, it's similar to some of the Copain stuff, where I find deep color and concentration, yet the fruit expresses an earthy character, like black cherry, dark berry that is without the sweet ripeness. A real inky expression of syrah. There is some light tannin and astringence that hangs over the fruit, although the texture is fairly smooth and pretty resolved. Black olive in the finish, along with some tar, garrigue (stems?) and a light rocky note. I'll give an ITB-like disclaimer, as I know the owner of this label well, and he's a close friend, and to disquiet any assertion I sweetened this note or jazzed it up, I flat out did not. I wrote my note as I found the wine, an inky, dark syrah that really shows a deep core of earthy, food friendly fruit with a nice balance and mineral in the finish. It paired dynamite with my pizza last night and is doing just great with no food tonight--just a laptop and a big 'ol Schott Zwiesel stem. For a drink window, now through 2015 would be my recommendation. Good on you, Steve. FWIW, this wine is made my Thomas Brown, who doesn't make syrah so it was cool to see how he crafted this up.
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