2009 Copain Syrah High Rock Ranch

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  2/12/2013 - River Rat wrote:

  I came home to " I finished a bottle of Shiraz yesterday and thought, 'Hmm, this sounds similar.' But it wasn't."
  Arrrghh! My only bottle. I love her though, so she gets a Mulligan.

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  2/2/2013 - Frank Murray III wrote:

  This wine is labeled and packaged like a Copain syrah, and I think it was made in a small amount, mainly for the owner of the vineyard in 2009. And, this vineyard is one of the three legs in the 2010 Les Voisins syrah blend, along with the Hawks Butte and Halcon vineyards. As for this High Rock single vineyard bottling, I was gifted one of these in October 2011 and decided to hold onto it, to let it settle in. Listed at 14.3%, seemingly high in the register for the Copain syrahs in the new era (funny when I have to think that just over 14% is on the top end but it's true!). I opened this last night, and with the first 30 mins, it seemed a bit simple, not all that complex--mainly just fruit driven without any real structure. Last night, I finished the last glass after about 2 hours open and it seemed to pick up some depth. Jammed the cork back in, repulled it tonight. No decant. Color? Fairly dark, not staining but perhaps one notch below that on the color scale. Aromatically today, some white flower, crushed rock, hint of stem. The palate has more structure today, lots of juicy black raspberry, some crunchy red fruit edges but the fruit is more smooth. Finishes with some tar, some stone fruit pit (similar to a lighter version of Susan's Hill) and moderate acidity, with a nice dollop of crushed rocks. This really needed air to flesh out, to allow the rocky notes to emerge and support the fruit but with a day of air, it arrived. If the aeration and unfolding of this is predictive of the 09 Hawks Butte and Halcon, which sit higher up on the hill, we're in for a nice ride with the 2009s.

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