2013 Efeste Syrah Jolie Bouche

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: Hot Times in the Desert (Nov 2016), 11/1/2016, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Efesté Syrah Jolie Bouche Boushey Vineyard Washington) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Efeste, 1/25/2017

  (Efeste Jolie Bouche Syrah Boushey Vineyard) Hello friends. Peter Devison is quietly killing it as Efeste’s winemaker. Hired in 2012 after founding winemaker Brennon Leighton was recruited to Team Charles Smith, he has managed to continue the house style Brennon inaugurated while still managing to put his own stamp on things. Today we have a pair of wines – one white, one red – that are always near the top of the Efeste lineup for me. They display what makes this winery so great: thoughtful fruit sourcing paired with winemaking dedicated to expression of place. It has been more than four years since we’ve gotten our hands on Jolie Bouche (the 2010 vintage, in Dec 2012), one of the most exciting renditions of Boushey Vineyard Syrah produced in Washington. For the 2013, Peter fermented with 30% stems, and then aged the Syrah in French puncheons, just 20% new. It clocks in at 15.0% listed alc and offers an alluring Boushey nose, with a core of boysenberry fruit overlain with savory subtleties galore: smoked sausages, black olives, earth. This has a real old-world/new-world tweener character aromatically, like Crozes-Hermitage meets Washington. Palate-wise, this could only be new world, with its generous fruit, its pillowy seamless texture. It’s such a soft, seductive easy drinker that you could almost be forgiven for missing all the smoky meaty subtleties. Almost. Wine Spectator: Copyrighted material withheld.