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| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.8 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 28 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by smorris291 on 3/4/2024 & rated 91 points: Final of three bottles. A bit muted on first evening, even with a 4 hour decant. Still pretty tannic, with dark fruits. Improved overnight while in the decanter measurably—really opened up and became more interesting. 90 on night one and 92 on night two: so 91 overall. (313 views) | | | Tasted by smorris291 on 5/22/2022 & rated 91 points: Second bottle, about a year after I opened the last one. Dark, opaque purple in the glass. Dark fruits with spice, turning to a briny olive on the palate. Still pretty tannic, long finish. On night two, some of the fruit had fallen away…but overall still great. I just find these Riverain Syrahs so, so fascinating. (722 views) | | | Tasted by Geoff Weathersby on 1/30/2022 & rated 92 points: Dark, inky and delicious. Still very young. Could use another 3-5 years. (619 views) | | | Tasted by mdahar on 6/22/2021 & rated 92 points: Drank with 2 hour decant and was great. This have some of the northern Rhone flavours but this is clearly California syrah. This should continue to be great for many years (855 views) | | | Tasted by smorris291 on 5/1/2021 & rated 91 points: Dark, almost opaque purple in the glass. Started out more primary with dark berry fruits, but over the evening more smoke and pepper came out. Not as savory as the 2012 version, but still delicious. (Convinced my friend who generally dislikes CA wines, too!) Will hold on to the other two bottles and see how they develop. (837 views) | | | Tasted by Frank Murray III on 8/30/2020: This wine is gonna age well, based on the stuffing that is present today. Open a full day and it shows plenty of inky, earthy fruit that is framed by some whole cluster addition. Olive, tangy dark fruit, some cedary tannin and some structure that gives the Ione some proud shoulders. This is not delicate, and yet there is complexity inside the wine to tame it. Enjoyed this but please give it lots of air if you drink now. (1711 views) | | | Tasted by gmbdds on 4/15/2020 & rated 92 points: Dark and full wine. There's a lot of dark berry fruit on the nose without the palate being particularly fruit forward. Meaty and earthy and even refined while being a near meal in a glass. This feels early in the drinking window. (1032 views) | | | Tasted by mdahar on 4/6/2020 & rated 92 points: Need about 2 hours to open. (840 views) | | | Tasted by cab blends on 11/25/2018 & rated 91 points: This is a fruity syrah in my style of syrah.
Some steely slate in the initial attack but red blue fruit on the mid palate.
N3/5 H3/5 F4/5 (1272 views) | | | Tasted by Millennial Drinkers on 11/25/2018 & rated 90 points: Coats the glass with a purplish red. Starts off with a little bit of caramel, then got savory on the nose with some meat, purple flowers and vanilla. Medium plus tannins (7/10) and medium plus bodied. Dark palate with berries, spices and gravel. Dry and long finish. Drink till 2024. (1346 views) | | | Tasted by arthrovine on 10/4/2018: Yes, it's infanticide, but I drank this tonight. Needs lots air. My favorite is still the 11 for its cooler vintage characteristics. Pretty darn good, though. I am going to hide the rest for 5 more years (1056 views) | | | Tasted by corkscrews on 7/27/2018 & rated 90 points: A muted nose of some dark fruit and some spice, midnight black in color. A full bodied very tight and young red, with blueberry, blackberry, licorice and spice on finish, needs a long decant to enjoy now. Best to wait a few years. www.winelx.com (1080 views) | | | Tasted by cab blends on 2/10/2018 & rated 90 points: PnP - this has great potential and is just far too young at the moment - I was tasting with some 10 to 15 year olds that were presenting outstandingly and the youthfulness of this was clear.
This could add a couple of points in a few years. Light perfume on the nose to begin with strong tannins. Not yet fully integrated with good minerality and fruity (Not sweet) body
N5 T8 F6 B7 (1108 views) | | | Tasted by Millennial Drinkers on 2/10/2018 & rated 91 points: Great work Steve and TRB. Only the second wine we have tried from Riverain.
Deep and dark purplish red. Lovely nose with some toasted elements with some black and white pepper, black olives, black cherries and cinnamon. Medium plus tannins (6.5/10) and full bodied. Very dry with flavors of dark berries, spices, olives, and light minerality. Long and lingering finish. Drink till 2024. (1493 views) | | | Tasted by kgh on 5/27/2017 & rated 90 points: A young wine which needs time to open, but shows potential. Dark fruit with nice balance of acid and tannins. (1502 views) | | | Tasted by Papillon1112 on 2/25/2017 & rated 90 points: Not the star but makes you want to taste Thomas Rivers Brown's other winemaking projects. (1476 views) | | | Tasted by RockyII on 2/17/2017 & rated 90 points: 90 minute decant through an aerator. Deep purple (think "smoke on the water"). Pretty prominent nose of oak, nail polish, crushed black pepper and dark berries. Taste is more fruit forward but with a tannic dryness throughout with a bit of sour cherry tartness on the tail end. Medium to high acidity. Nice mouthfeel. Long finish. I think this will improve with age or more airtime. Will save a glass for tomorrow. 90-91.
Second day notes: no significant changes except fruit actually diminished and tannins increased. No change in overall rating and I don't think this wine is likely to change much with more airtime - needs more time in the bottle. (1371 views) | | | Tasted by Jay Hack on 2/5/2017: Keep hands off for 5 years. (1222 views) | | | Tasted by Frank Murray III on 1/27/2017: Last time I drank one of these was Fall 2016 and it tastes very similar to that wine so for me, there is some TN consistency in my experience here. No decant but we did get this open at the start of the meal and it was my last wine tasted about 90 mins into the dinner. Black olive aromatic, with some riper styled fruit and this vintage seems more opulent to me than say 2012. Dark and inky in tone, with a tangy acidity. Charcoal, tangy blue fruit that fattens up with air, adding some power. This has plenty of stuffing and is the most opulent of the first 4 vintages of Riverain for me (11-14). (1632 views) | | | Tasted by brigcampbell on 1/26/2017: Wow, this came out swing right from the bell. Like a punch in the face. I've had this wine before but with plenty of decanter time. This was a pop n pour, oops. This is REALLY young and wrapped around the axle serviced like we did. Everything about this wine is abundant, the fruit, the acid, and the tannins. Don't get me wrong, it's great and will definitely age forever but it probably needs 4-6 hours of air at this point. (1248 views) | | | Tasted by Knarles on 11/18/2016: Wrong year (1115 views) | | | Tasted by Frank Murray III on 10/13/2016: One year since last bottle. This time, I'll go over 2 nights and this will be the star--nothing else being tasted. Opened this about 3 hours ago, no decant just slow ox and several pours to watch my Ducks on NHL opening night. This is dark, flavor packed and bigger boned. I had my 2 previous TNs, and I pulled this wine b/c this is what I wanted in my syrah tonight. The 2013 for me has been the biggest of Steve's 4 vintages, this bottle shows that way so for FWIW, my experiences are consistent. There is some heat traces here on the aromatic, just a whiff (FWIW, this listed at 14.1%). The core of this wine is dark fruit, a mix of boysen and black, with a finishing distinct note of red cherry, too. Around this core is plenty of charcoal, along with a molten quality so think brooding, tarry, light bitter chocolate. Finishes with some tannin and black olive (which I wish was a bit higher but I realize that with this vintage, the trade off it seems is more fruit density exchanged for the olive/tapenade notes that make the 2012 so good)....Day 2, this is really delicious, squarely in the fruit centric camp. Inky, charcoal, purple fruit and some cherry with some iron. For a drink window, I would say fine now with air, to enjoy the density and fruit that is here, or let it age and soften a bit more. I like it now. (1372 views) | | | Tasted by Rktekt3 on 9/18/2016 & rated 90 points: Very nice syrah. Good fruit beneath the tannins. I would wait another year to open these though. (1208 views) | | | Tasted by brigcampbell on 10/4/2015: Riverain Winemakers Dinner with Steve Nordoff (FMIII in the OC): Blackberry and very noticeable red berry at the backend. Shows more chalk than the other vintages yet still has the charcoal that I enjoy. Chewy tannins and slightly riper style than the 2011 which is expected. (1920 views) | | | Tasted by Frank Murray III on 10/4/2015: Riverain Dinner (My House In The South OC): Drank this next to the 2011 and 2012. For me, these two wines at this stage outshine the 2013. The answer lies for me in palate preference, as similar to the 2013 I carefully and at length wrote up last April, the bottle we had last night was quite similar to that one, as were the tasting markers I jotted down without any bias from the April note. Taste indications like a molten quality, iron, richness and obvious fruit. It finishes with some dark chocolate, tannin and approaching full bodied. For me, this rings more true of the syrahs I used to drink, where fruit and ripeness are the core indicators, which is not the syrahs I drink in today's times. Without a doubt in my mind, this 2013 is going to appeal to the palates that like the richer CA style, and there are plenty of folks in that audience still these days. I just prefer the 2012 for richness, and the fact the richness of that wine is a level of measure below that of the 2013. (2386 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Riverain Producer website2013 Riverain Syrah Cardiac Hill Bennett ValleyFrom release notes:
This is midnight dark, even darker than the Cab, without any real translucence. Again, the fruit, tannin and acid are all present in spades. This is aged in neutral barrels and includes approximately 50% whole cluster (we like this as it cuts the primary fruit and adds considerably to the bouquet, especially with age). The black olive component from this vineyard is once again there, along with lavender and the dark berry fruit. Intentionally made in a Northern Rhone Style, with all of the abundance that 201Syrah Varietal article (Wikipedia) | (Wines Northwest)
Note that some producers in the Northern Rhone distinguish between simply Syrah and "Serine", the latter described as ‘an ancient clone of Syrah, the berries of which are more oval-shaped and less deeply pigmented than Syrah’ by producer Tardieu-Laurent. Cardiac HillCardiac Hill vineyard runs on a very steep hillside at an elevation ranging from 500 to 900 feet hence the peculiar but appropriate name. It is situated in the southeast corner of the Bennett Valley, where three mountain peaks at the northern end of the Petaluma Wind Gap create a unique Sonoma County micro-climate. The Valley's benchland soils formed from the volcanic ash of Taylor Mountain, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Ridge, combined with the unusually cool climate, create one of Sonoma County's most expressive Syrah growing regions.
This North-facing vineyard is 9.5 acres planted to four different clones of Syrah: Estrella River, 383,470 and 174. Spacing is 4x6 with a VSP trellising system and all vines are caned pruned. Crop thinning starts at one cluster per shoot before veraison and adjustments are made to crop load after veraison. Average tons per acre is 1.5-2.5 tons.
USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Sonoma CountyMendocino County |
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