Blind Syrah Tasting w/ Ryan Johnson, Dick Boushey, Eric LeVine, and MrBigJ

8 of us (Steven, Travis, David, Brad, Tom E., Joel, Tom L., and Tim) gathered together at Wild Ginger in Seattle with Ryan Johnson of Grand Rêve , Dick Boushey of Boushey Vineyard, Eric LeVine of CellarTracker, and MrBigJ for a spectacular blind tasting of Syrah.

We started out tasting a couple of very different styles of Roses. These were just poured for each person as they arrived. I ended up enjoying the SQN Rose just a little bit more than the Tempier, but we didn't do a group vote.

• 2010 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 92 Points

  France, Provence, Bandol

  The color was a very light pinkish-orange. The nose of this wine had aromas of strawberries and watermelon with notes of citrus zest and a little bit of talc. The palate had flavors that ranged from light raspberry and watermelon to strawberry and some white pepper. This also had a long finish for a rose. A great starter for the tasting!

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• 2008 Sine Qua Non The Pontiff 93 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast

  The color was red enough to look more like a light bodied red wine than a typical Rose. Quite a change from the Tempier Rose we had just finished... The palate was very spicy and meaty. Ryan said that lit was like a watered down Cayuse God Only Knows Grenache. I don't usually try to describe a wine by saying it's similar to another wine, but in this case, that's just about covers it... This wine had a big mouthfeel that you wouldn't expect from a Rose, and a long finish. In many of Jay Miller's Cayuse tasting notes from 2003 and 2004, he referenced his first barrel sample of the God Only Knows and made the comment (jokingly, I'm sure) that it may not be long before Manfred Krankl of SQN would be known as the Christophe Baron of the Central Coast... Well, it took me about 4 years after Jay's comment... Too funny...

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We didn't know the ages of these wines as we were tasting them, aside from the fact that the oldest wines we would taste would probably be in the first flight.

• 1995 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon Flawed

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Tasted blind. (Group's #4 (my #4)) – 0 first place votes, 0 second place votes, 1 third place vote, 11 4th place votes – When this wine was first poured in the glass, it smelled lightly corked. I swirled it a little bit and the fruit aromas came out a little more, and then I wasn't sure if it was corked, or just a funky French wine... A quick taste revealed that it was dirty, damp and muted. It was lightly corked, but mainly it was just flat and wet, and robbed of anything that would have made it special... What a bummer this was when it was revealed!

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• 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Tasted blind. (Group's #3 (my #3)) – 1 first place vote, 4 second place votes, 6 third place votes, 1 fourth place vote – The nose had aromas of dark fruits and earth, and was just a little bit volatile. The palate had quite a bit of dark, dark fruit flavors with leather and mushroom notes. This wine seemed to be fairly tannic, and was even slightly mouth drying. Once this was revealed, it was hard to believe that this was over 20 years old! This was a wine that I had wanted to taste for a long time, and was a great surprise!

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• 1996 Chris Ringland Shiraz Three Rivers 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Range

  Tasted blind. (Group's #1 (my #2)) – 8 first place votes, 1 second place vote, 3 third place votes, no fourth place votes – The nose had very rich dark fruit aromas with notes of anise and a hint of mint. The palate was very bright, and had flavors of blackberry, caramel and eucalyptus. Excellent mouthfeel and a medium-long finish.

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• 1998 Fox Creek Shiraz Reserve 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Tasted blind. (Group's #2 (my #1)) – 3 first place votes, 7 second place vote, 2 third place votes, no fourth place votes – The nose of this wine was loaded with eucalyptus and herbs. Even before tasting this wine, I was thinking this was a Thackrey Orion right away. The palate had flavors of plums, berries, licorice, eucalyptus and spice. Big mouthfeel and a nice, long finish. When this was revealed as one of Sparky's wines, I was quite surprised. This was very different than I would have expected it to taste like. I've had other Fox Creek wines and other wines that Sparky Marquis made, but none of them ever tasted like this... Great stuff!

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In between each flight of the Syrahs, we were going to taste one white wine as a bit of a palate cleanser. There wasn't a theme for the whites.

• 2004 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  The nose of this wine initially had some aromas that I thought were cauliflower and lacquer-like. Tom, Joel and Brad collaborated and came up with "Corn Silk" as the descriptor, and that just nailed what the aroma was. Once we started talking about how cool of a descriptor "corn silk" really was, I really started to enjoy this wine more. The palate had nice minerality and a little nuttiness. I liked the slightly oily mouthfeel too.

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We did get a clue for this flight that all of the wines would be from the same vintage... except for the one that wasn't. I got a laugh out of that...

• 2003 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Tasted blind. (Group's #4 (my #4)) – no first place votes, no second place vote, 1 third place votes, 11 fourth place votes – The nose of this wine had aromas of blackberry, currant and a little white pepper. The palate was very tight, but had notes of smoke and earth along with the dark fruit flavors. When this was revealed as the Chave several tasters said that this was not a good showing for it, and it must be in a weird spot right now. This was my first Chave, but I didn't think the bottle was flawed in any way - it just didn't have the greatness that is evident in reading other tasting notes for this bottle.

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• 2003 Alban Vineyards Syrah Lorraine 95 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Edna Valley

  Tasted blind. (Group's #3 (my #3)) – 4 first place votes, 2 second place vote, 6 third place votes, no fourth place votes – The nose of this wine initially was a little meaty and funky and had just a slight note of a dill aroma. The palate had nice red fruit flavors that were super rich, but not overly sweet. The palate had light notes of licorice and mocha. This wine had a great mouthfeel and a long finish. After it was revealed, I did notice more of a reductive funk than I had earlier. More rubber and less meat. This was a very nice wine, and really showed how well we were drinking tonight, when the wine that I ranked #3 in a flight of 4 wines would garner a 95 point score from me...

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• 2003 Sine Qua Non Syrah Papa 98 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast

  Tasted blind. (Group's #1 (my #2)) – 2 first place votes, 9 second place vote, 1 third place votes, no fourth place votes – The nose had aromas of licorice, plum and cherry with a creosote note that reminded me of my days working at a coffee roasting company. It smelled just like when the exhaust vents would get cleaned of the creosote buildup... The palate had candied cherry, smoke and white pepper flavors. This wine had a huge mouthfeel and a finish that seemed to gain in complexity. I enjoyed this much more than I did the first time that I tasted it back in 2009.

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• 2002 Penfolds Grange 98 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Tasted blind. (Group's #2 (my #1)) – 6 first place votes, 1 second place vote, 4 third place votes, 1 fourth place vote – The nose was loaded with mint and chocolate aromas and also had some mineral notes. David mentioned a pickle barrel aroma that I hadn't noticed until he clued me in on it. The palate had flavors of mixed dark berries, spices and eucalyptus. I thought that this could be a Thackrey Orion again - but not even close... Once the tasting was over, I went back to get another pour of the Grange, and the minty/eucalyptus notes seemed to have a harder edge to them then they did while we were tasting this flight, but that could very well also be because of palate fatigue... The group was really divided on this flight - Even with 6 out of 12 first place votes, the Grange ended up finishing second in this flight overall...

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Brad just couldn't help himself and had to bring some additional blind wines for us to taste this evening. One of them was a white, and since it was already bagged up and the cork pulled, we stuck it in right here.

• 2000 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru

  Tasted blind. This was brought by Brad as a bonus blind white. We stuck it in at this point in the tasting since it was ready to go and would probably warm up too much before the next flight was done. There was something about this wine that was just a little odd. Couldn't quite pin it down but the mix of pineapple, apple and pear flavors in this just weren't playing well together. Maybe it was that it just followed a very complex flight of Syrahs and it was doing it's job as a palate cleanser...

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• 2007 Rene Rostaing Condrieu La Bonnette 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu

  This wine had really nice peach and honeysuckle aromas on the nose. The palate was consistent but also added a bit of apricot on the mid-palate. But it was just too flabby for me. I'm not an acid freak like several other tasters in this group are, but even I thought that this wine could definitely use more acid than it had.

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This was a fun theme for the flight. Each of these wines had been scored highly by different Wine Advocate critics. The barrel score for the Guigal La Mouline was 96-98 from Robert Parker, the Grand Reve was scored 97 points by Jay Miller, the Tua Rita received 97 points from Antonio Galloni, and the Gauby barrel score was 97-98 from David Schildknecht. We were told that one of these wines would be a Rhone blend instead of a Syrah as Schildknecht had not rated a Syrah that would fit the theme of this flight.

• 1997 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Tasted blind. (Group's #2 (my #4)) – 3 first place votes, 5 second place votes, 1 third place vote, 3 fourth place votes – While we were tasting this blind, I noticed that the nose had aromas of bacon and a stinky funk that I thought was like band aid. I just couldn't get past the aroma and couldn't think of what else it could be. It wasn't very enjoyable to smell for me at all. The good news (for me) was that the wine tasted much better than it smelled. I was really confused, but no one else in the group was smelling anything like band aid. Once this was revealed as the very first La La that I had tasted, I was pretty upset that I had ranked it last in the flight. I went back right away and got another glass. Once I understood that this wine was 15% Viognier, and would be much softer than any of the other wines in the flight, some of the aromas started to make more sense to me. Apricot, green olive, bacon, blood and some funk were what I wasn't able to deconstruct without Eric talking me through it for a while. This wine then became a lot more enjoyable for me, and at that point, I would probably have ranked it ahead of the Tua Rita and the Gauby, but I didn't when it was blind. What can I say? I guess that I though the label sure tasted good...

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• 2006 Grand Rêve Vintners Collaboration Series II Ciel du Cheval Vineyard 94 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  Tasted blind. (Group's #1 (my #1)) – 7 first place votes, 4 second place votes, 0 third place votes, 1 fourth place vote – The nose had aromas of red and black fruits with olive, brown sugar and savory spice notes. This just smells awesome compared to the other wines in this flight. The palate had flavors of dark cherries and light notes of peppercorns and meat. Nice balance and a long finish.

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• 2006 Tua Rita Syrah 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

  Tasted blind. (Group's #3 (my #2)) – 2 first place votes, 3 second place votes, 3 third place votes, 3 fourth place votes, 1 non-voter – The nose of this wine had aromas of cherry, mint and herbs. There was some volatility as well, but I didn't think it was too much. It was enough that Brad wouldn't rate the wine because he thought it was flawed with VA. The palate showed flavors of plums, figs and earth. Medium length finish.

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• 2007 Domaine Gauby Côtes Catalanes La Muntada 90 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Roussillon, Côtes Catalanes

  Tasted blind. (Group's #4 (my #3)) – 0 first place votes, 0 second place votes, 7 third place votes, 4 fourth place votes, 1 non-voter – The nose of this wine had aromas of tart red fruits and loads of brett. Ugh, that's a lot of brett... Brad wouldn't vote on this wine either as he felt this one was flawed because of so much brett. The palate was equally as funky with flavors of red fruit, licorice, funk and of course... brett. We knew that there was one wine in this flight that was not a Syrah - my guess from the very first whiff was that this was the wine that wasn't a Syrah. My least favorite of the tasting, and although this wine received no first or second place votes from the group, there were multiple tasters that really did enjoy this wine. I'm not saying that it wasn't well made, just made in a style that I do not enjoy...

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• 2008 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  The nose had aromas of citrus fruits, minerals, and a note like crushed seashells. The palate had flavors of green apples and citrus. Medium length finish.

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We were told that these wines were all of the same vintage, and it was also easy to tell that we were getting younger here...

• 2007 Cayuse Syrah Bionic Frog 95 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  Tasted blind. (Group's #1 (my #2)) – 9 first place votes, 2 second place votes, 0 third place votes, 1 non-voter – The nose of this wine had the Cayuse funk on it that makes it near impossible to include Cayuse in a blind tasting. The palate had flavors of cabbage, blood, iron and meat. Huge mouthfeel and a long finish. This was a really nice showing for the Bionic Frog. David did taste these wines, but had to leave the tasting before we voted on a group favorite.

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• 2007 Sheridan Vineyard Syrah Reserve 91 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley

  Tasted blind. (Group's #3 (my #3)) – 0 first place votes, 0 second place votes, 11 third place votes, 1 non-voter – The nose had aromas of plum, a meaty funk, and what I originally thought was a mint-like note. After talking a bit with David, Eric and Brad, I realized that note was more coconut-like than mint-like. The palate had flavors of plum and blueberry flavors with coconut notes coming through on the palate as well. The finish on this wine just wasn't as smooth as the other wines in this flight. It was still very enjoyable, but I would have enjoyed it more if I had consumed it without comparing it to the other two wines.

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• 2007 Next of Kyn No~1 Cumulus Vineyard 99 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast

  Tasted blind. (Group's #2 (my #1)) – 2 first place votes, 9 second place votes, 0 third place votes, 1 non-voter – Wow! The nose of this wine instantly stood out with some very pure fruit. Very rich cherry aromas that were almost candied came through very clear along with some notes of anise. The palate had wonderful flavors of cassis, cherry and vanilla, with a big mouthfeel that carried through a long finish. But the real star here was the balance. Such great balance, that I let most of this glass sit because I wanted to find out what it was before I drank too much of it. This could very well be a perfect wine when it puts on a little more complexity. What a surprise to have it revealed to be a NOK! It was awesome when we were tasting it blind, but even more so after the reveal... One of those wines that you're just so happy that you got to experience it. My clear WOTN. Thanks Eric!

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The backup bottle of the Sheridan Reserve was opened after a few tasters suspected the original bottle wasn't correct based of prior tastings.

• 2007 Sheridan Vineyard Syrah Reserve 93 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley

  The backup bottle of this wine was opened after the 4th flight was revealed because Joel thought that the first bottle might be off. The backup bottle was quite a bit cooler than the one that was included in the flight. The cooler temp seemed to bring out fruit flavors that were closer to cherry than plum, and the notes from the new oak were more caramel like than coconut-like. As the backup bottle warmed up though, this wine seemed to shift back to the way it showed during the 4th flight. My take away from opening the backup bottle was to serve this wine on the cooler side for a more enjoyable experience.

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• 2007 Alban Vineyards Viognier 90 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast

  The nose of this wine had aromas of citrus zest, honey and perfume. What a great nose, but there was a disconnect with the palate. Nice flavors of apricot and some tart citrus flavors were present, but it was also pretty hot. A boozy, cocktail wine... but it did have a great nose.

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The Amon Ra was so badly corked that it didn't even make it out to the table, so we were actually just going head to head with two wines for this flight. Bummer about the Amon Ra, that would have been a fun addition.

• 2005 Torbreck RunRig 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Tasted blind. (Group's #1 (my #1)) – 8 first place votes, 3 second place votes, 1 non-voter – The nose of this wine had a rubbery funk hanging over dark fruit and herbal aromas. The palate had cassis, cherry and tar flavors with spice accents.

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• 2007 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles

  Tasted blind. (Group's #2 (my #2)) – 3 first place votes, 8 second place votes, 1 non-voter – The nose of this wine had aromas of candied cherries and blackberries, and was a bit hot. The palate had flavors of cherries, spices and a Fig Newton-like note. Nice sweetness of fruit but too much heat for it to be extraordinary. When this was revealed as a Saxum Booker, I was surprised. I think this probably suffered by being at the end of the tasting, as I've had this wine before and loved it. I have noticed on several Saxums that I prefer to drink them on the cooler side - which may also have been a factor here as well.

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• 2004 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley Flawed

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Badly corked.

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This is a bottle that I have been looking forward to tasting for quite a while. Since it was so low in alcohol that it had to be labeled as partially fermented grape must I wanted to open it when there were a bunch of wine geeks around. This was the perfect time, and a perfect wine...

• 2002 Alois Kracher Noble Wine #12 Zwischen den Seen 100 Points

  Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee

  This is so intense and sweet, it's really hard to fathom how a wine can be so low in alcohol and high in sugar. Yet, somehow, the beautiful acidity manages to keep this wine from being out of balance or cloying in any way. It also has such a long finish, that I wasn't able to make myself wait long enough for the next taste to find out how long it could have been. I didn't try to deconstruct this at all - I just loved every perfect drop in my glass.

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More blind reds from Brad to close out the evening. He did tell us that these weren't necessarily Syrahs, and of course after the reveal, I had to ask him how much Syrah was blended in the KB 4 Barrel...

• 2002 Basel Cellars Syrah Reserve Lewis Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  Tasted blind. (Group ranking tied (my #1)) – 5 first place votes, 5 second place votes, 2 non-voters – The nose of this wine had aromas of dark fruits and a meaty funk. Palate was getting tired and having trouble making the switch back to reds after the Kracher, and my notes were getting sketchy but this was still a nice wine. I didn't enjoy it as much as I did when I tasted it last year, but it also wasn't in the mix with so many other fantastic wines then either.

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• 2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir 4 Barrel 91 Points

  USA, California

  Tasted blind. (Group ranking tied (my #2)) – 5 first place votes, 5 second place votes, 2 non-voters – This wine had huge cherry and raspberry aromas with a little spice. When this was revealed as the KB 4 Barrel, I had to joke about how much Syrah was in this blend... It's a monster Pinot for sure, but it you do have to bring a Pinot to a Syrah tasting, then KB is the way to go...

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This was another fantastic event, and it was great to meet David and Eric. One of the greatest wine tastings that I have ever attended. Travis did a wonderful job organizing this event - no small feat for sure!

The Next of Kyn was my WOTN, but the Fox Creek Reserve, Grange and Grand Reve all had fantastic showings. But this tasting also highlighted the downside of tasting wines blind for me. When I was tasting the La Mouline blind and not thinking of one of these Syrahs having a significant percentage of Viognier in the blend, I didn't enjoy the wine as much as I did once it was revealed and I was able to learn more about what that bottling was all about.