Syrah from Afar with a Champagne Flight to start

A really fun gathering for an afternoon and evening of summer fun at a friend's home. We started with a flight of champagne. Moved to an amazing dinner with 12 "syrahs from afar" tasted single blind, then on to a champagne gun duel, beach ball toss in the pool, finishing with shot skis and sauternes by the fire pit. A really fun and memory filled day! Great hosts, great friends, great food and wine - and the weather while threatening to start held off for a lovely day!

Nice way to kick off the day with a flight of champagne. All the champagne was lovely but the Selosse V.O. was the standout today just a really nice bottle.

• 2006 Pol Roger Champagne Vintage Brut 91 Points

  France, Champagne

  1st wine of the day and a lovely way to start off. Consistent with the Pol Roger Vintage Brut style - this has a bit of toast and bread dough on the nose. Palate is more to the richer style with a yeasty, bready characteristic and less intense bubbles. Smooth, round and easy to drink, always enjoyable.

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• NV Jacques Selosse V.O. Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 95 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  Disgorged Jan-2015. First time with the V.O. and wow this is really special. Definitely in the more oxidative Selosee style but lots of minerals and acidity - a lot of complexity here. A real standout in today's line up and I look forward to revisiting this in the future. One thing to note - I think it really pays off to give any of the Selosse NVs (Initial, VO, Rose) some bottle age after disgorgement date - whenever I have had one with an older disgorgement - the additional time has really added complexity to the wine.

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• 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  I really tend to like Dom and was looking forward to trying the '96 for the first time. Unfortunately it paled a bit in comparison to the Selosse VO served previously. Typical richer styled Dom with lots of toast and yeast, some oxidative and nutty notes coming through but the I think this was missing some acidity to give it more tension. Nice but not as special particularly given the price.

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• NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Brut Rosé 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  Disgorged Nov-2015. What a treat - two bottles of Selosse in one afternoon! The color on this leans more to salmon than pink. Both zippy (with clean acidity, orange/tangerine peel and strawberries) and a bit oxidative at the same time. An elegant and complex Rose - quite special and a pleasure to drink.

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First flight of syrah - cleverly served to us on a wine glass tree (never seen these before) but a terrific way to maximize table space. The first wines were accompanied with appetizers of cheese, charcuterie and bread.

• 2008 Grand Rêve Vintners Collaboration Series III Ciel du Cheval Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  1st of 12 syrahs served single blind. Nose is full of dark jammy raspberry and blackberry - no hint of game or funk. The palate is chock full of dark ripe raspberries - fruit is well balanced with acidity. Color leans to the purple spectrum. Definitely not Northern Rhone in style so guessing this was one of the 2 U.S. entrants. I tend to prefer my syrah with more animalistic characteristics, grilled meats, bacon fat, olive etc... so this was less in my wheelhouse, but still a well made wine.

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• 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  2/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Nose is all bacon and grilled meats - yum!! Palate seems mature and well integrated, with elegant silky tannins and lots of savory meaty notes. Color is medium ruby - no bricking. Seems old world Northern Rhone to me and very delicious in a really nice place right now.

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• 1997 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 96 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  3/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Nose has dark fruits and some gamey notes. Color is paler ruby with browning at the edges. Tastes mature and elegant and just really delicious - seems to really be in a nice drinking window - the fruit, bacon/grilled meats, iron, earth and acid are all working in harmony here. Delicious and top 3 of the tasting for me.

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• 1991 Penfolds Grange 94 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  4/12 syrahs tasted single blind. The nose on this is very floral and pretty. The color is bright ruby and would indicate a much younger wine by appearance. The palate is still bright red fruit, some earth and spices and a real silky mouthfeel. Very nice!

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• 1978 Penfolds Grange 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  5/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Nose is perfumed and floral - very feminine. On the palate this seems to have more Northern Rhone styled notes though with grilled meats and game taking precedence over the dark mature fruits. More restrained and subtle than wines 2 ('96 La Chappelle) & 3 ('97 La Mouline) but still very nice.

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Second flight of syrah was served with a dinner of lobster tails, steak, stuffed clams, corn on the cob, and lots of side dishes.

• 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  6/12 syrahs tasted single blind. The nose on this is quite savage with a very meaty, gamey, savory palate. The dark fruit is there but the savoriness is the star of the show here. My initial guess was this was Jamet, surprised it was the La Chapelle which I think really shows differently given the vintage. I liked this quite a bit very much in my wheelhouse.

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• 2014 Best's Great Western Shiraz Bin No 0 88 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Great Western

  7/12 wines tasted single blind. Nose is more to the jammy heavily fruited side. Color is dark red leaning to purple. On the palate a bit of heat on entry and then lots of dark ripe fruit. Seems more new world in style from a warm climate and quite young. I think this maybe one to enjoy in its youth for it exuberance and lip smacking fruit but not sure it has the structure to age as gracefully as the others in the line up.

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• 1981 Penfolds Grange 96 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  8/12 syrahs tasted single blind. The nose on this is quite sauvage - very animalistic and gamey - I like it! Color is medium ruby. Taste is in line with the nose with the more gamey, meaty savory notes coming forward and mature fruit filling in around the edges. Clearly a more mature wine that is older world in style. Very nice!

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• 1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  9/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Nose is meaty like the drippings from the bottom of a roasting pan. Color is browning around the edges but denser in the middle. On the palate the entry is very smooth, without a lot of edges, I am not getting the savory meatiness that the nose implied but some smokiness comes through and the fruit is blackberry. This is quite nice, but I think I miss a bit of grip on the mouthfeel that would have added more impact.

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• 2009 Paul Lato Syrah Cinematique Larner Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley

  10/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Nose has lots of red and black fruit with some meatiness. The color is dark red leaning to purple. On the palate gobs of ripe red raspberry and blackberry with some spiciness - fruit is very primary here without a lot of secondary characteristics coming through. Seems new world and on the very young (actually I thought this was drinking much younger than an '09). Suspect this will continue to improve with more cellar time - revisit in 2025.

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• 1988 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle Flawed

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  11/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Badly corked - there was no debate on this cardboard aroma was powerful and the palate was pretty shot.

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• 1998 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 97 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  12/12 syrahs tasted single blind. From a bottle with the newer label. Nose is meat, smoke and black fruit. Color is med ruby with no browning. On the palate this is classic Northern Rhone - dark fruits, with grilled meats and savory black olive tapenade, some smoke and spices. Really drinking well right now after a few hour decant. I originally thought #6 ('89 La Chapelle) was a Jamet, but now I can't decide between the two. Clearly one of my favorites of the tasting.

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• 2012 Qupé Roussanne Hillside Estate Bien Nacido Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

  Tasted later in the evening after a long wine dinner but I am a sucker for Roussane and this was very tasty. Love the rich mouthfeel here and the stone fruit and honey on the palate. My first time with Cali Roussane and I need to explore more here, very nice!

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• 1972 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Last taste of the night. Amber color. On the palate this has a lot of caramelized honey and toasty nuts with some lemon/pineapple/honeysuckle sweetness - could use a touch more acidity for balance but the mouthfeel is nice and smooth and it hits the right note after a long evening.

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A really beautiful line up of wines today but the winner for me was the '98 Jamet (no surprise as I am a big fan of this producer and style), followed by the '81 Grange and the '97 La Mouline. Also loved the '89 & '96 La Chapelle and the '91 Grange.