Community Tasting Note

• seijaro wrote: 85 points

  March 24, 2017 - A really odd taste, not pleasant. Maybe it was a bad bottle?

  3 people found this helpful 4,398 views

12 Comments

• Radboy commented:

  3/24/17, 5:36 PM - How long a decant?

• seijaro commented:

  3/25/17, 7:20 AM - Two hours prior to serving and another two hours during dinner. Four people, nobody liked it, especially next to Royal City and Lillian. I left it out overnight, tried it the next day, still had flavor but still unpleasant.

• Radboy commented:

  3/25/17, 2:05 PM - Bummer. I hate it when that happens.

• arthrovine commented:

  4/1/17, 10:14 AM - Thanks for the note. Would you please describe taste? I am also sitting on these and would like to know what exactly you're perceiving.

• seijaro commented:

  4/1/17, 10:58 AM - Hard to recall, but certainly tart with an unpleasant, astringent component. Almost no fruit in evidence. I probably should have manned up and given it 75. I won't take my next allocation.

• prusakolep commented:

  6/23/17, 2:37 PM - Just curious: have you had other Rocks syrahs, and you are saying this one is quite different from them? Rocks syrahs are quite unusual and they are very much a love/hate thing. People call them funky, I would add kirsch/sour cherries, and some folks love it. I would be happy to take over your allocation so I can see for myself :-)

• seijaro commented:

  6/24/17, 6:17 AM - Not familiar with the term "Rocks Syrahs" but have had many Syrahs, of course.

• Radboy commented:

  6/24/17, 6:31 AM - The Rocks region of the Walla Walla valley has a specific soil type similar to the Rhone Valley. It is composed of river rock, which produces wines with dramatic flavor profiles, typically bolder and containing earthy and barnyard flavors. Christophe Baron from Cayuse successfully first planted the region, which actually is in Oregon.

• prusakolep commented:

  6/24/17, 7:56 AM - Yes, syrahs from the Rocks AVA (Milton Freewater) taste completely different from other syrah. If that was the first Rocks syrah you tasted, I am not surprised at your tasting notes. No offense, some of my first experiences with these wines were very similar, and I returned part of an auction purchase once because it tasted like it was improperly stored (it was a 10 year old K Vintners Phil Lane Syrah - I had 2 bottles, really didn't like it, returned one that was still unopened). In hindsight I still think that particular lot was off, waiting a day after opening did not help, but a big part of the surprise is what I later learned was the characteristic flavor profile of the Rocks.
  
  I never had a chance to try Horsepower, but I would expect that it would be made to exemplify this unusual flavor profile.

• seijaro commented:

  6/24/17, 1:43 PM - Thanks, I appreciate the education from you both. It kind of strikes me as like Scotch... "an acquired taste." If it doesn't taste good from the jump, why acquire it? I like Syrah (and Shiraz), especially Alban, Roar, Booker, Molly Dooker, et al. This thing tasted to me like I imagine the floor of the barn. Maybe I'm just a rube.

• Radboy commented:

  6/24/17, 4:20 PM - You are hardly a rube! It is an unusual combination of flavors and not for everyone. You will have no problem unloading the rest of your Horsepower if you choose. I had The '14 the other day at the winery and it was very good and also very young. I won't even touch my bottles of '14 until 2019-20 at the earliest. Cheers.

• zinnut commented:

  9/24/18, 9:10 AM - The Syrah from the Rocks District is so very different than those from California. They are in the style of Northern Rhone with more mineral, blood, raw meat, black olive. The first time I tried Reynvaan I did not like it. But I found these intriguing and interesting the more I tasted them. They are very polarizing though.

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