Community Tasting Note

• srh Likes this wine:

  December 9, 2017 - Winebar [4 Whts, 8 Reds, & 4 Shared Bottles] from 12/8/17 (Vintage Wines Ltd., San Diego, CA): N: Floral (honeysuckle?) with minerality
  
  P: Med body; RNDISH entry with almost an oiliness [lanolin?]. NICE frt met by AMPLE acidity which SLOWLY, fairly seamlessly transitions into a LONG, somewhat tangy finish with glimpses of honey. VERY nicely made for drinking now & through the end of the decade, POSS longer. 95 pts WA & 92 pts WE. THANK you *so* MUCH, Dr. Tom, for sharing this hard to find wine which the WA feels is the best made in the U.S.!

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5 Comments

• wino121 commented:

  9/30/19, 6:00 PM - Simple question my friend, was it worth the $$$.

• srh commented:

  9/30/19, 6:25 PM - ..., wino 121, that's really not all THAT simple a question. ;)
  
  MOST of the folks where I taste regularly feel the Cayuse wines in GENERAL are overpriced (at least with respect to what they go for on the secondary market). While this particular 1 was my 1st, I've since had other bottlings, even splurging to buy 1 of their reds so that my relatives could try it down the line. I did so 'cuz: 1) They love WA wines in general; 2) I've yet to taste a Cayuse wine that WASN'T "unique."
  
  I'm NOT a Viognier fan, NEVER having had a version (even FR) than even remotely impressed me the way this one did. All that notwithstanding, I've only once spent > $100 for a white wine, that being Corton Charlemagne. Plus, when I decided to splurge for a Cayuse, it was for a Bionic Frog @ $239.95.
  
  So, with THAT backdrop, IF one is "into" Viognier, this just MIGHT be worth it for its distinctiveness. Otherwise...

• wino121 commented:

  9/30/19, 6:47 PM - I was thinking about buying a 12 cailoux...
  Appx $75
  I drink a lot of WW Syrah, but have not tried the Cayuse yet, so...

• srh commented:

  9/30/19, 9:56 PM - I follow your strategy on that ;) , & it DOES look (even with the ancillary charges) to be a GOOD price for that vintage/bottling. [I've a TN for the '16.]
  
  Also, assuming your "WW" to be Walla Walla, the Cayuse wines ALL come from "The Rocks" sub AVA, which is actually in/around Milton Freewater, OR, & "Rocks" wines tend to have their OWN character, particularly aromatically.
  
  IF you can access it, https://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?Table=Notes&szSearch=Cayuse are all my TNs for the label. https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2451848&searchId=73868D87 is for a Sleight of Hand bottling from that AVA. Then there are different K Vintners/Charles Smith wines from a couple of different Rocks vyds. [Anything of his from Powerline Vyd is quite close -- & has similar cobbles.]
  
  Finally, https://rocksdistrict.com/news/international-wine-review-rocks-district-report has a button for downloading their EXQUISITELY *detailed* article on this relatively recent AVA.

• wino121 commented:

  10/1/19, 7:11 AM - Thank you sir!

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