March 17, 2024 - Heater week; 3/8/2024-3/17/2024 (Chicago, IL): A further improvement on the 2004 and 2006 -- this has more expressive aromatics on the nose, with the lifted and lighter profile that I seem to be gravitating towards for these wines. Distinctly perfumed.
October 22, 2022 - Deep red color. Aromas of blackberries, bacon fat and smoke. Ripe, full-bodied fruit in the mouth with excellent depth and length. Thick and complex on the palate. At peak.
August 20, 2022 - Siggy's Annual BBQ (Chez Siggy & Jenny's Place, Mpls, MN): Small glass. Love the aromatics on this, floral, bacon fat, earth, dark fruit, and scorched earth.
August 20, 2022 - Brought to a large gathering, no formal note taken.
30 minute decant at home, then when we arrived slow-o'd for another 90-120 minutes before I got around to this. Black olives, pepper, blackberry, cured meats all nicely integrated and balanced.
No funk, just a lovely Syrah.
July 15, 2022 - Shortly after popping the cork, it is easy to discern complex aromas of black olives, campfire smoke, raspberries, violets and gunpowder, all of which gain in intensity with air exposure. On the palate, the wine is exceptionally refined with a medium to full body, copious black fruits, plums, earth and briny minerals. Very long on the finish, with filigree mouth-coating tannins saturating every square millimeter of the palate. The decade+ of cellaring has been transformed this from a funky, boisterous and somewhat awkward youngster to a fantastic, world-class Syrah at the beginning of its apogee! 14.6% ABV. 95.
June 17, 2022 - Fruit is fading and going secondary , still a bit of plum and currant. Deep and earthy on the finish.
March 2, 2022 - WIML94
Tasted non blind.
Dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of barnyard, roasted meats, plums and currants. Flavors of currants, dried plums and lingonberries. Medium acidity, medium tannin, full bodied. Drink now.
December 7, 2021 - Last noted 2015; last bottle of this in the cellar.
Color/App: medium deep ruby core -> medium-deep ruby/garnet rim.
Bouquet on PnP was very Cote-Rotie to my mind: black pepper, herbs de Provence, leather, wet animal fur playing with mostly black fruits --yeah, that's a yum in my book any day. Additional medicinal notes, iodine, minerality and a touch of brininess coming through in the mouth along with all those wonderful olfactory elements. I'd agree with others here that this wine didn't show off the Cayuse funk as much as expected and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing -- maybe a wine to throw into a Northern Rhone tasting as a ringer, though it might show it's hand by being sweeter than old world Syrahs. Palate showed as mature with the tannins fine and faded, well-balanced and medium-bodied (as most of Christophe's wines seem to be) with a nice, long finish. Better than last time and that was already pretty damn good! 94-95.
May 6, 2021 - Two and a half hour decant. Modest funk on the nose but unmistakably a Christophe wine. Beautifully elegant, the viognier smooths this amazing syrah wonderfully. Dark fruits, slightest tapenade notes.
March 9, 2021 - saddle leather for sure. not my fav but interesting