• By Stephen Tanzer
  November/December 2008, IWC Issue #141, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Waters Winery Syrah Columbia Valley) Login and sign up and see review text.

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  1/12/2009, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (WATERS Syrah) Waters #2 Dear Friends, When we sent the Waters Winery offer last fall it caused a serious ripple. The winery received a crazy number of order requests from consumers and retailers around the US and they became underground stars with a mission (the original offer is below to refresh your memory). For those of you shut out the first time, we have a small second offer but it is extremely limited. This winery is performing at a very high level and they are attempting to do something not only unique but quasi-revolutionary in a domestic market severely in need of quercus recalibration. If they can extract this amount of medium-weight varietal tone and terroir (without slathered new oak) then what about everyone else? A new wine for us (it was not available the first time we offered the 2006's), the 2006 Syrah has really turned out beautifully and it's getting better the longer it sits in bottle. It has rightfully been called "smokey, bloody, and laden with bacon notes" by an esteemed colleague (who shall remain nameless to protect his reputation as an astute Francophile and anti-domestic palate - the wine was served to him blind and he still hasn't forgiven me). For the investment, this has to represent one of Washington's finest cool-toned renditions of the grape. We also have a second parcel of the Forgotten Hills Syrah - the most requested wine the first time we offered the portfolio. Both are VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: 2006 Waters Winery Syrah (Minnick Vineyard) 2006 Waters Winery Syrah "Forgotten Hills" Walla Walla Valley EXTREMELY LIMITED Thank you, - Jon Rimmerman *************************** (Original offer from last fall): Waters Dear Friends, This winery is pushing the envelope and they are doing it with a yin-yang of subtlety, power and varietal freshness. As one of the most exciting new entrants in the Northwest, Waters refuses to slather anything with 100% new oak (or new oak of any kind) and their calling card lies within the walls of the Northern Rhone. The Central Coast may get all the domestic Syrah press but this entity is going to get noticed and it's going to come in a big way - think Cornas or the southern tier of St. Joseph meets the New World and it won't take long to realize they are on to something special. The past vintages were a step in the right direction (you can read Tanzer's comments on the 2005's or the WA) but this set is going no make them stars. If nothing else, it's not everyday that Gary Figgins (Leonetti) gives his fruit away - very telling indeed... All of these are EXTREMELY LIMITED and worth the difficult effort to obtain (at this point, they are not distributed outside of Washington State) Please be patient with final allocations - our allocations are so small on all three that I'm not going to say a lot in the descriptions: 2006 Waters "Loess Vineyard - Leonetti Estate" Syrah - SOLD OUT No new oak and incredible fruit from Leonetti - quickly becoming a NW cult wine.... 2006 Waters "Pepper Bridge Vineyard" Syrah - SOLD OUT No new oak again and more of a northern CdP in style - If Janasse were made from Syrah (instead of Grenache) and you mixed it with tannic, glorious levels of the very best that Pepper Bridge can dole out, it is this wine... 2006 Waters "Forgotten Hills Vineyard" Syrah - SOLD OUT Simply fabulous - Cornas dipped in full-bore domestic Syrah with no new oak. This is going to turn heads, especially from rival winemakers... WA7500 WA7400