2013 Dunham Cellars Syrah

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: Hot Times in the Desert (Nov 2016), 11/1/2016, (See more on Vinous...)

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Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Dunham, 6/26/2017

  (Dunham Cellars Syrah) Hello friends. We have excellent pricing today (possibly best-in-country) on an old list-favorite Syrah that has already garnered plenty of accolades: The last time we were able to offer a Dunham Syrah at a TPU tag starting with a ‘2’ was the 2008 vintage, more than five years ago. A few items of note on the 2013. First off, this is a Dan Wampfler wine. We just wrote about Dan in his new gig as the winemaker at Abeja, but back in 2013 when this was harvested, all the way through September 2015 when it was bottled, Dan was the lead winemaker at Dunham. He has always had a truly skillful hand with Syrah, and this bottling is a fine example. Second, this 2013 shows the growing influence of the Mill Creek drainage of the Walla Walla Valley. Along with Lewis Vineyard, which is a mainstay in the Dunham Syrah program, the main contributor to the 2013 is the second commercial vintage from Kenny Hill Vineyard, which sits at 1450’ elevation as the Mill Creek drainage rises out of the valley. Kenny Hart, who manages this vineyard (and Lewis too, in addition to his work with Tulpen Cellars) has been singing the praises of Mill Creek to me for years, and I’m beginning to understand why. This area seems to produce wines with noteworthy live-wire intensity. This was raised in a two-thirds/one-third mix of French and American oak for just shy of two years, and it clocks in at 13.9% listed alc. It begins with a nose of blackberry fruit, smoky high-cacao chocolate, and a Dr. Pepper spice note I always associate with Lewis Vineyard. Complexities of smoked meat emerged with time and air. Kenny Hill asserts itself more on the palate, offering that terrific Mill Creek energy, a fine counterbalance to the rich, delicious Syrah fruit. This has now been in bottle for about two years, and the benefits of that extra little bit of bottle age are readily apparent, with any initial rough edges sanded down by the power of time. The finish is long and supple, savory and openly delicious. It’s a lot of wine for today’s price. This snagged the #27 spot on Andy Perdue’s 2016 Top 50 list for the Seattle Times, and that’s not the only positive review. International Wine Report (Owen Bargreen): “($35); This excellent Syrah is sourced primarily from the Lewis Vineyard and the Kenny Hill vineyards. It begins with aromatics of black cherry, black olive, smoked brisket and sagebrush. This leads to flavors of red cherry, black raspberry, coffee grounds and sagebrush. This has a wonderful mineral streak that cuts through the richness. (Best 2016-2025). 93pts.”