1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Cornas Domaine de Saint Pierre

Type Red
Producer Paul Jaboulet Aîné
Variety Syrah
Designation Domaine de Saint Pierre
Country France
Region Rhône
SubRegion Northern Rhône
Appellation Cornas



The Little Wooden Guy finds this wine is just tired, beyond its prime.

Night One

The color is interesting. It is a little translucent and deep dark red. The nose is very deep and a little raisiny, with dark fruit, marjoram, green olives and bacon fat. There is less fruit on the palate than the nose. The fruits are black, blackberries and plums, but they are subdued. Floral flavors, violets and lavender, join the fruit. Green olives and bacon fat appear on the mid-palate. The finish falls flat.

Night Two

Some florals remained, but almost no fruit. Very little mid-palate remained. This was clearly wine past its prime.





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2007 Undurraga Syrah T.H.

Type: Red
Producer: Undurraga
Variety: Syrah
Designation: T.H.
Country: Chile
Region: Coquimbo
SubRegion: Limarí Valley
Price: $24
Disclosure- This was received as a free bottle sample.



Night One

The nose was very fruity, with a veritable fruit cocktail of blueberry, mulberry, black cherry, and a bit of strawberry. Surprisingly, there was far less fruit on the palate. It was darker, more brooding, with lots of black pepper and some grenache-like dried orange peel. Unsweetened chocolate showed up on the mid-palate.

Night Two

If the nose on Night One was a fruit cocktail, on Night Two it is mixed-fruit jam, with sweet jammy mulberry and plums, along with cedar and vanilla. On the palate, there was elderberry and some slightly artificial Grape Nehi flavoring. It brightened up slightly on the mid-palate shut showed too much wood, melting into brown sugar and vanilla. Tannins were mild, the finish short.

Conclusion

This is a pretty good pop-n-pour, offering interesting fruit and some pleasant secondary flavors. At $24 I think it is stretching the upper end of the reasonable price range for what it has to offer, but it is not, quite, over-priced.






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2006 Bradford Mountain Syrah Grist Vineyard

Type Red
Producer Bradford Mountain
Variety Syrah
Vineyard Grist Vineyard
Cases produced 525
French oak, 50% new
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Sonoma County
Appellation Dry Creek Valley
Disclosure This was received as an unsolicited free sample.





The Wooden Guys "high-five" a really good bottle of wine. This was the sixth out of six of two verticals, and there is no question Bradford Mountain is stepping up its game.

Night One

On Night One this was tasted as part of a multi-bottle vertical tasting.

This wine, just like the '06 Grist Valley Zinfandel, comes in a much heavier bottle than the '04 and '05, an obvious play toward "premiere" recognition.

"A fruit explosion!" Those were the first words out of the mouth of one guest as she got her first whiff of this Syrah. And she was right. It was all blueberry and black cherry.

The palate had blueberry, black cherry, and some dry cranberry in the background. Mace showed up on the mid-palate. Half-way through the mid-palate, quite suddenly there and almost as suddenly gone, but for a lingering echo of the taste, was what can only be described as a "butter hammer." Pure sweet fresh butter, too, not any imitation spread.

Night Two

It remains a big sweet "fruit explosion," blueberries and black cherries, plus some brown sugar.

There is very little left from Night One - it was pretty popular among people who "needed another taste" to get their brains wrapped around the wine. That, or they just wanted some more. The tiny taste that was left, though, promises a darned good wine. The fruit is still there, but it is joined by a double blast of coffee and dark chocolate.

Of the six wines tasted in one night, '04, '05, and '06 Grist Valley Zinfandel, and the '04, '05, and '06 Syrah, this is by far the most complex and interesting. It was also the most popular amongst the group. This is good wine. I wish I had more to give a solid Night Two review, for the few drops that were left showed much more than any of the other wines on any Night.





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2005 Bradford Mountain Syrah Grist Vineyard

Type Red
Producer Bradford Mountain
Variety Syrah
Vineyard Grist Vineyard
Cases produced 500
American, French and European oak, 50% new
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Sonoma County
Appellation Dry Creek Valley
Disclosure This was received as an unsolicited free sample.



Night One

On Night One this was tasted as part of a multi-bottle vertical tasting.

Funk. This opened with Rhone Syrah funk. Beneath that funk was red fruit, cranberries mostly.

The palate began with creme de cassis and fennel. The fruit stayed strong throughout. Spice was clear on the mid-palate, allspice and cinnamon.

Night Two

The funk is mostly gone from Night One, though it remains hovering in the background. Blackcurrant and redcurrant, along with a bit of vanilla, make up the nose.

Blackcurrant and black cherry poured over vanilla ice cream make the initial attack. The mid-palate has some spice, and some dryer red fruit like cranberry, but it is all overshadowed by the vanilla. The vanilla takes over the mid-palate and lingers on the finish.

This opened with more promise, some real earthy funk offering something other than a fruit bomb. Hoever, too much oak robs the fruit of its fine flavors.





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2004 Bradford Mountain Syrah Grist Vineyard

Type Red
Producer Bradford Mountain
Variety Syrah
Vineyard Grist Vineyard
Cases produced 700
French and American oak, 30% new
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Sonoma County
Appellation Dry Creek Valley
Disclosure This was received as an unsolicited free sample.



The Big Wooden Guy is impressed - Bradford Mountain clearly has a nice hand with Syrah.

Night One

On Night One this was tasted as part of a multi-bottle vertical tasting.

Blackberry and sage made up the nose of this wine.

On the palate, fresh blackcurrant and creme de cassis, together make up the fruit. The sage from the nose is there, too. Redder fruit, including strawberry, showed up on the mid-palate. The mouth-feel was velvety, the tannins extremely smooth. The finish was mid-length. The first impression everybody had was that this first of three Syrahs was superior to the Grist Valley Zinfandels.

Night Two

The Night Two nose is really interesting. There are several different aromas, but the unique one is the sweet woody smokey smell, not of a fire, but of the smoldering of a woodburning iron. It also has blackberry and creme de cassis.

The palate has blackcurrant, fresh and liquor, some sage, and, as it shifts to the mid-palate, applewood-smoked bacon. Throughout the entire palate, way off in the background, is a undercurrent of toasted wood. Tannins are fine, smooth, and mouth-coating.

This is good, but I suspect it will continue to improve with several more years in the cellar. Right now, the fruit is still jammy and dominating, but there are enough interesting possibilities beneath it that some years allowing it to calm down, might pay off brilliantly.





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2006 Kendric Vineyards Syrah

Vintage 2006
Type Red
Producer Kendric Vineyards
Variety Syrah
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Sierra Foothills
Appellation Shenandoah Valley
Price $19.99
From WineQ



The Wooden Guys do the honors.

Night One

The nose has a bit of mustiness, lots of fruit- raspberries and blackberries, and milk chocolate. It also has just a touch of sage.

This is not a terrific wine on the palate- it seems overworked, even unnatural. Raspberry is the primary fruit, but it is more artificial raspberry licorice than fresh raspberry. That is followed by too much vanilla, and the aftertaste of artificially flavored candy. No, I'm not loving this, but I will stick it out and give it a second chance on Night Two.

A few hours later and it has improved significantly. At this rate, it could be good by tomorrow night. Stick around and find out with me.

Night Two

The mustiness from Night One is gone. The fruit is darker than on Night One. Blackberries and mulberries give a sweet dark aroma, which is sharpened a little with a few raspberries. There is some underling milk chocolate and the same touch of sage noted on Night One.

The palate is different on Night Two. There is a tremendous amount of chocolate to go with jammy dark fruits. Imagine Chocolate covered cherries, but instead of cherries, fill them with mixed blackberry and mulberry fondant and fruit. That hint of sage and some meat shows up on the mid-palate, but only as faint echoes under the fruit and chocolate. The finish is mid-length. Tannins are faint but smooth, acidity is light.

This is drinking well on Night Two, but gives no indication it has huge cellar life in front of it. Based upon the performance on Night One, significant improvement over a few hours, and its performance on Night Two, this might have a year, but could just as easily be served now after a few hours of decanting.





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2001 Deerfield Ranch Syrah Ladi's Vineyard

Type: Red
Producer: Deerfield Ranch
Variety: Syrah
Vineyard: Ladi's Vineyard
Country: USA
Region: California
SubRegion: Sonoma County
Appellation: Sonoma County
Price: $39.99 from WineQ (full disclosure- this was a free sample from WineQ)



The Little Wooden Guy does a happy dance. This is good stuff.

Night One

Terrific funk. The nose opens with terrific funk, rich, dirty, earthy, barnyard funk. The deeper you dive into the glass, the more it rewards with layers of aromas. Black fruit and black pepper lie just under the funk, but that is not all. Deeper, below the fruit, are coffee, very dark chocolate, and tobacco. This is one of those wines you can sit and smell so long you forget to drink it. I won't let that happen. So go on to the next paragraph and drink along with me. Hang on a second, one more whiff.

Blackcurrant and blackberry, sprinkled with black pepper, open the palate. Smoky meat, a tiny drop of real licorice, and a wafting tendril of hickory smoke join the fruit on the mid-palate. Tannins are absolutely silky, mouth-feel is smooth and soft. The finish is long, not just lingering, but adding spice and fruit a full twenty to thirty seconds after the wine is gone.

Wow! Three hours later, and the nose is EXACTLY like oak burned by a very high rpm table saw.

Come back tomorrow for Night Two and the reaction from The Wooden Guys.

Night Two

On Night Two, the nose is far more mild. The funk is gone. The black fruits are far more sedate, spiced with an equally reduced pinch of black pepper.

Blackberry is more dominant that blackcurrant on Night Two, on the palate. Acids are bright and it sparkles with prickly pepper. the mid-palate is far smokier on Night Two, the licorice just barely an echo. The finish is even longer, and once again seems to grow and glow after the sip is gone.

2005 Dutton-Goldfield Syrah Dutton Ranch Cherry Ridge

Type: Red
Producer: Dutton-Goldfield
Variety: Syrah
Designation: Dutton Ranch
Vineyard: Cherry Ridge
Country: USA
Region: California
SubRegion: Sonoma County
Appellation: Russian River Valley
Price: $35.99



The Big Wooden Guy loved this stuff. You might too.

Night One

The nose has ground espresso and cocoa powder, blackberries, and some leather.

The palate comes at you with waves of flavors. Blackberries and coffee, plums, all make up the attack. Fruits sweeten on the mid-palate, adding some blueberry to the blackberry. The espresso changes to unsweetened cocoa. There is interesting minerality the expands from the attack through the finish. Leather shows up at the end of the mid-palate and lingers with black fruit on the finish.

Night Two

The elements of the nose have not changed much from Night One, but the order definitely has. Now blackberries are most prominent, with an added darker current of, well, blackcurrant. Espresso and unsweetened cocoa powder remain, but now they are both behind the blackberries, and the cocoa is more prominent. A little leather remains at the end of the sniff.

One the palate, curiously, the reverse happened. Now, coffee and unsweetened chocolate lead on the attack, while fruit follows. The fruit is deeper, just like on the nose. Now, though, some blackcurrant and sour cherries join the blackberries. This wine also has plenty of minerality, as if you had a few clean river rocks down at the bottom of your glass. Tannins are smooth and add a taste of leather at the end. The finish is long.

This is really good wine. It is not Aussie Shiraz, all jammy fruit. It is also not Northern Rhone Syrah, all earth and olives. This has good fruit, earthy coffee and chocolate, and great terroir minerality.

Sonoma Vineyards Syrah 2007

Type- Red
Producer- Sonoma Vineyards
Variety- Syrah
Country- USA
Region- California
SubRegion- Sonoma County
Appellation- Sonoma County
Alcohol- 13.8%
Price- approx. $20.00



"Ta-Dah!" The Little Wooden Guy thinks he's found a good wine at a great price.

I received this as a free sample from Sonoma Vineyards. This is their first release of Syrah and it will have a suggested retail price of $15. According to the information sent with the wine, the fruit comes from the Russian River Valley and Alexander Valley.

Night One

Color was deep inky purple, going to bright shiny ruby at the edges.

The nose is a pleasure, a meat and jam-filled treat. Bunches of black fruit are softened with some bloody meat, along with cinnamon and black pepper. It is the kind of wine you can just smell for the longest time, forgetting for a while you are supposed to drink the stuff.

Blackberries, barely sweet real ones, not jam, and black pepper are clearly delineated flavors on the initial attack. Sometimes you struggle to discern one taste from the next, or to distinguish different kinds of black fruit. This is not one of those times. No, this is like blackberries dusted with black pepper just popping in your mouth. The mid-palate turned slightly toward red fruit, tart unsweetened cranberries. An hour later some chocolate joined the red fruit. The finish was mid-length. Fine smooth tannins are a little mouth-drying, but not puckering like a young cabernet, offering plenty of structure.

Night Two

After a night under the screw-cap top alcohol seems to have concentrated. The nose was hot for about an hour after re-opening. Once that blew off black fruit led the nose, along with some chocolate.

Plums and some blueberries, plus loads of milk chocolate, open the attack. This seems to have sweetened considerably over night. Some vanilla appeared on the mid-palate, an obvious result of eight months in French and American oak, but it was balanced, not over-powering. The finish fell off rather quickly.

This is a very good QPR (quality to price ratio) wine. It gives some classic Syrah tastes, particularly the black pepper and smooth tannins. For a mere $15 this is a nice bottle.

Cruising the Caribbean and drinking wine

I took the wife and kidlets on a seven day cruise of the Western Caribbean last week. Lots of stops of T-shirts and shells, and endless buffet of mediocre food, great service and food that didn't match for dinner, and a genuinely boring wine list. But wait, I brought some of my own wine. Or at least, I tried. The ship was out of Miami. My mom lives in Miami. I sent her boyfriend a list of wines to buy and his wine ***SUPERSTORE*** did not have a single one out of a dozen or more. Rest assured, the wine guy said, here are some bottles that he'll LOOOOVE, if he liked those. Let's see how that worked out, shall we?

I suggested Chateau Branaire-Ducru 1999. They didn't have it. Their substitute?

Arthurs, Cotes de Castillon 2004

Grand vin de Bordeaux
13% alc

Night One

The nose was green, herbaceous & hot, hiding a tiny little bit of black fruit & blueberries. The overall smell was of unripe wine, stems & leaves. It did not improve on the palate, which was all green, stems & leaves. There was a little black fruit. Very dry leathery tannins overpowered everything else.

Night Two

Blackcurrants & blackberries lead the nose, which has far more fruit and less green on nt 2. It seems hot & makes me wonder about the alcohol level. The palate was less green, showing blackberry and a touch of sage, but it ends with very strong overpowering tannins that dry out the mouth and leave little but leather & plum skins.

I suggested Groom Shiraz 2004. They didn't have it. The substitute?

Thorn Clarke Terra-Barossa Shiraz 2006

This was pretty good stuff.

Night One

The nose was very powerful, but not merely a fruit bomb. It brought coffee & black pepper, and blackberries. The palate brought blackberries & pepper, some coffee, softening on the mid-palate to more mild plums & black cherries. It had a long finish & fine sweet tannins, slightly drying, promising plenty more life in the cellar.

Night Two

The nose was blackberries & black pepper, with some black cherry. The palate was blueberry & black cherry, and sweet tannins. The mid-palate evolved to vanilla, cedar & cream. It was very creamy & soft. Fruity but not a fruit bomb. It had a long tooth-coating finish. Very good.

I went to a wine tasting on board the ship. It was a special tasting set up for frequent cruisers (my mother cruises all the time an gave me her tickets). I was a bit surprised to see just how they low-balled the wine selection for their best customers. It was also very fast, lacking sufficient time to really explore the wines, or to take very good notes.

First up was Caliterras Sauvignon Blanc, '07

The color was very light, an almost clear gold. The nose brought lemon zest, pink grapefruit & ginger. The ginger was not overpowering but was very evident. As soon as I mentioned it everybody at the table nodded their heads, as if it was the smell they were trying to put their fingers on. The initial attack was grapefruit and grass. Th ginger from the nose showed up clearly on the mid-palate. The finish was medium length. The mouth feel was slightly oily, and the overall impression a little fat.

Second up was Stone Cellars Chardonnay, '07

The color was pale straw. The nose was pure caramel apple. The same apples and caramel showed up on attack, along with some lemon zest. The apple-taste changed a bit on the mid-palate, moving from fresh apples to baked apples, vanilla & brown sugar. The vanilla seemed to just get stronger and stronger throughout, the wood eventually taking over. The overall impression was very fat and woody.

Third up was, by far, the most interesting wine in the tasting, Footprint Syrah '07.

I have never smelled such obvious coffee-grounds in a bottle of wine. The coffee was just screamingly obvious, along with some black pepper and blackberry. Very interesting. The coffee was there on the attack, too, along with unsweetened chocolate, burned rubber & blackberries. The tasting was ripping right along, but this is worth a follow-up with some more time to explore.

Stone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon '06

Initially, the nose was interesting, even promising. There was the signature Cabernet blackcurrant, but that was not all. It also brought a surprising amount of mint. In fact, the mint was so clear I could identify it not just as mint, but specifically as wintergreen. There was also, alas, enough vanilla, or should I say VANILLA, to hint of oak to come. On the palate, too, there was promised, ultimately crushed by wood. Eucalyptus joined the blackcurrant and mint, but it all devolved quickly into vanilla and wood. This was a potentially pretty good wine absolutely crushed by efforts to make it mainstream and generic.

Finally, we had a reisling, Leonard Kreusch Reisling spatlese late harvest '07.

The nose was very sweet, offering not just pears, but the juice of canned pears. There were apples, too, along with the key lime from a key lime pie, rather than pure juice. Apples disappeared on the palate, leaving primarily pears plus a little key lime. We got hustled out to clear space for the first dinner seating so I can't say much more.

My overall impression was not overly enthusiastic. The wine list was a little thin. Mark-ups were not bad (about double, when they had a captive audience), but selections were pretty low-end with a few very high end "name" wines, like Opus 1 and Darioush. What it was really missing were the good wines in the middle.