With the NCAA tourney just ended, I now present the results of our 2nd annual March Madness wine tasting where the host determines what wine-related madness we all will venture into while watching college hoops.  Last year was the inaugural Bordeaux Madness, in which 9 wines from the Bordeaux region of France were pitted against each other in true bracketology form.  The 2005 Ch. Du Glana held it’s own and made it to the finals only to fall to the powerhouse 1985 Ch. Palmer.  Would we have another Cinderella v. Stalwart situation this year, more in line with the actual Butler v. Duke finale?  This year, the focus was Syrah.  The links on each wine below will take you to the community tasting notes on CellarTracker/GrapeStories if there are any.

2003 Clarendon Hills Shiraz Baker’s Gully – This wine showed some age, clear around the edges when viewed at an angle in the glass.  Witnessed stewed/candied fruits and a mineral finish.  When tried again a little later, portrayed some smoky notes, but had a disappointing short finish.

2008 Trader Joe’s Shiraz- The joke of the evening, the 16-seed, if you will.  But, really the test of the evening, to see how it would fare in the competition and see if our taste buds were sharp.  There is a great inside story with our tasting group this night, where a friend at a blind tasting last year swore up and down how Trader Joe’s just blew only to realize the wine of the night he picked was indeed a Trader Joe’s wine.  Talk about egg on face.  Anyway, this wine had a light-medium hue, which was a concern since Syrah is a grape that contains higher levels of pigment, so these types of wines are generally much darker and even inkier at times.  The nose displayed perfume and flowers, had a decent mouthfeel and was a little minerally at the end.  Everyone at the table pegged this one tonight as the dud that went home early.

2003 M. Chapoutier St. Joseph Les Granits- Got a little old world, horsey funk on the nose with green pepper and herbaceousness.  There was mineral on the palate and a nice spicy finish.  A second round a little later showed that the funk had reduced showing more fruit on the nose.  This one had much bigger tannins resulting in more texture and pucker factor.

2003 E. Guigal Hermitage – The hue gave away its age, with red-orange brick colors.  Fruits were stewed on the nose and it was very chewy showing rich tannins and astringency.  A second review an hour later gave way to more fruit and pepper.

2007 D’Arenberg Shiraz The Footbolt- Beautiful deep, dark color.  Very obvious green peppers and veggies on the nose.  Awesome mouthfeel and spice on the palate.  This is smooth, rich and balanced.

2002 Montemaggiore Syrah Paulo’s Vineyard- This was a wine my wife and I had just brought back from our Sonoma vacation trip and were very excited that everyone liked it so much.  It was inky with candied black fruits and pepper on the nose.  The palate presented deep blackberries and raspberries and had the longest finish of the nite.  Just tremendous. 

The top two wines were the D’Arenberg and the Montemaggiore with the Montemaggiore taking the crown.  It has aged well and might still do well for another couple of years.  Montemaggiore means “Major Mountain” in Italian and is a biodynamically farmed vineyard.  They only produce about 1500 cases a year and the wife is the winemaker while the husband, Vince, does the rest.  Their vineyard site is well-suited to the Rhone varieties due to the fact it is 7 degrees cooler than the surrounding areas in Dry Creek Valley due to its elevation.  I will be writing a post specifically about our visit to the winery soon, so keep an eye out for that.

Please share with us more of your experiences with Syrah/Shiraz!

Cheers!

(C) chrisada

Syrah is a classic grape that is very popular in both the old and new worlds.  Hermitage and the Cote Rotie, located in the Northern Rhone valley in France, are probably the most well-known Syrah-producing areas  in the world and produce wines that are the best representation of this powerful variety.  A classic Rhone Syrah will also have about 10% Viognier co-fermented with it.  The Syrah vine is very productive, performs well in even the poorest soils and favors warm climates , but has been known to struggle with poor fruit set.  It tends to bud later than other varieties but will not ripen too late in the season.  The grape color is very dark due to the high level of pigments (anthocyanins) in the skins, which aids its ability to age along with oak maturation.  In Chateuneuf-du-Pape, Syrah is sometimes added to the Grenache to improve its ability to age.

Syrah/Shiraz as all about herbs and spice but can often be very fruit-forward and display dark fruit attributes like blackberries, mulberries and loganberries.  Young Syrah will be particularly astringent, peppery or even have notes of burnt rubber.  Some unique aromas you may also perceive with Syrah include black olives, game, lavender, musk and rosemary.

Syrah is becoming increasingly popular and successful in northern California as well as Washington.  However, Australia has practically made its name on Syrah, known as Shiraz (Shur-razz) down under, where it is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to make a big and bold style of wine.  Australian Shiraz tends to be riper, jammy and displays more chocolate and less spice notes.

Some recent Syrahs I have enjoyed:

2006 Bridgman Syrah – Washington– This was a little green and vegetative, maybe even some asparagus from some of the tasters.  Definitely strong with some black fruit, black pepper and a longgg finish.

2007 The Winner’s Tank Shiraz - Nose is pleasant and not hot like many Shiraz’ I’ve had recently. Very fruit forward with distinct blackberries. The spice shows up on the finish.  This went well with chili that ended every bite with a spicy crescendo.

More to come from the Syrah Madness event we attended just this past weekend, where Syrah from several regions went head-to-head.  In the meantime, what do you think of Syrah and have you had one you really enjoyed lately?

Cheers!

Ok, that title was way too easy and quite cheesy, but I couldn’t help myself.  I really love Syrah, recently focusing on the Northern Rhone style, to the point I’ve attempted to make my own using Crushpad‘s winery services.  I won’t know for a while if I even came close until it gets bottled after 14 months of barrel aging.  In the meantime, let’s try a flight of some Syrah from 3 very different regions of the world: Australia, France and Argentina.

2006 Terlato & Chapoutier Shiraz-Viognier Victoria, Australia      $25
Don’t be fooled by the “Viognier” part of the label.  As a matter of fact the wine bar didn’t even list it on their menu, it only stated Shiraz.  Turns out there is only 5% of Viognier added and I’m not quite sure what characteristics it has added.  If anyone knows, please comment.  Additionally, this was a partnership between Terlato and Chapoutier, who produced the next wine in the flight below.

Color: Dark ruby
Nose: Vegetal at first, some licorice and violet, coffee. The coffee was faint at first but then became more pronounced 15 min later
Taste: Mineral,  vegetal, some cassis and med tannins

2005 M. Chapoutier “Belleruche” Cotes du Rhone           $17
Color: Lighter ruby/burgundy, lightest of the flight
Nose: Light nose, couldn’t get a lot out of it, maybe some red berries, overall very tight
Taste: Blackberries, more tannin, spice, long finish

I really loved the taste and flavors in this wine and what I expected in a Rhone Syrah, but was disappointed in the overall experience because the nose was so shy.  Overall, the smoothest, fruitiest and spiciest of the three.