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.

Yes, I am writing about yet another Pinot noir.  What can we say?  We love it and you should really drink and enjoy what you love.  But don’t worry, we recently added some Italian and French wines to the cellar, so I hope to get to those soon.  In the meantime, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Terra Grille, which has a pretty decent wine list.  The last time we were there we attempted to try the 2006 Van Duzer Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, but ended up with a corked bottle and wouldn’t you know, it was the last one in the restaurant that night.  Well, we tried again and the waiter assured us he had many more bottles in the back this time if we were unlucky once again.  I’ve heard experts state anywhere from 1% – 8% of all wine ends up corked, or exposed to air making it undesirable to smell and drink.

We had much better success this time and were immediately rewarded for our patience.  This wine will set you back around $30 at the wine shop, which still supports our experience that you cannot drink a great Pinot for less than that $30 barrier.  But, we keep looking.  On one website, I noticed that the 2005 vintage was listed at $24.  At any rate, if you’re in the mood to treat yourself, this would be a good choice.  Besides, it has a cool label:

Color: Dark, ruby-red, darker then your “normal” Pinot noir.

Nose: Cinnamon or all-spice like you were putting your face into a bag of some Christmas potpourri and maybe some dough like you were sniffing a cinnamon roll (though my wife disagrees on this one)

Taste: Tart black cherries, apple-cider/cinnamon spice flavor finished up nicely with some soft tannic clove

My wife and I took our time to enjoy this wine from appetizer through dessert and it opened up and became more well-rounded about an hour into the meal and then leveled off.  But I really, really enjoyed how the Van Duzer paired with the Bread Pudding dessert I had with cherries and white chocolate.  Hope you like it!