(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!

To celebrate the Winter Olympics that just concluded, we decided to entertain an evening of Gruner Vetliner, the most commonly planted grape of Austria.  If you follow the Olympics you probably know that Austria generally performs well in the Winter Games surely due to their proximity to the wintry mountainous range referred to as the Alps providing training practically year-round.  This year, Austria came in 5th in the overall medal standings behind U.S., Germany, Canada, and Norway.  Not too shabby, I guess.

Not too shabby is also what I would call the wines we tasted as part of this event.  Please note that we received these wines as free samples thanks to Constance (@VinoCC).  Gruner Vetliner, or GruVe (Groo-Vee), is typically made as a dry wine, fairly full-bodied and with spicy notes.  Grooner pairs well with vegetable dishes as well as salads, which I guess is mostly made up of veggies so that was a bit repetitive.  The lineup that we enjoyed are a good way to get your feet wet in this variety and add another notch in your belt.  To enhance the evening, more GruV was brought to the party from our friend Matt Mauldin of Wine and I who also works in the industry.  We had a good balance of foodies and winos including my wife, SuburbanWino, EatItAtlanta, and SavoryExposure. 

The Olympians were as follows (all 2008 vintages): Weingut Wieninger, Weingut Stadt Krems Kremstal, Lois, and Austrian Pepper.  All displayed the perfume, citrus and peppery notes as expected though in varying degrees.  The Lois did not have as much oomph to it when compared to the others, and was a bit bitter on the finish.  The Wieninger was my favorite followed closely by the Stadt Krems.  Enjoying a single variety by devoting a single evening to the style over several wines rather than just a single glass or bottle really helps with understanding the nuances of the grape and allows you to more easily put those sensory evaluations into memory for future tastings so you can readily identify the variety next time.

The three GruVe’s from Wolfgang(Thanks Matt!!) were a nice addition to the party.  They included the self-titled Wolfgang, which consists of early-picked grapes and no malolaction fermentation (MLF) helping keep acidity and crispness high and is best enjoyed fairly young; the Concerto, which is made up of fully ripened fruit, aged shortly on lees and completes MLF to give it more rich flavors and feel; and the Vienna, picked from a single vineyard, aged on lees in barrel and subsequent MLF to give it the fullest body of any wine of the evening.

Some very good GruVe are age-able and are said to rival some great Burgundies, but I don’t think we had any of those on our table tonite.  I enjoyed the complex components of citrus, perfume and spice as well as the unexpected texture from some of these wines.  I might try some more Gruners as Spring and Summer approaches to go with some grilled veggies and see how that turns out.

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.

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!