You are here: Home / Archives for Spotlights / Washington Syrah

Spotlight on Washington Syrah: Cayuse “Cailloux Vineyard” Syrah 2006

October 13, 2010 By Shea 2 Comments

Perhaps it is best to trust a Frenchman with 500 years of winemaking experience in his family to make Washington’s best Syrah. Christophe Baron is not just the leading winemaker of Syrah in Washington, if not the entire U.S., he is also the reason Syrah is a big deal in Washington. When he started, Syrah in the state saw but spotted plantings and nothing inspired.

Chateauneuf Terroir in Washington State

His initial forays into Washington led him to a riverbed that most had ignored, but was filled with Chateauneuf du Papes style galet stones, with silty loam, sand and cobblestone on the surface and then 200 feet of stone underneath. Baron was meticulous in his practices, digging up and hand planting the vineyard that is now known as Cailloux, in the heart of Walla Walla. While Baron now has 3 other vineyards, Cailloux remains the heart of Cayuse and the original site of Baron’s fully biodynamic winery.

Baron experiments with both French and Spanish varieties, but it is his Syrah that is the heart of Cayuse and the most important wine he makes. This stuff is truly terroir driven, and plays out Baron’s obsession with earth, soil and site.

Obsession with Purity

Baron does some outstanding things at Cayuse like planting vines on their own rootstock, despite the risk of phylloxera, along with high density plantings, green harvesting and the use of native yeasts in the winemaking process (interestingly, see Jamie Goode’s article on the importance of yeasts for terroir in the latest World of Fine Wine magazine).

One of the World’s Great Syrahs

The wine itself is aromatically suave and presents some vegetal aromas along with roots, hoisin, meat and mineral. The palate is truly exceptional and extremely balanced and long. Again come vegetal elements, minerals, and soft black fruits without any bitterness. There is nothing out of place in this wine and nothing difficult to understand, even though it is complex and profound. In fact, the wine is truly exceptional and deserving of a place amongst the world’s greatest Syrahs.

The 3000 case production sells out annually at Cayuse, but you can find his wines in Vancouver yearly at Everything Wine and at select restaurants.

Excellent+
$122 at Everything Wine

P.S. There will be about a week of haitus on this blog while I attend a friend’s wedding, then on to Languedoc-Roussillon.

Filed Under: $60+, Excellent, Syrah, Washington Syrah, Washington Wine

Spotlight on Washington Syrah: K Syrah “The Deal” Sundance Vineyard Syrah 2006

October 12, 2010 By Shea 2 Comments

This post is meant as a quick note of juxtaposition to the last wine in the spotlight. Though made by the same producer as the Skull Syrah, the K Syrah “The Deal” is a far more palatable wine.

The wine is made in a big upfront style and is very rich. However, there is enough going on here – such as olives, brine, and game – that make this far more varietally correct (and far better balanced) than the Skull syrah.

Some might argue that the fruit is still too ripe, and I would agree that no one with a particular love of Northern Rhone Syrah should look to this wine. That said, this is not one-dimensional nor does the alcohol become as astringent as it does in the Skull, despite a similar alcohol percentage of 15.5%. It is not, however, balanced compared to the great syrahs of the Rhone or Languedoc, nor is it particularly worth the price.

Is this the future of Washington Syrah? I see no problem with this sort of wine occupying a niche so long as it does not dominate the other wonderful and much more regionally expressive Syrahs also being made in the state such as the Waters and the Betz.

So ends this brief note. I have one more significant post coming in this series before I move into the exciting wines of Languedoc-Roussillon.

Very Good
~$60 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars

Filed Under: $60+, Syrah, Very Good, Washington Syrah, Washington Wine

Spotlight on Washington Syrah: Waters “Forgotten Hills” Syrah 2006

October 5, 2010 By Shea Leave a Comment

Walla Walla is now the symbolic centre of the Washington wine industry. Ten years ago, however, it was more famous for housing some of Washington’s top wineries than it was for actually supplying grapes for the state’s best wines. These days, however, plantings in the Walla Walla Valley have significantly expanded. Waters is one of the new breed of wineries that is taking advantage of some of the great sites and soils in the area.

A Slow Ripening Vineyard

Waters planted a vineyard near to the famous Cayuse vineyard in the south of Walla Walla at the eastern edge of the Walla Walla Valley appellation near the foothills of the Blue Mountains. The soils are composed of three different types: basalt cobblestones, deep silt loam and sandy loam. The cobbles provide excellent drainage and radiate heat that prolongs ripening during cool evenings. The silt loam allows vines to send roots deep into the soil and tap into native water supplies which reduces the need for irrigation. The sandy loam also offers excellent drainage and reduces pest pressures. This slow-ripening vineyard, sitting at 1000 feet above sea level, is also one of the last to be picked in the region.

French Style Syrah

Waters is making syrah unlike many producers in Washington, working along the lines of Cayuse much more than the dense and heavily extracted syrahs gaining praise with critics. Waters are purists, looking to the old world for inspiration. I think this translates extremely effectively in their wines, which focus on aromatics and freshness.

This wine had lovely brightly toned fruit with menthol, chocolate, brine and smoke. The palate is higher acid than most WA syrahs with lots of olive, brine, herbs and spice along with classic blackberry and raspberry fruit. The structure and length were extremely effective, but the high tones of the fruit draw the wine a bit out of balance right now. This will mellow and integrate with either bottle age or the right food pairing.

Without doubt, Waters is a syrah producer to watch in Washington.

Very Good+ (Excellent with age)
$40 at Esquin in Seattle

Filed Under: $40-$60, French Wine, Syrah, Very Good, Washington Syrah

Spotlight on Washington Syrah: Doyenne Grand Ciel Syrah 2005

October 3, 2010 By Shea Leave a Comment

It is always an important exercise to compare different approaches to making wine from the same sites. These sorts of examinations can tell us much about the developing terroir of a younger region. The Doyenne Syrah is, like the last wine in this profile, made from grapes grown in the Red Mountain AVA. But it is of a completely different expression of the grape.

A French Lover in Washington

Doyenne is the Rhone style project of the famed Washington producer DeLille Cellars, which focuses on Bordeaux influenced wines.  Winemaker and co-founder Chris Upchurch, however, has always had a great love of the Rhone Valley and has spent much time visiting wineries in France. Thus, like Bob Betz, Upchurch has a good comparative base for wine styles and wine quality.

Unlike Betz, however, Doyenne only started making Syrah recently and so Upchurch has a little less experience with the grape. Doyenne also makes this particular, “super-premium” syrah from a newly planted vineyard on Red Mountain.

Great Horses in the Sky

The Grand Ciel vineyard is planted adjacent to the famous Ciel du Cheval vineyard that has made many wineries famous, such as Quilceda Creek and Andrew Will. The owner of Ciel du Cheval planted Grand Ciel at the behest of Mr. Upchurch for special bottlings at both DeLille and Doyenne. The vines were only planted in 2001, and so are still quite young. However, Upchurch built the vineyard based on extensive clonal research which so far seems to have shown quite a bit of promise. That said, I’m not sure that this wine is distinctive enough yet for me to say the Grand Ciel vineyard has its own distinctive terroir. The vines are likely too youthful to make any real conclusions about terroir yet.

Objectively, Grand Ciel should share many characteristics with Ciel du Cheval, which has sandy loam on top of calcareous chunks and more loam on top of an ancient riverbed and an aquifer deep below the surface, forcing the vines to search for water. Flavour wise, I cannot quite get the same distinctiveness, yet. But again that will likely change.

An Over-Made Up Wine

Co-fermented with Viognier, I expected this wine to approximate a Cote Rotie much more than it did. Instead, it is made in a high octane style with a luxurious no-expense-spared approach.

The nose is quite sweet up front with cherry, strawberry and heavy oak aromas. This is extremely rich and big on the palate and is missing the balance of the Betz bottling, with oak and alcohol dominating far more than they should. I think the oak will integrate somewhat with bottle age as this was better balanced on the second day – but, overall, I felt the wine was too made up for its own good. The fruit was overly jammy and the wine lacked the finesse, balance and complexity it should carry for this price. 14.9% ABV.

In conclusion, Betz’ La Cote Rousse Syrah is a far more transparent and balanced version of Red Mountain Syrah. This wine also goes to show that even the best raw materials can lose their soul when overly made-up.

Very Good
$80 USD in California

Filed Under: $60+, Syrah, Very Good, Washington Syrah, Washington Wine

Spotlight on Washington Syrah: Betz Family Winery “La Cote Rousse” 2004 Syrah

September 28, 2010 By Shea 2 Comments

Washington was once considered a state with great promise and on the doorstep of the world’s great wine regions. Recently, however, popular recognition and consumption of Washington wines has dwindled, with many of the state’s best wineries seeing significantly decreased sales despite increased quality.

Wherefore Art Thou, Syrah?

Washington established its reputation mostly with Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends, the best of which combine lush fruit with brighter and fresher acidity than what you usually find in California. This made sense a decade ago when Cab vines were the oldest vinifera vines in the state, and accordingly the only ones ready to produce wines of quality.

For the past decade or so, however, Syrah plantings have both been on the rise, and the vines that were in place several years ago have now started to reach the beginnings of their maturity. Somehow, however, Washington Syrah continues to be but a speck in the average consumer’s ever decreasing consciousness of Washington wines. This is a decided shame given that I think the state has the potential to produce perhaps the best Syrah outside of France (though New Zealand is still in the running).

For us consumers here in British Columbia, with Seattle a mere two hour drive away, we have greater opportunity than most to taste what is going on in our neighbour state. In this spirit, this spotlight will focus on how far Syrah has come in Washington in the last several years and how the best winemakers are able to get great site-specific expressivity out of the grape in the state’s various AVAs. What I’ve discovered is tremendously promising.

Desert Terroir

Washington’s AVAs are quite new and thus many of them have yet to narrow down into sub-regions, despite the fact that dramatically different terroirs exist within single AVAs. The worst culprit is the Columbia Valley AVA, which pretty much includes every other AVA of note and stretches hundreds of kilometers from central to southern Washington.

Today’s wine found itself into the bottle via grapes grown in the famed Red Mountain AVA, which holds the brunt of the state’s fame and includes famous vineyards like Klipsun and Ciel du Cheval. Red Mountain sits within the Yakima Valley AVA, which is within the Columbia Valley AVA.

Like most of central Washington, Red Mountain sees very little rainfall, which helps the grapes resist disease and rot – not to mention phylloxera (most vines in Washington are own-rooted). With soils derived from ancient glacial floods, the AVA includes a mix of granite boulders layered with rock, clay and mineral. The high winds increase the thickness of the grapes’ skins and the lack of rain helps reduce their weight. In fact, the average grape in Washington is almost half as heavy as one from California.

It is this unique combination of desert conditions, soil and site that make Red Mountain wines so plushly concentrated and yet fresh and balanced.

An Artfully Analytic Approach to Wine

Bob Betz is one of the ‘fathers’ of the Washington Wine world, having started his career in 1976 at Chateau St. Michelle – WA’s biggest producer. He now holds a Masters of Wine (MW) and runs his own estate, holding contracts with the state’s best growers.

A wine maker with a MW designation is a rare thing, and highlights the importance of broad analytical tasting to making great wine. Without the proper analytic tools and comparative methods, it is far too easy to develop a ‘cellar-palate’ and ride off of tasting room visitors and a myopic local press. Much like BC today, Washington wines were once held victim to this parochial ideology. It was men like Bob Betz who helped to change the scene and push the state towards internationally respectable quality, and recognition.

Betz’ dedication to a meticulous and analytic approach to wine is reflected in his wine making practices. He is obsessed with detail and cleanliness – even writing tasting notes on each of his wine barrels. On the other hand, his favourite part of wine making is blending, which for Betz is the most artful step in the process.

Brooding Syrah

This is masculine wine, much like Hermitage. Wafts of smoke, bacon fat, blackberry mark the exceptionally expressive nose. This leads into tremendous density and astute ripeness – pepper, baking spices, bacon, blackberry and raspberry have no trouble delineating themselves as independently unified on the palate.

A wine of exceptional finish and balance, this is a complete experience with all elements in place. The tannins are ripe, though firm enough for aging; however, the wine’s touch of sweetness makes this drink very well young.

An excellent example of brooding Red Mountain fruit and quite an exciting bottle of wine overall. 14.8% ABV.

Excellent
$78 at Taphouse Liquor Store or Everything Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Excellent, Syrah, Washington Syrah, Washington Wine