Westwood, Syrah, 2005, Annadel Estate Vineyard, Sonoma Valley

This California Syrah has a deep purple color with slight browning on the edges.  The nose was dominated by burnt rubber, dark cranberry, manure, and cherry cola gummy candy.  I got a lot of ripe and perhaps slightly over-extracted berry fruit flavors on the flavor profile.  It’s juicy, lipsmacking, smooth and the cranberry flavors don't get too tart but still there aren’t many other tertiary flavors going on.  Although deliberately held in bottle till 2009, perhaps this Syrah is already a bit past its prime.  Westwood has a really nice laid back space in downtown Sonoma and Eddie is super knowledgeable and nice.  Somehow this tasted way better in the tasting room.  Oh well, it happens.

Helioterra, Syrah, 2009, Columbia Valley

I tasted a glass of this wine at the lovely Enso Winery tasting room that is located dangerously close to my apartment. Helioterra is one of a handful of new urban wineries that have cropped up in Portland in the last year or so. With Portland’s proximity to excellent growing sites in the Columbia and Willamette Valley, it’s a wonder to me that this has taken so long. This Syrah is dark purple to almost black in color. The nose is dominated by bacon fat, oaky vanilla, burgundy dirty sock, and manure. Something about the flavor of this Syrah reminded me of the warm-mulled wine they serve at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, Oregon. I got heaps of pine resin, pepper, bacon, tar, and sweet cream. This wine brought together a lot of disparate flavors I tend to like in once slightly awkward package. A unique big bold wine for sure but maybe not for every occasion! This Syrah was co-fermented with 5% Viognior and the fruit comes entirely from the Coyote Canyon Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. I really look forward to tasting more from Helioterra.

Cowhorn, Syrah 74, 2008, Applegate Valley

First of all it is a real treat to go for a tasting at Cowhorn. Nestled off a windy road outside of Jacksonville, the team of Barbara and Bill Steele take their wine-making very seriously. They do a great job of honoring the Rhone-style winemaking tradition as well as working with the wonderful terrior of the Applegate Valley (They are the only certified organic and biodynamic estate in southern Oregon). It was awesome to go through the current offerings with them and they had some great recommendations for other wineries to visit in the area.

This Syrah has quite a pretty nose dominated by cherries and grape candy with a touch of mesquite smoke. Mistakenly, I sensed a bit of Viognior on the nose. Barbara stated that they were indeed going for that northern Rhone-style but that they Syrah had a powerful enough nose on its own. The flavor profile is certainly dominated by the purity of the fruit with a touch of nice soft acids on the end. Still it’s all about sweet strawberry and fig with a long drawn out finish. Fruit forward and fruit medium and fruit finish! Good stuff for sure. If anything its only shortfall was that I felt like the wine could hold up to a bit more time in barrel or a higher percentage of new French oak.