Cayuse En Chamberlin Syrah 2009

Professional Ratings

• 99 Wine Enthusiast
  In a vintage that produced the finest overall lineup of Cayuse wines to date, it may seem a little nit-picky to score some higher and some lower. But the En Chamberlin deserves first place again. Brilliant aromatics of smoked meat, bacon fat and otherworldly roasted accents seduce instantly. Once on the palate, the silky, balanced, near-perfect mix of umami and fruit, plus licorice, cassis, coffee liqueur and black tea notes suggest it's as decadent as it is delicious. Editors' Choice.
• 97 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  Smoky evocations of peat and black tea along with pungent, well-hung gaminess are what first tweak the nose from Baron’s 2009 Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard, followed by high-toned candied lemon and orange rind; bittersweet distilled floral essences; and evocations of kirsch and framboise eau de vie, a wealth of aromatic constituents that may well arise from the relative coolness and long hang time of this site. Bourcier suggests that there might be something about the 2009 growing season that particularly favors this vineyard, and it sure tastes that way to me! Its soaring and penetrating smoky and high-toned intensity seems to billow across the palate, where dark cherry and plum preserves mingle with marrowy rich meaty savor. Salt and crystalline impingements so vivid one seldom associates their like with red wine, lead to a finish that leaves my mouth tingling and my salivary glands helplessly stuck wide-open. (“Long hang time:” could have been a reference to my tongue on Chamberlin.) Above all, this wine is just plain mysterious, not only in the intrigue of its flavors, but in engendering wonder as to how it manages to taste as it does. Baron’s response to that thought is (no doubt but half in jest): “The monks and nuns of Cayuse need their own thousand years to figure that out!” Follow at least one or two bottles – assuming you’re lucky enough for this to be possible – well into their second decade.
• 96 Wine Spectator
  Rich and velvety, delivering a complex mouthful of dark plum, blackberry, black olive, smoke and spice flavors that persist on the long, expressive finish. Offers depth and subtlety to go with its power. Drink now through 2019.