Cayuse Cailloux Vineyard Syrah 2018
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#19 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
Christophe’s first Walla Walla Valley vineyard, this 10-acre plot was the first vineyard planted in the stones of Milton Freewater in 1997, and produces the flagship Cailloux Syrah.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Blended with a good chunk of Viognier (from the same vineyard and co-fermented), the 2018 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard offers a sweet nose of red and blue fruits, lavender, spring flowers, and bacon fat, with subtle classic Rocks notes of mulch and charcoal emerging with time in the glass. Incredibly complex, medium to full-bodied, and seamless, it reminds me of an old-school Côte Rôtie with its exotic, floral, yet meaty style. This cuvée is always one of the more up-front Syrahs in the lineup, yet it ages just as well as the others, possessing a solid 20- to 25-year drink window.
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James Suckling
This has a fantastic range of savory aromas with smoked meat, herbs, grilled aubergine, bark, dried flowers, shells and blue and black fruit. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins and fresh acidity. Intensely flavorful with earthy, peppery character. Very long. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
A real knockout Syrah, structured and refined yet bubbling over with personality, offering expressive raspberry, garrigue, warm pebble and smoky beef tones that build tension and polish toward fine-grained tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Co-fermented with 6% Viognier, the 2018 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard begins with dusty and smokey expressions of cured meats, black pepper and blackberry compote. Medium to full-bodied, the wine displays a ripe yet firm character with impeccable mineral tension, elements of smoked lavender and roasted herbs before dusty plum and black cherry skin sway with an umami essence and succulent, fine-grained tannins. Concluding with a long-lingering, evolving finish, the Syrah will have no problem aging past its 15th birthday. The wine spent 19 months in approximately 12% new French oak. Bravo, it's delicious.
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An adventure in the new world
Christophe Baron grew up among the vineyards and cellars of his family's centuries-old Champagne house, Baron Albert. His sense of adventure, however, led him to become the first Frenchman to establish a winery in Washington State.
While visiting the Walla Walla Valley in 1996, Christophe spotted a plot of land that had been plowed up to reveal acres of softball-sized stones. This stony soil, this terroir, was just like that of some of the most prestigious French appellations. The difficult ground would stress the grapevines, making them produce more mature, concentrated fruit.
He named his vineyard after the Cayuse, a Native American tribe whose name was taken from the French cailloux--which means, rocks. Hours of back-breaking work later, Cayuse Vineyards has become five vineyards encompassing 41 acres.
The majority is planted with Syrah, and the rest dedicated to Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Roussanne, Tempranillo and Viognier. All of the vineyards are planted in rocky earth within the Walla Walla Valley appellation. Cayuse was the first winery in Washington State to use biodynamic farming methods.