Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard checks in as 96% Syrah and 4% Viognier that was fermented with roughly 70-80% stems and brought up in 15% new demi-muids and foudre. This beauty has incredible elegance and purity as well as full-bodied richness, complex notes of blackberry, cherries, stone hearth, decayed flowers, and salted meats, and a savory style that’s going to benefit from 3-4 years of bottle age and keep for 15 years or more.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of peeled orange, fresh flower, ground black pepper, bacon fat, potpourri, funk, truffle, sea salt, soot and crushed rock are at the fore. The flavors are intensely rich— grabbing you and shaking you around—while still retaining a compelling sense of elegance that ups the interest. An extended, flower-filled finish follows. Best after 2024. Cellar Selection
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James Suckling
This syrah is co-fermented with some viognier (the only Cayuse wine to do this) and it has an ethereal edge of yellow plums, white pepper, bacon fat and flowers, all in the mix. A lot of whole-cluster influence here (60-70%). The palate has such deep-set fresh fruit and an attractive, long and juicy feel that carries a silky, long finish. Effortlessly exotic. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard contains 4% Viognier and was matured for 18 months in 20% new French oak. It’s herbal and stemmy on the nose with aromas of green pepper, mint and gravel dust over red cherry. The medium-bodied palate offers concentrated, crunchy flavors. It’s structured by fine, chalky tannins and fireworks of fresh acidity and has a long, herbal finish.
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Wine Spectator
Poised and polished, with distinctive blueberry, black olive, river rock and bacon fat accents that take on structure toward refined tannins.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.