Winemaker Notes
Distinctly darker, the way the Cote Brune is darker than the Cote Blonde in Cote-Rotie.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Syrah En Cerise Vineyard is cut from the same cloth as the Cailloux Vineyard release, yet is a slightly darker, meatier wine, offering a Jamet-like bouquet of blackberries, ground pepper, black olive, bloody meat, crushed rocks, and violets. Showing less overt funkiness and just a stunningly pure, elegant, medium to full-bodied Syrah, it has silky tannins, a great spine of acidity, and a great, great finish. Drink it any time over the coming two decades or more. It’s hard to say if this will surpass the 2016, 2008, and 2007, but it’s certainly in the same ballpark.
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James Suckling
Lots of blackberries and blueberries with grilled meat and gristle undertones. This is full-bodied, yet ever so balanced and creamy with integrated, fine tannins that are soft and caressing. Delicious finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Syrah en Cerise begins a little more broad-shouldered than the rest of the range, offering up aromas of black cherries, crushed rock, cured meats, smoked peppercorn and dusty lavender in the glass. Full-bodied, the wine is firm with youthful tannins, which make this bottling food-friendly. Open-knit and expressive, the long, winding finish evolves over a few moments before reverting to savory tones and an expression of dust-covered cherry skin.
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Wine Enthusiast
The aromas are quite reserved for this producer, with notes of flower, crushed rock and fireplace. A flavorful palate follows, full of black-olive and earth notes. A lingering finish comes next. It’s a very understated offering.
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Wine Spectator
Svelte and round, with a dense, complex backbone. Black raspberry, orange peel, stony mineral and bacon fat accents glide on a lingering finish. Drink now through 2027.
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.