Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
The 2017 Damavian is just as impressive as the 2016, reflecting, for starters, the consistency of Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen’s winemaking, which is gentle and hands-off, a healthy rendering of whole clusters, cool, ambient-yeast fermentations. This is a very cool expression of Les Collines, tense and endlessly flavorful, with notes of blackberries and peppercorn, violets and smoke, all coming in generous, luscious waves. It feels elegant and seamless, poised between assertive flavors and delicate structure
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Wine Enthusiast
Coming from Blocks 30 and 31 of this esteemed vineyard, this wine has appealing aromas of violet, parsley, purple fruit and fresh herbs that rise up from the glass. The palate is focused and fresh, starting out seeming lighter styled and then filling out over time. It brings a compelling sense of intensity and freshness. This wine could only come from this one vineyard and also from this one producer. What more could one ask for from a wine? Put it on the dinner table to see it at its best.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Syrah Damavian Les Collines is dark ruby colored at the core, with ruby and purple highlights at the rim. It offers up aromas of dusty blackberry, dark cherry and a firm rocky minerality. Medium-bodied but full with flavor, subtle flavors of roasted game sway on the palate with a mineral tension and black pepper lift. Displaying a muscular frame and balanced structure, the wine continues to evolve on the palate with a long, lingering finish that is food-friendly. Made with 100% whole-cluster Syrah from blocks 30 and 31 from the Les Collines vineyard, the wine saw 20 months of French oak aging before being bottled without racking, fining or filtration. Just over 4,600 bottles produced. Rating: 91+
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.