Based on my notes from the evening, yes, we were talking about your 2008 Syrah.
I like Paso Syrahs, and when we tasted this one, it did not seem typical. But then it is possible there was some bottle shock, or it was a bad bottle.
I have received some wine club shipments where they’ve stated to let the wine sit for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer, before opening. And since the '08 bottle fell off the truck only a day (or a couple of days) before opening, it is quite possible that there was some bottle shock. Although I think I’ve experienced it more with PN than Syrah wines.
Edit: As mentioned, we tasted this “brown bag”, so none of us knew what it was until later in the evening. And IIRC, none of us thought “Syrah” upon tasting.
As I recall we did three brown-bag bottles that evening; a white, pink and red. The white was, iirc, generally accepted by most, the pink by a greater number (I quite enjoyed that one), and this red by the fewest. I also recall we rejected as nearly undrinkable another red (?) that made it to the sink nearly untouched, while most other bottles were enjoyed by most if not all, depending on personal preferences.
I don’t think we were “off”.
Was this bottle received only a day or so earlier? I can’t believe that alone would have affected it as much as we are reporting.
Again, I know Sparky was taking written notes and has yet to comment, perhaps he’ll have a different take on this.
As the wine warms up I am getting a fuller mouthfeel. There is a tad bit of heat sneaking through as it gets too warm (my inside temp is already 82), so I recommend cellar temp. It is a very soft velvety wine. While it does not have the typical juicy syrah fruit, it still has decent structure and is an enjoyable wine. I think it would go well with grilled veggies or burgers and would have general appeal at summer get togethers.
EDIT: Off to the beach for the day. Tough being me. I have 2 sneaker bottles ready to go.
Kyle
I will talk to Neil at Woot and provide an extra bottle to send down to your SoCal group for a future tasting. I know your tasting notes will be different than some I am reading today. Thanks for your comments
Kim
Kyle
We are a very small winery and we hand pick our fruit and remove all leaves and stems prior to fermentation. We do not whole cluster ferment as Kiezman suggested. Our vineyard is on the east side of Paso Robles so we get a lot of heat during the growing season, hence the high sugar/alc content in our syrah. After fermentation I age our wines in 1year old French oak barrels for 2 years. Thought you might like to know my approach to making our wine. Thanks for your comments.
Kim
So who’s paso Syrah would you say is closes in taste.
I REALLY enjoy paso syrahs from mike mooney’s chateau margene to Stephan’s L’Aventure (east vs west).
Least I forget Madison cellars
The more info you can give us, the better. Most of us are wine nerds. We love numbers, stats, and inside info. I’m a huge Paso fan and don’t mind the high alc. at all. Sparky (one of the board members) is interested in your port-styled Syrah.
Hi Kim,
I should clarify that the bunch of us were trying to figure out why this wine would have tasted that way. Surprising that none of us thought of it being a bad bottle, probably because it still had fruit and some personality rather than being dull or dead. Anyway, that doesn’t matter - based on the bitterness (which, in moderation, I quite like) and tannic quality I made a highly scientific WAG (that’s wild-ass-guess to you non-engineers) that perhaps it was stem tannin that could have been due to overzealous whole-cluster fermentation/pressing. I’m glad that the consensus appears to be it was a bad bottle, espcially given trifecta’s notes. I’m also sorry I didn’t take better notes - my trip down I-10 that day was frustratingly long and I just wanted a drink
Regardless, thanks for coming by and helping us clear up this issue.