J. Bookwalter "Antagonist" Syrah (2)

J. Bookwalter “Antagonist” Washington Syrah 2-Pack
Sold by: J. Bookwalter Wines
$54.99 $97.00 43% off List Price
2012 “Antagonist” Syrah, Elephant Mountain Vineyard, Yakima Valley AVA
CT link above

Winery website

(neither books nor walter are included in this offer)

Seems like an interesting wine. If I were buying in July I might consider a split on this. I love big syrahs!

I’m in one of their wine clubs and tasted this wine back in May. Bookwalter makes really good mid and high end stuff (I don’t really care for their bottom tier). It was definitely a big, broody Syrah, but not at all fruit bomby as the stats might suggest (no Mollydooker here). It doesn’t make sense for me to buy this deal as I can be at their tasting room in 30 min with my discount, but I think you will enjoy it. Better if you lay down for a few so the tannins can smooth out.

I have 18 bottles of Bookwalter red in my cellar if that tells you what I think.

I had the good luck to receive a bottle of this to try! I had the bad luck to get a bad bottle, however. So, spoiler alert…I don’t have good tasting notes. :frowning:

Was really a shame, because Washington Syrahs are one of my very favorites. I even opened up a Gilbert (recent woot purchase) to compare side by side and have a little Yakima show-down.

Wine has a classic Syrah color…deep and purple-y. Totally clear with zero sediment.

Aroma was promising…I got notes of leather and sandalwood. My tasting partner described it as leather and tobacco.

Then we tasted it.

SO bitter. Not like, “this is a little on the bitter side,” but like, “something is horribly wrong with this wine.” It was overpoweringly bitter on initial taste, after a 3 hour decant, and 3 days later in the shouldered bottle. It masked the other flavors, although there were some promising Syrah flavors back there (jams, a little smokey bacon, a bit of a buttery note up front). Short finish, but with this faulty taste that was really a relief.

So, long story short, I discussed it with Neil and I have to assume something went very awry with my bottle. When it arrived it was cool to the touch and the cork was in perfect condition (in fact, only wine colored on the flat bottom of the cork in this young wine). However, the bitter thing wasn’t his experience at all, so I must have gotten a bad bottle.

Bummer. I’m very sorry I couldn’t provide good tasting notes.

Thanks for trying!

As an aside, it looks like your panther (?) avatar is about to eat your squarryl avatar. As a Koi, I’m ok with this.

This sounds really interesting, but it looks like I’d have to wait 8-12 years to find out. I might not live that long!

We have some experiece with Bookwalter and I have found all their wines to be very solid. They are full bodied and well balanced. Washington wines tend to have little different profiles compared to California wines. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Have had their Cabernet and Merlot this year and enjoyed both. Never had their Syrah but am going to try it now. I’m in.

This looks good. I’m on the fence here people. I’d love for a few additional notes to push me over the edge. I’m a little concerned with Cyradia’s notes and wondering if some of the bottles picked up a biological taint somewhere.

…sorry to hear Cyradia had a bad bottle. I can honestly say the bottle I tasted was pretty damn fantastic. Aces ‘big and brooding’ comment would be accurate.

Black tie buy is this.

It’s a thundercat!

It was my very favorite cartoon as a kid.

Wish a representative from the winery was available to answer a few questions. Most importantly, how can a guy from Minnesota get a hold of this deal :frowning:

Sorry about getting on board late this morning. John Bookwalter here, conference call and major internet/phone issues have prevented me from being more interactive thus far. What can I answer for you or help you with?

Hey Wooters! John Bookwalter here, sorry about the delay in getting on board this morning, it’s been a crazy one thus far. A little about Antagonist(apparently a little more antagonistic for Cyradia than one would hope for), I have personally made wine for 17 years and I have worked with Syrah from this particular Vineyard (Elephant Mtn) for a decade. I have always thought this clone (Joseph Phelps) and this site were a perfect match. The vineyard sits at just slightly more than 1400’ elevation making it the highest elevated Yakima Valley Vineyard, so the effect of this is you get all the heat units like Red Mtn but with an additional two weeks of hang time for flavor development. Aged for 16 months in a blend or new and used, large and small French oak barrels the wine has many faces. It is young without a question, but of all the Syrah’s I have produced this one captures this site and vintage as well as any. Intense, with one toe in the old world and one in the new, I do agree the full potential of this wine is several years from now (as it should be). We just released the wine in May and even in two short months the tertiary aromas and flavor begin to evolve and become more present.
With production just under 400 cases, the wine rarely sees 6 months of retail availability at our two stores.
If I can be of any assistance please don’t hesitate to ask, I will share what I know and make up what I don’t :slight_smile: JB

For those of you located in states Woot doesn’t ship to, feel free to contact me directly at john@bookwalterwines.com and I will see what we can do. thanks

Thanks for your participation, it pushed me over the edge!

Last wooter to woot: chipgreen

Must be a slow day; is everyone watching the world cup?

John,
This wine is meant for aging. Is there a minimum time you would hold this before drinking? Sounds like it is coming together.

Ok I’m in. I’m not super familiar with Washington wines so I’m hoping this is a good one.