Kenefick Ranch Napa Valley Syrah (3)

Kenefick Ranch Napa Valley Syrah 3-Pack
$99.99 $213.00 53% off List Price
2012 Kenefick Ranch Syrah, Calistoga, Napa Valley

[grape]

That monkey who came last week also brought a bottle of this Syrah, so last week’s gathering also sampled this one. It poured so dark I wondered if there was any PS blended in (specs say no). Nose was initially fairly closed down, but a bit of swirling revealed a lot to like: olives, dark cherries, blackberries, and some savoury notes. Hints of alcohol made it out here and there as well.

Palate was fairly classic Syrah: peppercorn, meat, olive, dark cherry. Medium tannin and finish. I found a rather pronounced (to me) bitter note both on the palate and the finish and figured I’d check in again later to see if that mellowed out.

After about 90 minutes of slow-ox in the bottle I still found it to have the bitter component, but otherwise it had improved on every other dimension.

I did not like this wine. Admittedly, I don’t think it was made in a style that I gravitate towards, but I found the same bitter, tart component klez did and found it similarly off-putting.

Was there stem inclusion with this? Maybe that’s what we were picking up?

On the other hand, tyger liked it quite a bit. So, ymmv, clearly.

I liked it well enough but not enough to cover the price offered here.

Dark fruit, a little leathery, Some spice. Perhaps it didn’t pair well with the food on the table, I did not get much of the bitter note the others mentioned. it wasn’t my favorite Syrah of the night. I tried it before I tried stillmans Syrah trying to keeping my palate fresh :wink:

As Kyle said I did like this wine mainly because it was correct for a syrah imho, savoury/pepper/olive and not all about the fruit like many cali syrahs, not to say it did not have fruit it had plenty! Pretty deep and dark and some heat.

Kenefick vineyards is a noted rock star source. here are the wineries who buy from the same vineyard as today’s offer, a veritable who’s who:

Arietta
Araujo
B Cellars
Bounty Hunter
Caymus
Chateau Bozwell
Copper Cain
Coup de Foudre
D.R. Stevens
Dancing Hares
Davis Family Estates
Diagio
Duckhorn
Elizabeth Spencer
Envy Wines
Etude
Frias
Gamble
Heidi Barrett
Honeycutt
Jacqueline
Jericho Canyon
Joseph Kent
Kind
L’Angevina
La Sirena
Lewis
McCauley
Merryvale
Merryvale
Nickel & Nickel
Mondavi
Paloma
Phelps
Plumpjack/Cade/Odette
Pride
Pruett
Raymond
Realm
Relic
Shafer
Somerston

Tasted at Klez’

I enjoyed it for what I was able to get. I found it muted and not overly complex. Almost felt like it was shut down. I am curious if “dumb phase” applies to a Syrah of this pedigree?

Believe this or don’t…I am actually, FROM Kenefick Texas. Born and raised! I just spent the weekend at my folks house there. This whole item and the write up is completely bizarro and made me think the Woot Gods are watching me. Are you watching me?

yes

Looking at there pricing on there web site on other wines I think they inflated the list price on woot, this 3 pack should be in the $60-70 range, but thanks to the comments I’m gonna pass at $99

HOLY BUCKETS!

Signed up for an account today, just to make that comment. Cute.

Ahh, so now you can double down on those outstanding offers we sometimes see.
Peter…?

I was going to ask if he was a producer or grower.
visiting the site, I see it’s 10/90.
That’s a lot (varied) plants to tend.
Kenefick Ranch is planted primarily to Bordeaux varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc. Rhone varietals – Viognier, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc and Petite Sirah completes the portfolio. Ten percent of our production is used in Kenefick Ranch wines, while the remaining fruit is sourced out to Caymus, Etude, L’Angevin, Merryvale, Raymond, Venge and several other small producers.

I’m not seeing this wine on their site. Did you factor in shipping as well?

there pricing, their site…

You’ll also notice Syrah isn’t listed as a ‘primary’ planted varietal.
Purchased fruit perhaps, but it does say Estate.

They are getting out of the syrah business I believe. it’s a high pedigree wine.

The wine.woot estimated price includes shipping to somewhere in the middle of the country. That’s why it’s higher than just the wine retail prices.

All GD community tasting notes for this wine have been x-posted into cellar tracker, user names have been omitted to protect the guilty.