Cuvaison , 2005 Diablo Syrah, Los Carneros, Napa Valley $28

Hess, 2005 Small Block Series Syrah, Napa $36

Clos Saron , 2003 Syrah Sacre Bleu! North Yuba, $35

Limited production wine

Limited production wine

Limited production wine

The Cuvaison Syrah was interesting in that the nose was more fruit forward and new world, but the palate had a significant earthiness. This was the only wine that had a bit of straw or animal character to it, more common in a European wine. There was a wild floral characteristic to the wine and just a hint of pine, coffee, soy and molasses.

This was a very deeply colored ruby colored wine with almost no visible rim.It took a little while to open, but when it did the Nose and palate were both fairly complex. They started with blackberries, plums, and black cherries, sweet vanilla and a dark chocolate. But there was also a bit of meatiness, earth, leather and white pepper to add interest.

This Syrah was the lightest in color, almost brownish with a salmon rim. Of all the wines this one had the greatest ability to morph itself every time you returned to it. The fruits were ripe, representing blueberry, plum and black cherry. This was complimented by some great cedar toastiness, cassis, chocolate, leather and even some bell pepper, spice and a little lavender.

Great, well matured tannins with a fairly full mouth feel and lusty quality.

This wine had significant tannin, giving the wine big, almost lusty quality to it.

This had the biggest tannin of the six, but they were well rounded giving the wine great structure and a chewy feel.

14.5%

15.5%

13.9%

Not as complex on the nose as some of the other wines, its palate was a real surprise with big earthy, non-fruit characteristics. The finish was started with a bit of fruit and vanilla, but moved quickly to a dusty earthiness, and a dried herbaceous quality. The lusty tannins held throughout.

This wine did a good job of combining old world and new world qualities into one wine. The palate started like dark chocolate covered cherries which was overtaken by the earthy, meaty, almost barnyard qualities of a good European Syrah.

There was a wonderfully complex nose that was full and ever changing with nothing that really dominated, but instead showed layer after layer of intertwined scents. The scents ran the gambit from fruit, to wood, to loral and then earthy. Although definitely smoky in character, it was not overpowering.

This was a wine that promised a fruit forward wine on the nose, but delivered one that was much more earthy and herbaceous on the palate. It was a fairly big wine that was much more complex on the palate than nose. It worked well with the barbeque style ribs served with dinner and would be great with any heavy bodied meat. The group felt this wine to have the youngest feel of the group that would benefit from just a
little more bottle time.

The Hess was the biggest of the wines, which did a nice job of bringing together fruit and non-fruit characteristics in a layered style. It did a good job of balancing a pretty high alcohol level with the fruit and tannin. This was a wine best classified as big, big in flavor, big in alcohol and big in tannin. A little bottle aging would bring out the remarkable potential of the wine, allowing it to mellow just a bit.

This was another crowd pleaser, ranking in the top tear with most tasters. Although very full on the palate, the wine could best be described as more elegant than bold. The flavor profiles, broad in range, were nicely harmonized and kept the taster intrigued as it opened up and changed. There was a great combination of old and new world qualities that was more fruit driven than earthy, but was anything but simple.