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So, Syrah?

Rod Smith

So, Syrah?

SO WHAT’S UP W/SYRAH?
          I’m pleased to have a guest spot on this site. Sommeliers have become a powerful positive force in the wine world and I’m glad to participate in your discourse.
          I’ve been thinking about California Syrah lately, and how disappointing it’s been. More than two decades ago it was so up-and-coming—but it never really got here. The grape and its wines are wine royalty, yet few California producers hang their hats on it, and fewer still have made consistently strong showings.
          I remember when the first “true” Syrahs (as opposed to Petite Sirah or whatever) came out of the gate in the early 1980s. It was really exciting, to a new generation of wine geeks at least. We’d plan dinner parties around new releases from Duxoup or Joseph Phelps. (Fred Dame—do you remember how intense that early Syrah scene was?) In fact, it was Joe Phelps, the inveterate Rhone ranger, who established our first significant true Syrah plantings.
Within a few vintages there were enough varietal Syrahs on the market to mount meaningful comparative tastings. Those early wines were exciting, not just as novelties but as credible echoes of the Rhone. I was particularly interested because I’d been getting Syrah religion at the source in Rhone caves with vignerons like Clape, Guigal, and Jaboulet, tasting with the Druids (that’s how it felt, anyway) through barrels of wine that clearly spoke of varying terroirs and vintages. If California could produce expressive Syrahs like that, I thought, we might actually have a new dimension in California wine.
          Then we all watched in horror as the early promise—of a new tool for exploring and expressing different terroirs in our magnificent coastal and mountain terrains—was broken by a flood of rather syrupy, high-octane red wine labeled Syrah for no apparent reason. Many strike me as little more than grape-flavored booze. Perhaps not coincidentally, I’m hearing reports from the field that Syrah is increasingly a tough sell. (Note: I feel like something similar has happened in eastern Washington, although that’s probably a topic for another post.)
          Can we count the paving stones on the downward path? Start with indiscriminate planting, overcropping, and excessive manipulation—particularly oak overkill. (Why do so many California winemakers think they have to make Napa Valley cabernet out of every grape variety?) I’m aware through contacts in various cellars that quite a number of highly-regarded winemakers freely doctor their wines with enzymes, tannin, concentrate, etcetera (all of which I consider substance abuse). And of course, these days it’s pretty par for the course to pick the grapes overripe and then add acid and water, which is like trying to balance a table by sawing a little off this leg and a little off that. And then there’s what I consider excessive ripeness. I’ve heard several winemakers say, “Twenty-six brix is the new twenty-four!” Personally, I liked the old twenty-four. If the variety matches the site and the vines are balanced, the grapes will be plenty ripe and the wine won’t taste like a mess of mismatched adjectives.
          Voila--there in my glass the other night was an Arnot-Roberts Syrah (Clary Vineyard ’06). It had that whole peppery, leathery, minerally thing going on, intense but not dense, with cut-glass definition and brisk natural acidity that cut right through my friend Sebastian’s pork rillette. All at just 13 percent alcohol, without de-boozing. And I thought of other classically-styled Syrahs I’ve enjoyed recently, from Dehlinger, Edmunds St. John, and the like. I wonder whether Syrahs like that will always be anomalous, or if they finally signal a trend toward the coalescence of some Syrah ideal?
          So where’s it all going? Will California Syrah producers continue following the score-mongers toward one size (extra large) fits all? Or will they rally around nuanced expression and distinctive character, perhaps leading the way toward the paradigm shift so many of us have been hoping for?

  • I should have mentioned Tablas Creek earlier. Those wines have real “syrahthenticity”. They’re anomalous, though, in my experience of Paso, which I do associate w/rather brutish, overripe reds. It doesn’t have to be that way—as you point out, the climate/soil combo is awesome. But the idea that 26 brix is the new 24 has really been enculturated there.

  • I was in Paso Robles last week and tasted two very stunning Syrahs made in a similar style. Most of us on this site know the "image" of Paso Robles, big over the top, etc. Many fine wine fans just pass on any Paso wines. Dig deeper.

    i encourage everyone to get out and see the place, it will blow you away. a very diverse appellation that desperately needs to be redrawn and sub-divided. Huge Diurnals (up to 50degrees!), a massive belt of limestone running through the west-side, ocean fog.......

    Tablas Creek, 2006 Syrah & Four Vines, "one tree hill vineyard" syrah,2006 both of the these wines expressed characteristics i have only seen in Cornas, screaming gravelly minerality, high acidity, meat, black fruits, iron, rich black pepper, wow.

    This is my favorite expression of the grape and one we rarely see in the new world. Many will not believe this, i mean Paso? is probably what you're thinking, seek out these bottlings, the food matches are ridiculous. Maybe this cool climate awesome-ness will catch on...

    Yet this further complicates things because there are so many varying styles on the market, the consumer has no idea how to pick a wine. syrah sells out in tasting rooms, and just sits in restaurant cellars.

  • I have one bottle left of 1994 Dehlinger reserve Syrah. We should all drink it together!

  • Agreed on Dehlinger—always among my favorite syrahs and pinots—and Lagier-Meredith. Now, there’s a great pairing: a scientist and a man of the land. BTW, Yoon, congrats on your Rising Star award. My wife attended the awards reception and reported that your wine pairings w/caviar, etc. were amazing. (I stayed home w/the kids; we had hot dogs, paired w/a superb ’09 Apple Juice poured from187 ml box.)

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