2005 Novy Judge Family Vineyard Syrah

Novy Family Cellars is a small winery located in an industrial park in Santa Rosa. They make exceptional Syrah, Zinfandel, Grenache, and a liitle bit of Chardonnay. They are owned and operated by the same people as Siduri Wines. We visited their facility about 18 months ago with our friends John and Pauline. We ordered this wine and some others on that visit.

We had an impromptu dinner tonight - I had Chinese steamed pork buns and a salad. Caren had one of her diet tostadas. This wine was a decent pairing for both dinners.

316 cases of this wine were produced - that's miniscule. The vineyard is located in the Bennett Valley of Sonoma County. The wine was rated 90 points by Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast.

Winemaker's tasting notes: The 2005 Novy Judge Vineyard Syrah is one of our most aromatically expressive wines. On the nose you smell berries, sage, and raspberry with hints of mushroom and earth. The palate is rich and velvet-like with sweet raspberry and plum fruits and flavors of bacon and truffles. This is a concentrated, complex, and compelling Syrah that makes for fine immediate drinking, yet will undoubtedly improve with several hours aeration or several years of aging.

2004 Peay Vineyards La Bruma Estate Syrah

This was the second half bottle of wine we ordered at the French Laundry. We enjoyed it a great deal.

Peay Vineyards is located in the northwestern corner of Sonoma County, near the coast. Talk about remote!

They make exceptional Syrah, Viognier, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. They sell some grapes to Williams Selyem and Failla - pretty good wineries in their own right.

Winemaker's notes: On release this wine was full of vibrant, high-tone lavender and red fruit notes. These characteristics are still paramount. Ideally the wine should be held for the primary fruit character to mature and for reductive notes to emerge. I believe the ideal window will be reached in 5+ years.

We have a couple of bottles of the 2005 vintage of this Syrah. Will open them in a year or two.

2003 Clarendon Hills Shiraz - Clarendon Liandra

Our friend Ed opened this wine to drink with the chateaubriand he cooked as the entree' for our small dinner party.

Ed has an inventory in his wine refrigerator that is more impressive than my cellar contents. He belongs to a Wine Society here in SoCal and he is very knowledgeable about wine.

This is an exceptional Australian Shiraz. Clarendon Hills is located outside of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. A highly respected winery with very limited production.

Wine Spectator tasting notes: Smooth and polished, a rich wine that shows restraint to its pepper and orange peel-scented blackberry and plum flavors, finishing with a refreshing lift.

2003 Guigal Cote Rotie - Brune Et Blonde

It is New Year's Eve and we have several house guests, so it was time to fix a nice meal and serve some great wines. This E. Guigal Cote Rotie from the Rhone Valley has a very attractive QPR. 96% Syrah and 4% Viognier grapes.

We served it with grilled lamb, grilled roast beef, marinated grilled vegetables, hummus, pita bread, and a few other side dishes.

93 points, Robert Parker: "The 2003 Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde is probably the finest cuvee of regular Cote Rotie that Guigal has produced since 1999 or 1991. Stunningly rich, it offers a beautiful, sweet nose of cassis, mocha, espresso, bacon fat, black olives, and underbrush. Some smoked meat notes also make an appearance in this rich, lush, opulent wine. This is a beauty."

92 points, Wine Spectator: "Still tight, but this has a solid core of muscular fig paste, currant, tobacco, black olive and iron notes, followed by a long, well-structured finish. Shows the heat of the vintage, but isn't roasted."

92 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Deep, inky ruby. Powerful, superripe aromas of kirsch, blackcurrant and chocolate, complemented by exotic spices and licorice. Rich, creamy and dense, with sweet red and dark fruit flavors framed by chewy tannins. The sweetness builds on the finish, which features a late-arriving note of floral pastille."

2005 Radio-Coteau Syrah - Timbervine Vineyard, Russian River Valley

This was one of the wines we served with New Year's Eve dinner. Radio-Coteau is one of our favorite wineries for California Syrah and Pinot Noir. Eric Sussman is the winemaker. We got on their mailing list a few years ago and have been exceptionally pleased with every bottle we've opened.

Winemaker's Notes: Joe Mesics and Eva Auchincloss own and farm this timber-lined hillside Syrah vineyard, which is perched high above the Russian River just beyond the town of Forestville on the steep southeastern slope of Black Mountain. This is a primary, ripe, and well concentrated wine, with an effusive bouquet of blueberry, blackberry, mineral, earth, and white pepper aromas that speak of cool-climate Syrah. A profound density of flavors and textures defines the mid-palate, which boasts a panoply of freshly roasted coffee beans, chewy dark chocolate, candied violet, brown spices and dried blueberries. The finish is equally dense, with succulent meat, violet, and blueberry flavors lingering with the wine’s chewy tannins. The balance of tannins, acidity and alcohol hint at a long and positive evolution in the cellar.

Critics' Tasting Notes:
"...great fruit...a big, sweet nose of plum, blackberry, camphor, licorice, and pepper. It is a pure, hedonistic, luscious style of Syrah...bursting with black fruits and roasted meat and herb notes." (93 points) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"Opaque purple. Explosively aromatic nose features pungent cassis and mulberry fruit notes complicated by candied violet and licorice. Deep and sweet, with energetic dark berry and cherry preserve flavors and a fresh, juicy quality carrying through the finish. As big and dense as this is, it's got finesse to burn." (92 points) Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
"Intense and balanced, with firm tannins. Ripe, spicy wild berry, blackberry and huckleberry are focused and persistent on the long, tight finish. 370 cases made." (90 points) Wine Spectator

2005 JC Cellars Syrah a la Cave

JC Cellars has been receiving a lot of positive PR of late. They were highlighted in an article in the Escapes section of The New York Times last Friday. It's not everyday you encounter a top flight California winery located in downtown Oakland. I suppose if you are close to your sources for grapes, get a good lease on warehouse space for your winery, and are located close to a lot of potential customers, it is a good location.

We served this wine before and with tonight's dinner - Turkey Chili. I think I have two more bottles of it in the cellar. It is a very good Syrah, but I think we prefer the JC Cellars California Cuvee' Syrah which is actually less expensive.

Winemaker's Tasting Notes: In the second year of developing this blend, the consensus was to take it up a notch, turn up the volume, add a little more punch, so to speak. I've learned through the years of creating blends, the ones composed of multiple appellations are always the most challenging and the most rewarding. This vintage is composed of vineyards from Coombsville, Santa Ynez, Calistoga, Mendocino, Dry Creek Valley and Rockpile. Each region has brought its best to the final blend. A wine which features dark chocolate, smoky accents, mineral textures, and beautiful fruit that ranges from dark cherry to wild raspberry.

Wine Spectator: 89 points. Dark, rich and concentrated, with beefy, grapey and peppery flavors that are pure, focused and balanced. Drink now through 2011.

2004 JC Cellars Syrah Haley's Reserve Rockpile Vineyard

Our friend Karen was visiting from Santiago, Chile on her way up to Napa and Sonoma for a bicycle trip. We met Karen on our trip to Argentina and Chile last March. She owns a wine, bicycling, and hiking tourism company in Chile - Wine Travel Chile.

To celebrate Karen's arrival, we cooked dinner, served it in the wine cellar, and broke out this excellent California Syrah from one of our favorite winemakers, Jeff Cohn of JC Cellars.

Rockpile Vineyard is located in the small appellation of the same name north of the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County.

Robert Parker, Jr. The Wine Advocate: 93+ pts
"Consistently one of my favorite JC Cellars wines is their Syrah Rockpile Vineyard. The 2004, 100% Syrah aged in French oak boasts an opaque black/purple color as well as a gorgeous nose of blackberry liqueur intermixed with melted licorice, smoked meats, acacia flowers and a talcum powder-like stony minerality. Powerful (15.3% alcohol) with superb underlying acidity and layers of richness, this is a blockbuster Syrah that should drink well for a decade."

We agreed with these critic's notes. We served the wine with an assortment of crostini as a start course followed by slow cooked short ribs over polenta.

2005 JC Cellars California Cuvée Syrah

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner and to watch the Vice Presidental candidates debate. I needed to drink some wine to be able to stand listening to Palin. Biden did a great job!

Started with some assorted crostini and then served BBQ hamburgers and sausages with grilled peppers, potato salad, and green salad. Wanted to make something quick so we could watch the debate.

We served two wines. This Syrah from JC Cellars is one of my favorite price-performers. I think I paid $22.50.

Jeff Cohn, the winemaker, wrote these notes: "Gushing over with all kinds of blackberry and blueberry fruit intermixed with some minerality. A touch of smoke and a hint of peach skin from the Viognier that makes this wine just a little more then intriguing."

James Laube - Wine Spectator: 92 Points. Offers wonderful savory aromas, with a mix of ripe plum, berry and peppery, spicy notes. Intense, concentrated, supple and harmonious, with a long, spicy finish. Drink now through 2013. 760 cases made.

2004 Matrix Syrah, Grove Vineyard

We had a group of people over for dinner tonight and this was the red wine we served. Very unusual color, almost purple. Everyone who tasted this Syrah raved about it. Unfortunately, it was my only bottle of this particular wine and it was only sold at the winery.

Matrix Winery is located on Westside Road, just south of the town of Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley area of Sonoma County. Grove Vineyard is located just south of the city of Santa Rosa.

For appetizers we served shrimp cocktails, stuffed mushrooms, and cheeses. For the main course, we served BBQ brisket, Caren's famous baked beans, corn bread, cole slaw and watermelon. For dessert, Caren baked her pina colada cake.

See below for the white wines we served.

2005 Lewis Cellars Ethan's Syrah

Made from cooler-climate vines, this Syrah from Sonoma County grapes is similar to a good Rhône wine. Smoky fruit, white pepper and wildflowers fill the nose and flavors of violets and bacon dominate the palate. 300 cases produced.

Reviewers on Cellartracker think this wine needs more aging and that Lewis Cellars makes other Syrahs that are better. I thought this Syrah was quite good once the bottle sat opened for a while or you let the wine sit in your glass for a bit. I have another bottle in the cellar that I'll sit on for another year or more.

Brought this wine to Ed and Elyn's for their pool party and pot luck dinner of gourmet "small plates" food. Vienna hot dogs from Chicago, sliders made with filet mignon, pastrami pizza from Downey Pizza Company, ribs, Caren's mac and cheese (heavy on the cheeses), homemade sushi, crostini topped with fresh fig slices and gorgonzola cheese, a full cheese course, and six different gelatos. I know I left some of the foods out of this list.

2004 Matrix Winery Sonoma Coast Syrah

From a new winery on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley appellation with the same owners as Wilson Winery and Mazzocco Winery in the Dry Creek Valley appellation of Sonoma County. This is an excellent colder climate Syrah from Sonoma Coast vineyards.

Served it with BBQ brisket, cole slaw, and Caren's famous Three Corn Casserole.

2002 Hacienda del Plata Mayoral Grand Reserve Syrah

From a family owned winery in the Lujan de Cuyo area east of the city of Mendoza in Argentina. 100% Syrah. Strong aromatic intensity, loads of complexity, pleasant finish.

Served with pasta and bolognese sauce for dinner.