The UnCorker

Failla Syrah Que

Under cute, festive titles sometimes lurk ambitious wines. Look at the Australians, for chrissakes, who have made a culture out of serious wine people competing for the dorkiest name possible to slap onto a label. The Que Syrah vineyard is in the northerly reaches of the Sonoma coast area - and is one of the cooler climate Syrah vineyards in all of California. Intrigued by top Syrah maker Failla’s success with this vineyard in the past, and noticing that they were no longer releasing wines made from this particular source of fruit, we decided to seek out where it was available now - which turns out to be Boheme Wines, who currently has a 2005 Que Syrah Vineyard Syrah in release.

Continue reading Failla Syrah Que…

2007 Kingston Family Syrah Casablanca Valley Lucero

A sure sign that the world’s wine tastes might be turning away from heaviosity for good is when the Chileans - yes, the Chileans! - head for the coast in pursuit of cool climate growing conditions. Actually, a more accurate statement would be that the wine business in America has decided to look and see if there is anything besides the bargain behemoths Cab Sav and Carmenere coming out of the country and take a chance on trying to sell it. New world wine regions like Argentina, Chile, and Australia are increasingly complex and hard to generalize, and that’s a good thing. Value lurks here - even for you Burg-hounds and Rhone-snobs. Last week we reported on the fabulous Chilean-Argentinian joint venture in sparkling wines - Bodega Cruzat. Today let’s focus on the Casablanca Valley northwest of Santiago - a coastal valley with cool nights and dense morning fogs.   These are Carneros-style conditions that are perfect for Syrah, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, and the wines reflect that style.  Intertestingly, Chile’s hottest wine region - Aconcagua - is a neighbor just to the north - so this is a true microclimate.

Continue reading 2007 Kingston Family Syrah Casablanca Valley Lucero…

2005 Rudi Schultz Syrah

The 2005 Syrah from Rudi Schultz is a fruit bomb in the best sense of the term- loads of dark ripe fruit; fig-paste, cassis, and ripe dark cherries. Hints of sourness become, with air a bit lactic, reminding The UnCorker tasting panel of a cream chesse and jelly sandwhich. With time it presents smoke, meat, tar and a pleasant bracing grip. This is powerful, heady stuff, with a 15% abv- grill some meat and decant-

Andezon Cotes du Rhone 2006

The Market is flooded with 2006 Cotes du Rhones, and if you know where to look, its a great thing for the budget minded shopper. For all of you drinking nothing but New World reds, its time to give the Old World another look. Throughout the Rhone Valley in 2006 vignerons produced plump rich Grenache and meaty smoky Syrah- Andezon is primarily the latter; it is a dense wine with spicy fruit, bacon fat, smoke and loads of herbes de provence. Great with grilled lamb or a spicy pasta- A serious value at $10