Syrah

This was quite good.  Not as big or expressive as expected.  In fact, it drinks very Northern Rhone-ish.   Purple in color.  On the nose there is black raspberries, slight bacon fat, slight violets and underlying minerality.  Nice texture.  Layers unwind in the glass.  Though still tight, there is a nice complexity with black raspberry fruit and crushed dusty rocks.  Nice acidity as well.  Should continue to improve for a while and be good for a couple of decades after that.  

Purple in color with ruby swirls.  This was tight but opened quickly to show black raspberries, slight roasted meats and a bit of pepper.  On the palate, this has a silky texture.  Black cherries.  Light tannins.  Nice finish.  This is probably as good as this gets but should be nice drinking for five years.  At $25 retail, this is fairly priced.  Will work with medium and heavier foods.  

This is a great value for around $20.  Having had it in multiple vintages, it is very consistent.  Inky purple in color.  The nose is dusty with black raspberries, black pepper and some cedar.  A bit of roasted meat as well.  On the palate, this is big and fruity but there is also depth and complexity.  Bright acidity.  Good finish.  This will work with big or spicy foods.  It should last for 5 to 8 years but probably won't get better.  That's ok, it is really good today.  

Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose is dusty with black raspberries and some roasted meats.  On the palate, this has sweet black raspberry fruit.  It approaches cloying but not quite.  Also some blueberries.  This is a big jammy fruit filled wine.  It will probably a difficult food match but drinks easy and great on its own.  Hard to say how long it will age but drinking in the next five years should be safe.  

Purple with ruby swirls.  The nose is tight on opening but reveals smoky black raspberries.  On the palate, this is sweet black raspberry fruit.  It has a nice complexity to it and is more "elegant" than a fruit bomb.  Drinking quite well, it will probably still improve with good cellaring.  Food friendly for most foods.  Nice finish.  It retails for around $60.

Purple/ruby in color.  The nose has black raspberries, black pepper and a burnt rubber note that is present (in a good way) in many Washington Syrahs.  On the palate, there is nice boysenberry fruit.  Layered but tight with fruit and crushed rocks.  There is an almost seamless texture to this wine that is really nice.  It will work with a wide variety of food and has a nice backbone of acidity to assist.  Good finish.  This competes with wines at twice the price.  Good now, it probably won't improve but should remain here for at least five and probably ten more years.  

Purple/ruby in color.  The nose has black cherries and a slight burn rubber note.  On the palate, light tannins.  Thinner in texture and body.  Black raspberry fruit.  Some spice.  Easy drinking.  This retail for under $20 and is a very nice value.  Should be good for a few years.  

This was very good, but given the price (around $100), quite disappointing.  Purple/ruby in color.  The nose is earthy with some funk and meaty tones.  Also some black raspberries.  On the palate, this has a sour cherry note.  It is not to dissimilar for red cherry soda with a bit or sweetness to match the sour fruit.  Medium bodied.  An almost aquarium note, so perhaps this was poorly stored during shipment (the storage on the receiving end was fine).  In any event, it was good with a northern Rhone, cooler climate quality to it with sour cherry fruit.  Would work with food.  

Ruby/purple in color.  The nose is nice with coffee, black raspberries and black olives.  Very much a Washington meets the Northern Rhone nose.  On the palate, this is tannic.  Black cherry fruit.  Tight layers of fruit and earth.  Good acidity.  Long finish.  This continued to improve in the glass all night.  Still very tight and young, there is certainly plenty of upside potential left.  It will be interesting to see where this is in five years as it approaches peak.  

In a tasting, two bottles were tasted side by side.  They showed differently.  Was it because the wines were in a different place in the line-up or the bottles came from different stores and had been treated differently?  Hard to say, but tasted in a group, we had different reactions.  There is an inherent bias that blind tasting removes prejudices and it probably does, but it also introduces its own set of biases that can not be discounted.  Bottle #1 was the first glass tasted while bottle #2 was the 9th.