WTN: ESJ 2001 Syrah "Wylie-Fenaughty"

Edmunds St. John 2001 Syrah El Dorado County "Wylie-Fenaughty," 14.4% alc./vol., MSRP $30.00: What I like about this wine is what it doesn't do. It doesn't kick you in the head. A lot of California Syrahs are huge wines, akin to "wham bam, thank ya', mam." With this wine you take your time. Even this colorblind fellow traveller could see how dark red it was, nearly impenetrable in the half light of my living room. The aroma of bacon fat to which I have grown accustomed did not greet me; rather, wisps of Black Forest ham, perhaps some dried cherries and uncured olives right off the tree came to mind, i.e. more herbal than sweet. You'd have never known that it had 14.4% alcohol; it just was so soft in the mouth yet with enough firmness and tannins to stand up to my pan-fried sirloin with peppers, onions and caraway seeds. As a footnote, there was quite a bit of sediment in the bottle which did not detract from the enjoyment.

Gary,
Nice note!!
Doesn't sound as if you decanted this. I've only had this wine once (about a month ago) and it improved immensely over the course of the 2 or 3 hours it was opened. I came away with the impression that this wine would really bloom with a 3 or 4 hr decant...at least that is what I will do next time. All FWIW
Curly

Gary,
Nice note!!
Doesn't sound as if you decanted this. I've only had this wine once (about a month ago) and it improved immensely over the course of the 2 or 3 hours it was opened. I came away with the impression that this wine would really bloom with a 3 or 4 hr decant...at least that is what I will do next time. All FWIW Curly

I opened this on Friday evening and have been nipping at it since then. The last time was this morning (Sunday) at around 5:30 a.m. (Don't ask!) And it has indeed improved over time. I have three more bottles so I might just give decanting a try.