Steve brought last night as a mystery wine:
1. Lagier-Meredith Syrah MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.3%) 1998: Very dark color w/ nary a hint of bricking; beautiful very spicy/Syrah/blackberry strong cedary/pencilly/Fr.oak some floral/violets slight Rhonish/smokey rather cracked black pepper quite complex nose; bit tart/angular very spicy strong blackberry/Syrah bit pungent/black pepper/graphite rather cedary/pencilly/Fr.oak slight earthy slight Rhonish/smokey complex flavor w/ light bit tangy tannins; very long/lingering very strong blackberry/Syrah slight cracked black pepper light floral/violets bit Rhonish/smokey/graphite/pungent some cedary/pencilly/Fr.oak quite complex finish w/ light crunchy tannins; as beautiful an example of a mature Calif Syrah as you can find, with a bit and still going to go out longer.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. This is, if memory serves, Steve&Carole's first Syrah release. I find that their Syrahs tend to age at a glacial pace and stay pretty monolithic for yrs out the gate. It's nice to know that they do eventually develop the complexity that you'd hoped for over the yrs. What I particularly like about their Syrahs (and Tribidrags and Mondeuses) is they show a particularly characteristic spiciness to them. Must be that MtVeeder terroir thing.
Tom