Cracked this wine last night from my older box:
1. SanSakanaCllrs Syrah LasMadresVnyd/Carneros (14.5%; 17 mo. in oak; First Vintage Release; www.SanSakana.com) SanFrancisco 2004: Dark color w/ some bricking; beautiful blackberry/Syrah/spicy/olive tapenade some c-c/black pepper very complex nose; some tart/tangy very strong c-c/black pepper/black olive tapenade very strong blackberry/Syrah/peppery classic Carneros Syrah flavor w/ light slightly bitey/drying tannins; very long/lingering rather c-c/black pepper very blackberry/spicy/Syrah some black olive tapenade beautiful complex classic Carneros Syrah finish; probably at its peak and maybe a bit beyond; a beautiful evolved Carneros Syrah.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. This is a wnry that made their wine in a custom crush facilty in TheCite (the one where they snort their cocaine off the sidewalk..according to trustworthy sources). Run by a threesome known as the "Three Fishes" as depicted on their label. I, of course, followed SanSakana from the very start. One of the principals, Bettina Briz, came sometimes to ski at Taos, had heard of my fondness for Syrah, and arranged to drop off a few btls of her first wines for me in SantaFe.
They had a grand & glorious run and made some terrific Rhones over the span of 5-6 yrs. This, alas, is my last btl and the end of an era. SanSakana went out in a blaze of glory I would say.
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2. LasMadres: This is a vnyd run by John & Jean Painter. Located just beyond the dairy barn (now torn down...sigh) where you take the shortcut up to Sonoma from the Napa/Sonoma Hwy. So just a bit west of the famous Hudson and Hyde vnyds in the Carneros, but on the Sonoma side. John&Jean sell their Syrah to a number of different winemakers. The Las Madres Syrahs typically show a distinct black olive tapenade character to them. I would classify LasMadres as one of the truly great Syrah vnyds in Calif, and definitely cold-climate. And the folks behind it are great people. Their son, Seth, used to be in charge of the wine list at Dopo and the salumi restaurant Adesso up the street on Piedmont. Don't know where he is now, though.
Tom