Tried these two over the weekend:
1. WindGap Syrah GriffinsLairVnyd/SonomaCoast (13.6%; 112 cs; #592) PaxMahle/Forestville 2008: Very dark color w/ some bricking; lovely very strong blackberry/Syrah/bit boysenberry/ripe much less cold-climate/black pepper more smokey bit less Rhonish/whole-cluster/peppery more earthy/dusty/OV stronger toasty/smokey/oak bit less complex nose; less tart/tangy/more riper bit richer/lusher strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy/boysenberry stronger smokey/toasty/Fr.oak bit less Rhonish/w-c/peppery fairly structured bit simpler more Calif Syrha rather complex flavor w/ lighter smoother tannins; very long/lingering strong Syrah/blackberry/boysenberry slight Rhonish/w-c/roasted bit c-c/black pepper some toasty oak rather complex finish w/ light smooth tannins; much less Rhone in character & speaks more of Calif Syrah w/ Rhonish nuances; tannins are much more resolved & smoother; probably as good as it will ever be; a lovely fully-mature Calif Syrah.
_________________
2. WindGap Syrah ArmaghVnyd/SonomaCoast (12.7%; 97 cs; #533) 2008: Med.dark color w/ some bricking; lovely very strong Rhonish/roasted/w-c/peppery/bit earthy strong blackberry/Syrah/c-c/black pepper quite complex nose; very tart/tangy/acidic almost screechy very strong Rhonish/roasted/w-c/peppery strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy light c-c/black pepper some smokey/toasty/oak quite structured fairly complex quite Rhonish flavor w/ some chewey tannins; very long/lingering rather acidic/hard very strong Rhonish/roasted/w-c/peppery quite structured strong spicy/blackberry/Syrah complex finish w/ some hard/chewey tannins; a very strongly Rhonish Syrah Syrah but probably will never resolve all the tannins.
___________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I have, of course, followed PaxMahle's wines from the very start. At one of the early Syrah Shootouts at HdR, this young guy w/ wild hair approached me and wanted me to try his Ho-made Syrah. It was a huge wine, well over 15%, but huge blackberry fruit. I was fairly impressed. He then went into business w/ JoeDonelan & founded Pax wines. His style remained huge/big/extracted/alcoholic wines. He & Joe parted ways & Pax went on to found WindGap wines. Along w/ his new operation, was a drastic change in style to less-alcoholic, less big wines. But I followed along & continued to like his new style, of which these two are representative. I still like his wines quite a lot but don't buy them as much as I used to...for no particular reason...too many wines to try, I guess.
Tom