Wine & Spirits - February 2021 - 42

Year's Best US Syrah & Rhône Varieties
enough acidity to pair with barbecue. -P.J.C.
(W&S 10/20; 635 cases) §
522062

92 | Amavi Cellars

$33

2018 Walla Walla Valley Syrah (Best Buy) ^
This combines fruit from five vineyards,
including Les Collines, Seven Hills and
Pepper Bridge. It's tense when first poured,
with compact dark fruit leavened by scents
of olive leaf, bay laurel and pastilles. The
youthful flavors are driven by a texture that's
at once fleshy, savory and mouthwatering.
-P.J.C. §
520242

92 | Gramercy Cellars

$42

2016 Walla Walla Valley Syrah ^ Drawn from
Gramercy's Walla Walla sources, including
Forgotten Hills, Les Collines and a few
Rocks sites, this is a low-alcohol gem, bright
with tart berry and plum fruit seasoned with
whole-cluster spice. Lean and crunchy now,
this will become more elegant with age.
Cellar. -P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 1,000 cases) §
521374

92 | L'Ecole No 41

$37

2017 Walla Walla Valley Seven Hills
Vineyard Syrah ^ Seven Hills typically puts
out an elegant, smoke-tinged syrah, with
glimmers of red fruit and garrigue herbs
peeking out from the dark flavors. This
vintage yields scents of sage, green olive and
sandalwood over fruit that straddles both
dark and light berry flavors. The end effect
is generous and complex, suitable for leg of
lamb. -P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 1,060 cases) §
521438

92 | Reynvaan

$110

2017 Walla Walla Valley Stonessence
Syrah ^ Stonessence is Matt Reynvaan's
reserve bottling. In 2017, it's musky and
feral, with scents of clove, cinnamon and
distant smoke, and deep, powerful, juicy
fruit flavors. It is modestly rich but there's
an acid brightness at the core, and tannins
fine enough for flank steak. -P.J.C. (W&S
10/20; 429 cases) §
521435

92 | Reynvaan

$90

2017 Walla Walla Valley The Contender
Syrah ^ Rocks syrah meets a dollop of
marsanne in this wine. It smells of creosote
branches, tobacco and walnut skin, and
tastes of sweet fig and blackberry, with
42

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2021

92 | Saviah Cellars

$65

92 | Saviah Cellars

$32

2018 Walla Walla The Funk Estate
Syrah ^ From the winery's estate vineyard
in the Rocks District, " the Funk " in 2018 is
dramatic and intense, with smoky scents of
olive, carob and blackberry, as black as black
fruit can be, though a peachy viognier light
beam pierces the depths. The texture is sleek
and sexy, the tannins fine and saline. Not yet
a sum of its complex parts, it could use cellar
time to harmonize. -P.J.C. §
522064
2018 Walla Walla Syrah (Best Buy) ^
An exotic leathery note and high-toned
aromatics gives this meaty syrah tension
and energy. The core fruit is dark and blue,
but the wine leans on leathery tannins for
contour and grip. For barbecue. -P.J.C. §
521439

92 | The Unnamed Series

$25

2017 Walla Walla Valley Christmas Cuvée
Syrah (Best Buy) ^ This is a well-priced
introduction to the Reynvaan portfolio.
It's dark and rich, with scents of blackberry
and molasses and a bit of oak char. The
flavors take on a kind of Lapsang-souchong
smokiness, carried on a suave suedelike
texture. It's supple and ready for barbecue.
-P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 292 cases) §
522118

91 | Bledsoe Family Winery$64

2018 Walla Walla Valley Stolen Horse
Syrah ^ A rich wine, with shoulders as broad
as founder Drew Bledsoe's in his football
heyday, this wine's rich contours contain
plum and fig flavors, dark, a touch tarry, and
remarkably concentrated. Decant and pour
for a Tomahawk steak. -P.J.C. §
522032

91 | Reininger

$60

90 | Echolands

$38

90 | àMaurice Cellars

$45

90 | Saviah Cellars

$18

90 | Time & Direction

$65

2016 Walla Walla Valley XM Extended
Maturation Syrah ^ Steve Reininger blends
this wine from Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge
vineyard fruit, holding it in bottle for an extra
two years before release. It's aromatically
complex with scents of smoke, rose, violets,
black pepper and herbes de Provence. The
tannins have a fine, claylike feel, with the
stuffing for lamb shoulder. -P.J.C. §

2018 Walla Walla Valley Les Collines
Vineyard Syrah ^ That Doug Frost at
Echolands would draw from Les Collines
seems inevitable, adding another sommelier
winemaker to the fraternity (that includes
Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen, of W.T. Vintners, and
Greg Harrington, of Gramercy Cellars). This
wine is quiet and reserved, taking days to
pierce through its reductive torpor, revealing
a lean, smoky, rosemary-scented savor over
crushed berry fruit. The acids are brisk, the
tannins light, the wine ready for a decanter
and a tenderloin. -P.J.C. §
521330

$60

2018 Walla Walla Valley Fred Syrah ^ A
warm iteration of syrah from the Uplands
region of Walla Walla, this has high-toned
scents of peppercorn and clove, and even a
mildly tropical fruit scent. Its flavors are all
mocha and blackberries, more raven than the
hummingbird on the label might suggest.-
P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 698 cases) §
522065

2017 Walla Walla Valley Les Collines
Syrah ^ This wine is in a savory state at this
moment in its life, the aromas smoky and
herbal, from rosemary and tanbark to white
pepper. The flavors continue the savory
theme, becoming more harmonious and
exotic after two days open, suggesting that
time will allow it to knit. -P.J.C. §
522134

2018 Walla Walla The Jack Syrah (Best Buy) ^
A steal at $18, this wine blends 10 percent
grenache and five percent mourvedre into
rich, warm syrah fruit. Its baked blackberry
and molasses scents and warm fruit flavors
dusted with cinnamon make this a wintry
wine for stew. -P.J.C. §
522105

91 | Gramercy Cellars

91 | Love That Red

$53

2016 Walla Walla Valley Stakes Race
Syrah ^ Dark and inky, with a bit of iodide
and olive lending a shadowy savor, this wine's
sandalwood scents lead into blackberry and
black plum flavors, dusty and quietly grippy
for steak. -P.J.C. §
522044

2018 Walla Walla Valley Wellspring'
Reserve Eritage Vineyard Syrah ^ This wine's
floral sage scents are lifted by some volatile
notes. The palate is chaparral dusty, lean with
a taut freshness that's lifted by lively acidity.
For ribs. -P.J.C. §
https://www.amavicellars.com/wine/2018-syrah/ https://echolandswinery.orderport.net/product-details/0001/Echolands-Winery-Les-Collines-Syrah-2018-Walla-Walla-Valley-AVA
Wine & Spirits - February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2021
