Syrah: Sexy and Seductive? Or Sybil?

Last year I had a self proclaimed wine snob in our Volcano Vineyards Tasting Lounge who snorted when I told him our 2004 Syrah was a “cool climate” Syrah. He dismissed me as “spinning” the marketing on our wine. He was obviously an idiot, as that wine won a double gold medal at the Wine Press Northwest Platinum Judging. His idea of Syrah was the big, fat, flabby high alcohol fruit-bomb wine typically coming out of Walla Walla, parts of California and Australia (where they call is Shiraz – yes, same grape). So, not only was he a blow-hard who really wasn’t quite the wine connoisseur he fancied himself to be, but his palate has yet to evolve enough to appreciate elegant, refined Syrahs.

Settle down, I am only kidding - he is perfectly fine preferring one style of Syrah over another, but I do wish he would realize that it is a stylistic preference (and often dictated by climate – I don’t think we could ever do a high-alcohol Syrah from Lakeside Vineyard – it just doesn’t get that hot there).

I realize that it is very hip these days to be in love with syrah from Walla Walla. Especially here in Bend, it seems to have a cult-like following. And with good reason. I have complete admiration for the Walla Walla wineries, in fact, I am downright jealous of what they have been able to do over the last ten years: a cohesive, united marketing effort coupled with self policing has elevated the region to world class status. Mark Retz from Zerba Cellars will tell you that they absolutely have a marketplace advantage with Walla Walla on their label.

Scott made our Volcano Vineyards 2006 Fortmiller Syrah in a “Walla Walla” style – very fruity, higher alcohol than we usually have, longer aging in oak. That is what people expect when they order a Walla Walla syrah: a big, bold, fruity explosion of luscious, almost inky wine. It’s a style that has its place: for example, when you are sitting in front of the fire having wine for dinner. If you are planning, however, to have wine WITH dinner, a more subtle syrah – and yes, it is sometimes referred to as a “cool-climate” Syrah - would probably be your best choice.

I hereby confess to being uncool. I prefer my Syrahs refined, elegant, well balanced and generally lower in alcohol. A personal choice, a matter of taste, a stylistic preference.

The big, bold, high alcohol wines are perfect to have on their own since once you’ve tasted them, it is difficult to taste anything else – your palate is blown. When in a restaurant, I find that if I am spending more than $10 on food, I would really like to be able to taste what I am eating.

So the big bold fruit bomb wines knock your socks off on first sip, then… kablam! Your mouth goes nearly numb. And these fruit bombs can be any varietal from any region – it is a winemaker choice to let the fruit hang until the sugars (which convert to alcohol during fermentation) hit high numbers. From a business perspective, it makes perfect sense. After all, the fruit bombs are the big sellers these days, the consumers seem to prefer them. The glossy wine mags, despite their editorial musings on the flaws of high alcohol wines, consistently award them scores in the 90s.

There are higher alcohol wines out there that retain some acidity and have decent structure – and keeping that acidic backbone is the key. I recently had a Pinot Noir with a 16% alcohol – very unusual for a Pinot Noir - and it was lovely, a perfect complement to duck. But frankly, if I am going to polish off a bottle of wine, I’d rather not be hung over the next day. (And no, for anyone getting his judgmental hackles in a twist, I do not consume a bottle of wine a night on a regular basis. By myself, that is. Scott and I do usually split a bottle a night, but after all, we are professionals. Sheesh.)

For me, wine is food, and its purpose is to be part of a memorable meal. When made in a well-balanced, well-structured style, Syrah is one of the most food friendly of the red wines, paring with the traditional “red” foods, like steak, mushrooms and game, but it also perfectly complements salty and bitter foods, such as olive tapenade, roasted vegetables, and lighter fare accented with lemons or capers. It is a great option for vegetarian fare.

So save that big crazy fruit bomb wine for an afternoon when you aren’t going anywhere and aren’t having dinner for a few hours. You’ll find it pairs perfectly with mid afternoons and soul searching conversations.

Originally published on: http://bendnights.com/blog/category/from-the-vine/

The Newport Seafood and Drunk, eerrr, I mean, Wine Festival

Wine is all about aromas. Scents, fragrance, and bouquet are of primary importance. If nothing else, this week has been a week of varied smells.

We arrived in Newport early last week and learned a little something on the journey. Our youngest son is indeed susceptible to car sickness: last year’s vomiting incident was no fluke. But while last time he threw up after we got out of the car, this year it happened right there in the backseat. All over his Spiderman suit, his booster seat, the floor. Mmmmmm mmmmm good. Then we get to the house to find that a short in the electrical box caused the electricity to have gone out days earlier. And all the crab bait in the freezer was no longer frozen. Or fresh. So while Scott was cleaning out the minivan (and really, were they not designed with kiddo’s eliminations in mind?) I was suppressing my gag reflex to clean out the rotting fish. And despite three pounds of baking soda there is still a whisper, the merest hint of brininess in the air when we open the freezer. Ah. The sea.

Many, many winery people warned us that the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival is a crazy booze-fest of drunk twenty-somethings (and I know what you are thinking – what in the world is wrong with that???). But I’d have to say that out of the three days of the festival that only held true for Saturday, which was a spectacle indeed. Folks dress up in costumes, everyone screams when someone breaks a glass (and inevitably people start breaking glasses on purpose, and are quickly shown the door). I think its boozy rep is a bit overblown. While lots of places were complaining their sales were down 50% from last year, we felt the weekend was a great success – we’d never been here before so anything over breaking even was a bonus. Our 2006 Merlot won Gold here at Newport and we sold out of it and the 2005 Bordeaux Blend quickly. This was the perfect place for our Magmita Sangria.

The Newport Chamber of Commerce, who hosts the event, and the OLCC are of course well aware of the "festiveness" of this festival and they have set very strict guidelines for what we can and cannot do. Taste and glass pours we being closely monitored, no open bottles were to leave tasting areas, and the place was crawling with police. If a winery were to violate the OLCC regulations, hefty fines – and I am talking thousands of dollars – were levied. So of course there is the a-hole who comes up to us as things were winding down on Saturday and says that he "would have bought a case” except he felt “gyped” on his glass pour, so he wasn’t going to buy anything. Did he say anything at the time he got his glass? Of course not. Was he actually planning on buying a case? I seriously doubt it. What a bunch of BS. Like we are supposed to risk a hefty fine so he can get a quicker buzz? I don’t think so. But these few festival buttheads make for great stories later.

As we usually find at these events, most folks are so friendly, they love wine and are interested mostly having fun while trying great wines and yummy food. And a remarkable number of people were over for the weekend from Bend and had never heard of us. These events are a great excuse to get spend a long weekend away doing the wino and foodie thing on a budget. We’ll be at Sip in McMinnville the weekend of March 13, but we won’t be at Astoria, as it is right after Pebble Beach Food & Wine – that one, not so much for the budget conscious, but if you have the means, I highly suggest checking it out. If you go, be sure to look for me – I’ll be the one chatting up Eric Ripert. Or trying to, anyway.

Blah Blah Blog

My first blog for BendNights.com is now live. To read it, and other edgy Bend bloggy stuff, check out: http://bendnights.com/blog/category/from-the-vine/

I can't imagine having enough to say to do this blog and the BendNights blog, but I'll give it a shot.

So, how 'bout this weather we've been having?

All righty, a quick update on us. We are looking for a bigger Tasting Lounge space Downtown, and are hoping to find someone to sublease the Brooks Street spot. I am happy to say we’ve outgrown that location, and want to start doing more events in the Tasting Lounge, like wine dinners and technical tastings. We are still also working on getting a production facility up and running here in Bend by this summer – gotta get that Magmita Sangria bottled!

We started looking for investors for the Magmita Sangria and the Magna Wines last summer, but put everything on hold once it became clear the economy was tanking. I don't think we had a really clear picture of what our next step was going to be - Scott was thinking we might have to move to southern Oregon, I wanted to stay in Bend, were we going to use our current winery facility for the second labels or build our own and if so, how tricked out would it be... many, many uncertainties. But we seem to have narrowed our focus and as long as I can get Scott to stop coming up with new ideas ("Hey, let's do a whole line of frozen chicken called Lava Clucks" - it's maddening - somthing new every day) I will have our new business plan done by early March. It is all becoming clear to me now.