Tried last night w/ my grilled veggies and Romesco Aioli:
1,SwansonVnyds NapaVlly Syrah (EB; 14.5%) 1995: Very dark color w/ some bricking; strong cedary/pencilly/Fr.oak strong blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry slight licorice/meaty some complex very attractive nose; soft/smooth rich/lush pencilly/Fr.oak blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/spicy slightly astringent/dried-out ripe complex flavor; very long blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some pencilly/toasty/cedary/Fr.oak smooth/polished/plush slight dried-out/astringent bite on the finish; still plenty of fruit and lots of pencilly/oak but a bit past its prime. $35.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The first Swanson Syrah, from young vines planted on their estate, came out in about '93. I first tasted it at the Aspen Food&Wine Festival and was mightly impressed with it. Huge/huge very intense Syrah fruit & lots of new/toasty/Fr.oak. The winemaker was MarcoCapelli. I visited him at the wnry around '96. When I pulled up to the wnry, I parked right next to this house that looked awfully familiar. Then I remembered standing in the kitchen there around '77 and tasting wines w/ MikeForni, winemaker of Cassayre-Forni. Deja vu all over again.
The early Swanson Syrahs often had a bit of eucalyptus in the nose. From a stand of eucalyptus trees that stood alongside the vnyds. A few yrs later, ClarkeSwanson took down that stand of eucalyptus trees to eliminate that taint.
Somewhere around this time they also bought the Syrah vnyd out from under SeanThackery was making his famed Orion Syrah from. That didn't go over very well w/ Sean. He subsequently went to the RossiRanch to make his Orion Syrah. Until he was told that the vines on RossiRanch were PetiteSirah, not Syrah. But it's still Orion..with its trademark eucalyptus character...which comes from his wnry location, not the grapes. Sean's own unique expression of terroir.
Tom
