Last night, Lance (husband) decided to have wine and he almost exclusively drinks reds. So, he chose this lovely bottle of Syrah. When he first opened it, I said "let me sniff it!" He sniffed. I said -- "what does it smell like?" So then I sniffed. Then we said in unison..."it smells like it needs to open up". So, we set the bottle and glasses down and went about our business of making dinner. Now, sometimes we eat strange things. I get it. Don't be a hater. Last night, we dined on blue cheese stuffed dates, wrapped in smoked bacon and roasted for 30 minutes. Steamed cauliflower, drizzled with local olive oil and sprinkled with cracked pepper. Baked potatoes with fresh green onions, real butter, light sour cream, mild spattering of aged cheddar and salt and pepper. In other words, probably a night to drink a white. But whatever. Ain't no snootiness here.
By the time our little meal was ready, the wine had opened up (maybe 15 minutes in total). Now, perhaps you don't know what I mean by "opening up". I can't give you much more than this -- some wines, especially big reds, need some time to let the air mix with them in order to really settle into their true flavors. Not too much time, of course, or they will be bad - you can't leave a bottle sitting there open overnight, for example. Unless you like nasty wine. And who am I to judge? We haven't moved our decanter up from the other house, so we just let it sit in the bottle sans cork and in our glasses. Easy enough.
This wine was muy good. I really, really liked it. It was full bodied, hearty, warm and delicious. It made me desperately wish I was eating roast. Or steak. Or other red meat meals. And yet, despite my meal of 2 white vegetables, it was still absolutely yummy. It was a bit overpowering for the cauliflower but I don't fault the wine. This was everything you want a syrah to be - creamy, rich, bold, spicy. Man. Just talking about it makes me want to have a glass with my morning muffin.
This winery is not in the Napa area. It sits north east a bit -- between Napa and Tahoe in the Sierra foothills. So says the bottle and their website. Apparently, they are most known for their zinfandels. You know what this means! Mama needs to get to the market and pick up a bottle of that - sho nuff!
To sum up, if you like a robust red in general, and a syrah in particular, this wine is a great choice. In addition to being a fabulous drink, I would love to try cooking with it. I make a mean red wine stew that this would work very well in.
Retails $11.50. Bought $8.99.
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