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1999 Havens Hudson Vineyard Carneros Syrah $$$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Wow with vibrant cherry, minerals, floral and smoke aroma
Taste: Violets, cinnamon, spices, smoke and cherry
Finish: Medium and has a nice floral character
Evaluation: Not bad for sampling it in 09 89 points
2000 Domaine De La Terre Rogue Ascent Sierra Foothills Syrah $$$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Elegant with earth, coffee, barnyard, floral
Taste: Balanced wine with coffee, spices, pepper, peppers, and some fruit
Finish: Medium and mainly earth components. Tannins have mellowed out over the years
Evaluation: This wine mellowed out over 3 days and is drinking really well right now 92 points
2001 Blue Rock Alexander Valley Syrah $$$
Color: Dark Purple
Nose: Wow! Coffee, perfume, blackberries, boysenberries, violets
Taste: Spices, coffee, blackberries, violets, blueberries
Finish: Medium and concentrated with exotic spices, blueberries, coffee, violets
Evaluation: $10 closeout bin 93 points
2001 Blue Rock Alexander Valley Syrah $$$
Color: Dark Purple
Nose: White pepper, blackberry, ink, charcoal, perfume and raspberries
Taste: Balanced palate with white pepper, charcoal, violets, spice and raspberries
Finish: Medium and concentrated
Evaluation: 92 points
2002 Blue Rock Alexander Valley Syrah $$$
Color: Dark Purple
Nose: Black pepper, eucalypts, blackberries
Taste: Very Aussie like with eucalypts, blackberries, pepper and spice
Finish: Medium and concentrated
Evaluation: Solid but not as good as the 2001 90 points
2002 Shafer Relentless Napa Valley Syrah $$$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Big with pepper, spice, plum, cherry, oak
Taste: Wow. Best US Syrah to date with pepper, spice, plum, cherry, oak, vanilla
Finish: Long and satisfying. Complexity is amazing.
Evaluation: This wine will improve with age and is a great value at $55. 95 points
2002 Domaine De La Terre Rogue Ascent Sierra Foothills Syrah $$$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Spice, blackberries, pepper
Taste: OK with spice, blackberries, pepper and earth
Finish: Medium
Evaluation: Sampled in 09 with the 2000 and the 2000 is much better 88 points
2003 C G di Arie Sierra Foothills Syrah $$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Inky purple marker, ripe fruits, plum, spice
Taste: Plum, licorice, spice
Finish: Black pepper, spice, and plum
Evaluation: Wonderful wine and should improve with some cellaring. 94 points
2003 Alesia Sonoma Coast Syrah
Nose: Currant with plum, pepper and spice
Taste: Spice and currants interweaving nicely
Finish: Black pepper and spices with a medium finish
Evaluation: A very solid US syrah. Should be even better with some bottle aging. 92 points
2003 Gravity Hills Paso Robles Syrah $$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Mineral, smoke, good fruit
Taste: Nice fruit balanced out with smoke and earth
Finish: Medium
Evaluation: Better then most at $10 88 points
2004 Ojai Stolpman Vineyard Syrah $$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Pepper, spice, plum, smoke
Taste: Well integrated wine with pepper, spice, plum, smoke, oak and tannins were not to noticeable
Finish: Medium with pepper, smoke, spice, and oak
Evaluation: Well made and not over the top. Elegant Syrah drinking well now. 92 points
2004 Roar Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah $$$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: White pepper, violets, charcoal, mushrooms
Taste: Tar, minerals, white pepper, spice, charcoal
Finish: Medium and concentrated
Evaluation: Super solid wine 94 points
2003 Rosenblum England Shaw Solano County Syrah $$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Blueberry, Grape jam
Taste: Fruit dominated with blueberry, black raspberry, and blackberries
Finish: Full flavored fruit forward syrah with a medium finish
Evaluation: A good example of a fruit forward syrah. 89 points
2004 Stolpman Hilltop Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara Syrah $$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Plum, dark fruit, spice
Taste: White pepper, spice
Finish: Multi layered with spice, pepper and violets
Evaluation: 91 points
2004 Stolpman Estate Santa Ynez Valley Syrah $$$
Color: Dark Purple
Nose: Intense floral, white pepper, spice, crushed rocks
Taste: Floral! Powerful pepper, spice, crushed rocks, alcohol present
Finish: Cinnamon, floral, crushed rock, spice, on this medium finish.
Evaluation: One of the most in your face wines I have tried this year. If the finish was a little longer and intense surely a top ten of the year but is top five in QPR. 93+ points
2004 Jeff Runquist “R” Petite Sirah $$$
Color: Dark Purple
Nose: Plum, cherry, smoke, earth tones
Taste: Spice, violets, smoke, pepper
Finish: A lot going on in the finish with floral notes, pepper, cinnamon, and moving into a buttery finish. The finish is pushing two minutes and is multi layered.
Evaluation: This is one of the more interesting wines I have had this year with so much complexity going on it is incredible that I paid around $25 for this wine. One of the best values of the year! 94 points
2004 Jeff Runquist Syrah $$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Spice, floral, fruits
Taste: Rich spice, floral, sour cherry, raspberry, buttery notes
Finish: Floral, earth and a buttery medium finish
Evaluation: An incredible, complex wine that is hard to beat at the $25 price. 93 points
2004 Rosenblum Cellars Vintners Cuvee California Syrah $
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Plum, spice, pepper
Taste: Spice and extremely thin. Watered down.
Finish: Short with a little spice and too much tannic qualities
Evaluation: Not what I consider quality Syrah. 80 points
2005 David Bruce Central Coast Petite Sirah $$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Crushed rock, violets, grape jam
Taste: Violets, heavy oak, crushed rock, spice
Finish: Medium tannins, oak, vanilla, spice on a medium finish
Evaluation: A good wine that will improve as the tannins soften. 88 points
2005 Eaglepoint Ranch Mendocino County Petite Sirah $$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Mineral, pepper, cranberries
Taste: Lacking on concentration with mineral and cranberries
Finish: Medium
Evaluation: Average wine 85 points
2005 Granton Cellars Syrah Hurrah! Surrah! - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (2/4/2010)
Medium purple. Nose of cranbery, dirt, and floral. Taste is simple and finish not impressive. Drinkable for $5. (83 pts.)
2005 Jeff Runquist "R" Salmon Vineyard Petite Sirah $$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Spice, cranberry, mineral
Taste: Powerful with Cranberry, spice, crushed rock, violets, cinnamon,
Finish: Spice, cinnamon, crushed rock, violets, oak notes, buttery finish that is extremely long. Super Complex wine!
Evaluation: This wine is the best example of quality for under $30 for the second year in a row. I believe this will only get better with some aging. 93+
Excelsior Vintage
2006 Bogle Vineyards California Petite Sirah $8.99
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Blackberry, spice
Taste: Blackberry, spice, floral
Finish: Medium
Evaluation: Good everyday wine 85 points
2006 Charles Shaw California Syrah $
Color: Light purple
Nose: Fruit and spice
Taste: Spice and red pepper
Finish: Smooth tannins, spice and red pepper
Evaluation: A good value for $3. 82 points
2006 Rosenblum Kick Ranch Sonoma Petite Sirah $$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Intense with blackberry, spices, minerals and smoke
Taste: A bit too much with strong overtones of minerals, spices and smoke quality
Finish: Medium and a bit of heat
Evaluation: A bit over the top for me 87 points
2006 Rosenblum Kick Ranch Reserve Sonoma Syrah $$$$
Color: Dark purple
Nose: Floral, coffee grounds, black pepper, dust, spices
Taste: Crushed rocks, gravel, smoke, walnuts, exotic spices
Finish: Long and super concentrated. This is a big wine with multiple layers of flavor
Evaluation: Powerful wine with some serious concentration 94 points
Five Days Later: Drinking great with coffee beans, floral, spices, raspberries, cinnamon, and blackberries. This is possibly the wine of the year for the $22 on sale 95 points
2006 Jeff Runquist "R" Salmon Vineyard Petite Sirah $$$
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Sweet fruits, floral, spice
Taste: Really improved in the glass with sweet fruits, floral and subtle spice
Finish: Medium with raspberries, floral, subtle spices
Evaluation: Nice wine for under $25 92 points