March 14th, 2018

Host: Jo and Don Graham

Syrah Sampling

Wine Menu

2008 Domaine de Bonserine La Sarrasine, Côte-Rôtie, France

Côte-Rôtie is an Appellation in the Northern Rhône region of France.  Côte-Rôtie means "the roasted slope", which refers to the long hours of sunlight that its steep slopes receive. Because of the typical addition of Viognier (3% for La Sarrasine), Côte-Rôtie wine typically exhibits an almost paradoxical pairing of meat aromas (including bacon) and floral aromas. However, even Côte-Rôtie from 100% Syrah can smell floral.

Available at BCLS for $87.39 with tax.

This wine was superb when tasted alone but improved remarkably when tasted along side the Roasted Vegetable Tart.

2010 Black Hills Estate Winery Syrah, Okanagan, BC

Black Hills is an Okanagan winery located just north of Osoyoos on Black Sage Road.  The Syrah is a terroir driven wine, with a rich aroma of black cherry, pepper, and charred meat.  The palate reveals black plum, more cherries and cocoa with a hint of fennel.

The 2015 vintage of this wine is available at the Winery or at BCLS for $46.20 with tax.

A great complement to the talents of Canadian winemakers, as this wine was on par with the offerings from other countries and at a better price point.

2011 Nina Lee Syrah, Spring Valley Vineyard, Walla Walla Washington

The Walla Walla Valley in the South-Eastern corner of Washington is an American Viticultural Area that contains 3,000 acres of vineyards with about 100 wineries. NIna Lee is 100% Syrah and  was rated 92 by the Wine Advocate.  Most of the wines produced at Spring Valley are named after the founder's family members, and Nina Lee is Uriah Corkrum's daughter-in-law.

The 2012 vintage is available at the winery for $50 US but this one was bought at Spinnaker’s Liquor Store in James Bay, Victoria for $72 Cdn.

Based on comments, this wine might have been the favourite commercial wine in this tasting.

2015 Penfold's Bin 128 Shiraz, Coonawarra, Australia

Coonawarra is on the South Coast of Australia halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide.  Because of its proximity to the Southern Ocean, its summer climate resembles the Mediterranean.  Bin 128 fruit results in wine that "exemplifies the perfume, transparency and seductive nature of cool-climate red table wines". The winemaker describes this as "a counterpoint to the more opulent and richly concentrated warm-climate Bin 28".

The 2015 vintage is available at the BCLS for $57.50 with tax.

This wine had more black currant and berry flavours than the other wines, probably a characteristic of most Australian Shiraz wines, but was a worthy member of the selected wines.  Several of us were quite complementary about this one.

2015 Sailor's Rest Syrah/Viognier, Don Graham production

This wine was blended with 7% Viognier (more than is traditionally used).  The grapes, sourced from Oliver, BC, were co-fermented and aged in French oak barrels for one year.

What can we say about this wine? A wonderful addition to the tasting and a great experience to those of us who don't get to taste really well made non-commercial wine. It was also interesting to taste the difference between the Syrah blended with Viognier and the 100% syrah version

2014 Sailor's Rest Syrah, Don Graham production

This wine is 100% Syrah with grapes sourced from Summit View Vineyard, Walla Walla, Washington. Aged in French oak barrels for one year.

Don has indicated that these Sailor's Rest wines might be valued at $20.  The rest of us feel that that is a heck of a deal! 

 Note:  Prior to the wine tasting, an Aromo Kit was distributed for us to experiment with smell to see if it would help us identify aromas in the wine bouquet.  It was an interesting experiment and seemed to be more helpful to some and not so much to others.

Food Menu