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From the idiosyncratic wine maker John Thomas.  While 2008 is considered a great vintage in the Willamette Valley, it was ripe and not really up John's wheelhouse, yet, he adapted and made a wine consistent with his style and taking what the vintage offered.  Ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, slight Kirsch and just a hint of spice.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, big cherry fruit with underlying spice.  13.5% abv.  There are also firm tannins, not something you get much with Pinot Noir.  It was be interesting to let the tannins resolve and there is pl

From the folks at Cayuse.  Deep garnet in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with black cherries, strawberries, slight earthiness and a hint of floral notes.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, the black cherry and strawberries come thru big time.  A slight dry earthiness underneath.  This is ripe but not over done.  Good finish.  This could use a few years to develop more and should drink well for eight to ten after that.  Nice on its own, with age it will work well with roasted fowl.  

Inky purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black raspberries, spice and cedar.  On the palate, ripe black raspberry fruit with a slight sour cherry note.  Medium tannins.  Long finish.  This is a big wine but not over done.  It is just starting to calm down a bit as it enters middle age.  This is drinking well now and should continue to drink well for another seven to ten years.  This would work well with Indian food including yellow curries.

At age 19, this is doing just fine with no signs of being past prime.  The vineyard has since been bought and is now part of the Burgundy producer's Louis Jadot winery in Oregon.  Darker ruby in color, mostly opaque and looking a bit flat at this point.  On the nose, there are cherries, black cherries and spice.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, this has nice cherry fruit with some underlying dry forest floor.  Long finish.  It has a nice depth and complexity.  At this age, all bottles are different (it uses a natural cork), but well stored bottles should last another decade.  It drin

Reynvaan makes some great Syrah's in Washington state.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is nice with boysenberries, slight burnt rubber, black pepper and slight bacon fat.  Full bodied.  Nice acidity.  On the palate, the boysenberries come thru over a nice minerality.  Long finish.  This is drinking well right now.  it is not robust but very concentrated.  Drink over the next eight to ten years.  This will work well with Indian food or stews.  

Apparently, one of the reasons for the name is that these vineyards are tended to with the use of horses.  This was tasted side by side with the Tribe.  Of course, which you like better is personal taste but this seems much more backwards at this point.  Purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, white pepper, slight bacon fat, and clean char.  Medium to full bodied.  Firm tannins.  The palate has more boysenberry fruit with the underlying char coming thru.  It is tightly packed, but intense.  It probably needs ano0ther five years to open and maybe five afte

From the same people who make Cayuse in Washington state.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, black olives, roasted meat, and black pepper.  Very enticing.  Full bodied.  On the palate, this is still young with medium to firm tannins.  Nice black raspberry fruit.  Big, but more youthful than a fruit bomb.  If served blind, I think I guess a young Cornas rather than Washington.  Nice finish.  I have no real experience to judge ageability of these wines, but it seems like it need another five years or so, and then should be good for ten or fifteen more. 

Peter Rosback releases his wines early, so it is nice to get a taste.  These are from a vineyard that is about one hundred years old and was reclaimed around 20 years ago.  It is an interesting take on a grape not often found in those parts.  This years version seems a bit lighter on the fruit with a nice spicy quality to it.  Purple/ruby in color.  The nose has cherries, cinnamon, baking spices and slight sour cherry note.  Medium to full bodied.  On the palate, this is a bit softer in texture.  Light tannins.  Cherry fruit with underlying spice.  This is bottled under screwcap.  Of course

This has held up quite well.  It is mature and drinking very well right now.  Deep ruby in color with purple swirls.  The nose has black cherries, slight mint, spice and slight char.  On the palate, this is medium bodied.  Black cherries with underlying char.  Some complexity.  Good balance.  Nice finish.  This should probably be consumed in the next five to seven years.  It will work well with roasted meats or veggies.  

Classis Washington Syrah.  Inky purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose has black raspberries, black olives, slight burnt rubber and char.  Full bodied.  On the palate, this is a big wine, but not over ripe.  Lots of black raspberry fruit with char underneath.  Good acidity.  Nice finish.  This drinks well on its own, but works a bit better with food.  It should continue to mature for the next three to five years and be good for ten after that.  It would be a nice match with Indian food.