Cray-cray dark ruby (ok, I promise I will never use ‘cray-cray’ again) just thick as night, no light through to 1/8″ deep, clear, thin edges. Initial moldy, barnyard, rotting flesh hinted at a serious decanting candidate.  Ambitious aeration reveals all the barnyard without the mustiness and brings out a wallop of cinnamon, myrrh, amber and new carpet.  An absolutely intoxicating nose.  Round and spicy and flush with fruit of an exotic variety.

The blistering acid and tannin really dominate the entire taste and only minute glimpses of the ample fruit–WHICH IS INDEED IN THERE–pop through in the entry, middle and finish.  By finish, it is almost a fuggetaboutit proposition.  It HAS wonderful fruit in it, it’s just the dirty-baby-diaper nose and stunning spicy-bitter finish do everything they can to mask it.  14-7, which kinda scares, but AL really never enters the picture, so props for balance.  Just a nearly impeccable Syrah which I guarantee will settle down with a couple years of rest.  Screw-top, and ‘only’ “Santa Barbara County”.  Anyone know where this comes from?  I would love a little more detail on the fruit.  The funny thing is, I have a couple 2011 and 2012 Syrah’s sitting here in the Experiment Rack and this is a 2010 and nearly un-approachable.

This is not an expensive wine.  Find some and buy it.  Drink one and then forget about it for a decade.  Hitching-Post SY rules all.  I’m just a huge wonk for this stuff–even an entry-level one.  I try REALLY HARD to like their pinot offerings, but keep coming back to the Syrah.  GOD I want to taste this SO BAD in ten years.

2010 HITCHING POST ‘Big Circle’ Syrah Santa Barbara Co. California 14.7

http://hpwines.com/