Mecurochrome garnet in the glass. Caked sediment in the bottle. A tinny sort of black velvet in the nose, dusty heat and fruit reduced to syrup-like proportions but still ridiculously heady. Definitely at prime or perhaps a speck after, but it has been open for 2 hours and there is not the teensiest bit of *falling apart* or oxidation. Thick and rich is the name of the game here, leather and cranberry reduction cranking out gobs and gobs of intoxicating bouquet swirl after brownish swirl.
Quick history on Gary Gibson… Was in vineyard/AG business, bought a piece of property up on York Mountain in Paso, started planting grapes, quickly became on of THE go-to vineyards for super-bling Syrah in Paso and got the tonnage prices for it, started making how own wine at SMWS and developed a nice following, opened a TR downtown San Luis Obispo, got married, moved winery operations to the one in Templeton, closed the TR, started building a house, continued to expand vineyard situations up on the property in Paso, decided to stop making wine. Still there, still around, still in AG and selling fruit to the finest and brightest of Paso Robles winemakers, just doesn’t make wine anymore. End of story. I have a few of his bottles left.
In the mouth, creamy sharp tiredness is short-lived before a face-smashing blackberry–deliciously polished but still vibrant and concentrated–overwhelms everything, piles of sweet liqueur, mountains of spice-cake, gallons of confiture and tooth-aching chewyness of thick compressed structure all tainted with the high note of sharp cherry acid.
This wine starts off a little slow–I’ll give you that. The color is a harsh warning, the nose holds much more hope, but contains hints of sharp rebuke on hi-alcohol wines and extended maceration in aged wines. By the time you’ve mussed around with this wine for a couple hours and started tasting it, all apprehension is quickly forgotten. Fruit so lush and alive, all those doldrums at first just disappear. A late-breathing green smokiness in the nose makes it all come alive and the fruit–THE MASSIVE FRUIT–an absolute fruit BOMB, but not the slightest bit flabby, OK, maybe a tiny bit. This thing has to be huge alcohol. Wouldn’t be surprised if over 15, but oh man is it showing it well.
When you see SHADOW CANYON on a label, you buy it.
203 SHADOW CANYON Syrah Shadow Canyon Vnyd York Mountain Paso Robles 15.4
Stephen McConnell 