One of those wines you can SMELL even as you pour. Oily, green weedy anger boils the air, velvety dried cherry patina and petrichor causing salty waves of grit against the pillar of dusty mineral and structure. Still deep crimson at 11, this little screw-top remains one of the PILLARS of supermarket value. I don’t know what these cost where you live, but we pay, like, 18 bucks for them, and I keep a fairly strong vertical.
Fruit fading–definitely. But I have some double this age and they continue to glow. Walls of deep berry must be confronted; piles of tannin to be parted; age and concentration to be dealt with. Perfect amounts of Northern Rhone funk twist California sunshine into manageable chunks, a combined effort NOT Paso clunky–OR Sonoma Coast green. This one is definitely fading: acidic power defies fruit to an extent–leaving gobs of chalky residue on the tongue for consideration–but no one here cares about your cries for help.
2010 HITCHING POST ‘Big Circle’ Syrah Santa Barbara County 14.7
Stephen McConnell 