Taste: Huge wine both on the nose and on the palate. Blackberry, cassis and white pepper aromas. On the palate plums, dusty earth and mocha are wrapped in soft, well-integrated tannins. This is a deep wine and as it opens up sweet fruits and black pepper notes emerge from the tannins. When I originally tasted this wine I thought it had much more new oak on it but, as it turns out, the entirety of the syrah component was aged for 18 months in 3rd fill barrels. It seems syrah is very sensitive to new oak tannins so a little goes a long way.
Cameron Confidential: Those of you familiar with Lot 12, 2003 Sonoma Mtn. Syrah will want to get a hold of this. From the same vineyard and almost a dead ringer. The mourvedre brings a hint of plumminess and lively acidity. As well, you might wonder what happened to the '04 vintage so I'll tell you. We absolutely loved the wine but the lab report came back with very low acidity which, while it could have been fixed, would probably suffered in quality nonetheless and we didn't want to risk it. The '05 is a welcome replacement even though we got less of it than we would have liked. The owner seems to be doing well with his brand and is holding back more and more each year. Theirs retails for $30 a bottle; you get it for $12 in our online store. There are only 100 cases available online and it'll go quickly.
Pair this with some Osso Buco or grilled meats and finish with some dark chocolate.
