Newsletters
A Few Thoughts Regarding Syrah, 25 Years Into The Parade...
The first wine I ever made from Syrah grapes was barely ten and one-half percent alcohol. I hadn’t intended it to be so low; twelve and a half to thirteen percent would have been more like it. But being pretty new at the winemaking business in 1985, I left the assessment of ripening up to the vineyard manager that first time, and I’d certainly have to say he didn’t get it right.
If we’re paying attention, we learn from the times when things don’t go quite as planned, and one thing I learned is that Syrah at ten and one-half percent alcohol can be pretty nice wine. It had a very pleasing flavor, though it may have been a bit more convincing had the fruit hung for a few more days, by which time it would have also produced a slightly higher alcohol level. (Another thing I learned is that I would need to figure out how to make my own assessments about ripeness)
That vineyard was in Paso Robles, on the sprawling plain east of town. It was a very large planting of Syrah, undertaken at a time when almost no other wineries in California had shown any interest in Syrah, an oversight that, a few years later, led the vintner who planted it to produce a "white" Syrah, just to be able to find some use for the enormous volume of grapes being generated.
The fact that Syrah in California has been thought of, for most of the past twenty-odd years, as being very dark, full-bodied, powerful wine makes a certain kind of sense, at least in the abstract. California is generally a warm place, with a long, mostly dry growing season, one that starts early and hangs around almost until the Winter holidays in many years. But this abstract sense strikes me as neither informative nor useful, since California’s geography boasts stunning variability in elevation, proximity to the ocean, marine airflow patterns, mountain airflow patterns, soil moisture-retaining capacity, soil vigor, wind and sun exposures, topography, and so on, that profoundly influence the nature of wine produced on any given site.
In that same twenty-odd years the number of vintners producing Syrah in California has gone from a couple to several hundred, and, in the marketplace, the variety has gone from "unknown" to "obscure" to "coming on strong" to "the next big thing" to "we can’t sell that." Somewhere in between "obscure" and "coming on strong" a path-of-least-resistance opened up between Syrah and the consumer’s wallet, featuring a parade of wines made in what might be described as a ripe, easygoing style. Since the parade was originally fairly small, and very lively, more and more producers began to participate. Whatever it was that originally drew a positive response from the market rather quickly became something to augment, in order to draw ever more attention. If a little bit of something (ripeness, oak, extraction, you name it...) gets your wines noticed, then a lot is even better! Surely it’s no surprise that after a certain point, a lot of consumers began to feel that most Syrah wines tasted way too similar, and, by the way, too heavy, too sweet, too strong, too woody, and just not much fun.
When I started making Syrah I didn’t know very much about it, yet I probably knew quite a bit more than a lot of people, from having spent a dozen years in the retail end of the wine business in an era in which California wines were still a relatively small part of the wine landscape. I’d drunk the great Syrah wines from the Northern Rhone: Côte Rôtie, St. Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, from a considerable range of producers, as well as numerous Australian (Shiraz) bottlings. But it was a bottling from a colleague in Santa Barbara County I’d tasted in April of '85 that had convinced me that lovely Syrah could be made here, and it was the memory of that wine that propelled me toward making some myself.
I didn’t feel I had any kind of handle on what "Syrah-ness" was, back in 1985. (I had even less certainty about Mourvèdre-ness, when it came to my first encounter with that grape). But perhaps a lucky side to working with a grape that was so obscure, was not feeling the weight of expectations that might be there with more "established" grapes. I had the luxury of being able to let the grapes instruct me regarding their essential properties. Even luckier, I stumbled onto a truly great planting of Syrah in California, back in 1986, when I began to work with grapes from the Durell Vineyard.
Even nearly 24 years later, the memory of the first vintage of Durell Syrah grapes fermenting is astoundingly vivid to me. The aromas coming from the fermenter late one night, were unlike anything I’d imagined! There was startling spiciness, a captivating, hickory-like smokiness, and the deepest wild blackberry smell, all intertwined. I felt transfixed, caught up in some miraculous, exotic olfactory spectacle! This was still fermenting!. And it seemed so gorgeous, just as it was, that the thought of doing anything that might alter what was already there was inconceivable to me.
I worked with those grapes for 13 years, until the vines succumbed to Phylloxera. During those years I devoted my efforts with those grapes to becoming more and more attuned to the natural expression of that place, through those grapes. It became, in a certain way, a deepening conversation between sentient beings, as they become better acquainted.
The wine from that first encounter, in 1986, is still fresh and youthfully vibrant, thanks, no doubt, to its fine structure. As a beginning vintner, with so little experience on which to draw, I relied on the way my nervous system reacted to the sensory cues I got from tasting: first the grapes, and later, the wine. I seem to be wired to like wines in which structure is paramount, yet because of a commensurate need I feel for balance, the structure toward which I gravitate tends in the direction of weightlessness and away from imposition.
Syrah is still pretty new in California, and I’m still learning how to work with it, and I don’t feel I can say I’m completely happy, yet, with any wine I’ve made from it. That’s okay, though; I’m not the easiest guy to please. Philippe Faury in St. Joseph is making what might be my favorite Syrah wines from anywhere - they’re so pretty! Lucky guy, he’s got those wonderful old vines in that ancient soil, and centuries of vinous wisdom in his DNA, I’d bet. There’s the measuring stick!
Steve Edmunds
27 May, 2010
Join the organolepticians!
- organoleptic
- (ôr'ge nl ep'tik, ôr gan'l ep'-), adj. 1. perceived by a sense organ. 2. capable of detecting a sensory stimulus. [1850-55; < F organoleptique = organo- ORGANO + -leptique < Gk leptikós disposed to accept (lept(ós), v. adj. of lambánein to take + -ikos -IC)]
--Random House Webster's
College Dictionary
The Edmunds St. John Dictionary of Etymological Arcana defines organoleptics broadly and simply as tasting events. To stay in the know, you should subscribe to the organolepticians, our online newsletter of announcements, thoughts, vintage tasting notes, whatever strikes us. To join, just send an email to organolepticians-request@EdmundsStJohn.com with only the word subscribe in the body of the message.

The organolepticians at work
- Number 82 (May 27, 2010)
- A Few Thoughts Regarding Syrah, 25 Years Into The Parade...
- Number 81 (February 8, 2010)
- Time Out of Mind
- Number 80 (November 6, 2009)
- Whoppin' Good Time!
- Number 79 (September 26, 2009)
- What’s In a Name?
- Number 78 (July 27, 2009)
- Beauty In The Beast (The Baby and the Bathwater)
- Number 77 (24 March, 2009)
- April Starlight
- Number 76 ()
- First The Tide Rushes In
- Number 75 (November 25, 2007)
- When The Hours Turn to Smoke
- Number 74 ()
- Home Grown Tomatoes
- Number 73 (February 28, 2007)
- Late Winter Offering
- Number 72 (September 4, 2006)
- Me and My Shadow
- Number 71 (August 13th, 2006)
- Ridin' Six White Horses (Welcome to Peoria!)
- Number 70 (June 20th, 2006)
- Hobo's Lullaby
- Number 69 (May 27th, 2006)
- Might be Nothing but Words
- Number 68 (January 13th, 2006)
- Seeing Things
- Number 67 (December 9th, 2005)
- Across the Great Divide
- Number 66 (November 28th, 2005)
- Wild Card (When Worlds Collide)
- Number 65 (November 1st, 2005)
- Just Another Whistlestop
- Number 64 (October 24th, 2005)
- Dead To The World
- Number 63 (October 12th, 2005)
- Not a County Maintained Road
- Number 62 (September 25th, 2005)
- Knock, Knock, Knockin'
- Number 61 (August 1st, 2005)
- The Heart Laid Bare
- Number 60 (July 17th, 2005)
- Ship Of Fools
- Number 59 (June 14th, 2005)
- Good Things From The Garden (The Terroir Blues)
- Number 58 (May 22nd, 2005)
- Jack O'Diamonds (I Know You Of Old)
- Number 57 (April 10th, 2005)
- Whiskey Before Breakfast (And other songs of the itinerant...)
- Number 56 (February 6th, 2005)
- Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
- Number 55 (December 20th, 2004)
- Original Sin
- Number 54 (October 29th, 2004)
- Harmonicas and Virgins
- Number 53 (October 2nd, 2004)
- I Can't Help It If I'm Lucky
- Number 52 (August 5th, 2004)
- Way Up North
- Number 51 (June 28th, 2004)
- Can't Forget the Motor City
- Number 50 (June 2nd, 2004)
- Diamonds In The Rough
- Number 49 (May 17th, 2004)
- The Miles Could Tell a Million Tales
- Number 48 (April 12th, 2004)
- Lo, How a Rose
- Number 47 (March 5th, 2004)
- First Bird
- Number 46 (January 31st, 2004)
- I Wanna Be Like Mike
- Number 45 (November 2, 2003)
- Ghost Stories
- Number 44 (October 14, 2003)
- Extra Innings
- Number 43 (September 26, 2003)
- Sowing On The Mountain
- Number 42 (August 29, 2003)
- The Fugitive/The One-Armed Man
- Number 41 (July 20, 2003)
- Tales of Wining and Dining
- Number 40 (June 13, 2003)
- Wonder If We Know Just Who We Are
- Number 39 (May 13, 2003)
- Blast from the Past
- Number 38 (March 2, 2003)
- Breakfast of Champions
- Number 37 (December 14, 2002)
- Talkin Bout Good News!
- Number 36 (November 27, 2002)
- Merging with the Energy
- Number 35 (October 27, 2002)
- After the Summer
- Number 34 (Labor Day, September 2, 2002)
- Ban des Vendanges 2002: Gamay Shelter!
- Number 33 (August 25, 2002)
- Waitin' for You
- Number 32 (August 14, 2002)
- Got the Butterflies
- Number 31 (August 11, 2002)
- The Great Leftfielders
- Number 30 (July 2, 2002)
- The King of Luckytown
- Number 29 (June 24, 2002)
- Rhônesome and Ramblin': In Search Of A Linear Narrative
- Number 28 (May 21, 2002)
- Ramblin' Blues: In search of the World's Greatest Pizza
- Number 27 (April 25, 2002)
- Ramblin' Fever (On the trail of the Sacred Energy)
- Number 26 (April 18, 2002)
- The View from Here
- Number 25 (March 12, 2002)
- I Started Out on Burgundy
- Number 24 (January 21, 2002)
- The Devil Made Me Do It
- Number 23 (December 26, 2001)
- All is Calm, All is Bright
- Number 22 (November 8, 2001)
- I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore, Toto
- Number 21 (September 17, 2001)
- 911 COMES CALLING (I'll Take Any Good News I Can Find)
- Number 20 (September 3, 2001)
- A CASE OF THE VAPORS: Labor Day, 2001
- Number 19 (September 2, 2001)
- 2001: THE ODDYSSEY THAT WOULD NOT DIE: Stop Me If You've Heard this Before
- Number 18 (June 26, 2001)
- The Myth of Sisyphus
- Number 17 (May 29, 2001)
- ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
- Number 16 (February 19, 2001)
- IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER:
- Number 15 (January 9, 2001)
- FIRST MUSTER, DOUBLENAUGHT ONE: Sound the Trumpets!
- Number 14 (November 27, 2000)
- WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN' GOIN' ON
- Number 13 (November 6, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Good to the Last Drop
- Number 12 (October 27, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: The Wheels Come Off
- Number 11 (October 17, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Rainy Day, Man
- Number 10 (October 4, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Lord Willin' and the Crick Don't Rise
- Number 9 (September 25, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Dancing with Lunacy
- Number 8 (September 14, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Read 'Em and Weep!
- Number 7 (September 2, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Is it September Yet?
- Number 6 (August 24, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Back to the Future
- Number 5 (August 20, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: We Can't Go On Meeting this Way
- Number 4 (August 16, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: Maybe it was the Full Moon
- Number 3 (August 14, 2000)
- UPDATE: VINTAGE TWO-TRIPLENAUGHT: First Stirrings of Harvest
- Number 2 (August 4, 2000)
- Hospice du Rhône 2000, Revisited
- Number 1 (June 2000)
- What's New?
- Number 0 (October 6, 1999)
- Out Standing in His Field
© 2006 Edmunds St. John
1331 Walnut Street
Berkeley, CA 94709
t: (510) 981.1510
f: (510) 981.1610
e: info@EdmundsStJohn.com
