A few years back I walked up Hermitage Hill on a bitter cold January day and snapped a photo of the famous chapel at the top, La Chapelle. From the bottom of the hill, in the center of Tain-Hermitage in the heart of the Northern Rhone, the view of the Hill is impressive.
Tain-Hermitage is Syrah country, and the Syrah from the Hill is the most sought after and expensive in the world. Hermitage from a good vintage can age for decades, which is the primary reason collectors and connoisseurs prize this special wine.
New World Syrah, or Shiraz if you fancy Australian Syrah, is a different animal. Most of it is planted in warmer climates and picked riper. Some of these more voluptuous Syrahs can age equally well, but the aromas and flavors and most of all the structure bear little resemblance to Hermitage.
One exception I’ve recently discovered is the Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard Syrah, produced from hillside grapes grown in the shadows of Washington’s Cascade Mountains at an elevation of 1300 feet.
Columbia Winery winemaker David Lake, a Master of Wine, urged vineyard owner Mike Sauer to plant Syrah in the mid-1980s. The vineyard already had an established reputation for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but Sauer followed Lake’s advice and planted Syrah anyway.
The 1988 vintage from Red Willow was the first commercial vintage of Syrah released in Washington, but now Syrah seems to be overtaking Cab and Merlot and looms as Washington’s most promising red grape variety. It’s interesting that the Red Willow Vineyard is the state’s most northerly planting of Syrah.
Not coincidentally, the finest Syrah in France’s Rhone Valley comes from the cooler areas at the northern end of the valley, such as Hermitage, Cornas and Cote-Rotie.
I will review the 2001 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard Syrah later this week, but what struck me most when I tasted the wine a couple of days ago was the structure. Even at five years of age, the Columbia Winery Red Willow Syrah is firm on the palate, still tightly wound and drinking fairly young, though showing vibrant red fruit characteristics and a delicious hint of white pepper and woodsmoke. Still, it’s a baby.
I concluded it is one of the finest New World Syrahs I’ve tasted. And it’s only going to get better. I had the opportunity to visit Mike Sauer at his Red Willow Vineyard earlier this year, and couldn’t help but notice that the similarity with Hermitage didn’t end with the wine.
High atop the hill in the center of Red Willow Vineyard sits a small chapel, America’s very own La Chapelle.
Photos: Top, La Chapelle atop Hermitage Hill in Tain-Hermitage; Bottom, Mike Sauer explaining soil types and sun exposure with the Red Willow Vineyard chapel in the background.
Photos by Robert Whitley
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