Quick, name the five greatest California Syrahs you’ve ever tasted.
Uh, can’t even think of one? Thought so. Therein lies the dilemma that confronts California winemakers who believe Syrah should be prominent in their portfolio, if only wine enthusiasts would buy it. I frequently hear the lament that Syrah doesn’t sell.
I am sympathetic but far from surprised. Most California Syrah is boring. Unlike the scintillating Syrahs of the northern Rhone, and to some extent Australia and perhaps even Washington, California Syrah has but a handful of prominent benchmark wines.
Most good California producers who work with Syrah make a perfectly acceptable red wine. Seldom distinctive, seldom identifiable, certainly almost never wonderful or "great." California Syrah, IMHO, suffers from the Baskin-Robbins mentality of the California wine industry.
Wineries make Syrah whether their soils and climate are right for it — or not. Same way they must make a Merlot, a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Bordeaux blend, a Cabernet and whatever else comes to mind. Must keep those tasting-room folks busy, whether Syrah is in the winery’s DNA — or not.
The result is a blandness that is killing the American appetite for Syrah.
All of this came to mind this week when I tasted a truly outstanding California Syrah, the 2007 Nickel & Nickel from the Darien Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. My review of that wine in this week’s issue of WRO was enthusiastic, and it made me wonder why there aren’t more California Syrahs of this ilk.
There are a few. Alban, located in the Edna Valley, makes a couple of vineyard-designated Syrahs that usually blow my socks off, though I haven’t tasted the Alban wines in several years. Bonny Doon’s Syrah is in this league and a steal at under $20.
Edmunds St. John, Qupe and Foxen also occasionally produce a mind-bending Syrah. But by and large, California Syrah has been a dud. California vintners either try to make it like a Cabernet and end up with a cloddish wine, or they blend it out, sometimes using it to plump up their Pinot Noir.
The only upside I see is that truly superb Syrah, such as the Nickel & Nickel Darien, stands out. But that also begs the question, if these handful of California producers can do Syrah so well, what’s holding the others back?
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