EFESTE, Yakima Valley (Washington) Syrah 2019

 The first sip of this wine was followed by a well deserving exclamatory — “Oh, wow!”   This Syrah is an outlier on the complex and earthy side of Washington Syrahs.  It displays everything from sage bush, to pencil shavings, to chocolate covered fruit, and more.  EFESTĒ (pronounced like the letters F-S-T)  sources this fruit from Oldfield Estate, one of the Boushey Vineyards in Washington State.  The Boushey family farms a series of vineyards well known for outstanding fruit quality and this wine certainly earns its name “Jolie Bouche” (Happy Mouth) — a play on the Boushey family name, of course.