2009 Cayuse Armada Vineyard Syrah

Happy Saturday!  Given it's the first Saturday of the month, it's also Cellar Saturday, when I dig into the cellar and find a more mature bottle to open.  It's also Cayuse weekend in Walla Walla, which is a rather interesting festival where Cayuse winemaker Christophe Baron releases the new vintage of his wines.  Given this convergence of events, I've decided to open a bottle of 2009 Cayuse Armada Vineyard Walla Walla Syrah to help celebrate.  I've let this wine decant for about two hours thus far, so let's see how it tastes.

The wine is a deep garnet color in the glass with a tinge of auburn along the edges.  The nose is a complex layering of ripe black fruit, blackberry, cherry and cassis, along with some leather, smoke and dusty limestone gravel, with some mild floral undertones.  The taste is a rush of blackberry and eucalyptus that transitions to some mineral notes of dusty limestone midpalate before a reprise of funk at the finish.  The tannins are velvety smooth and nicely structured for the wonderfully smooth and dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, with the caveat that this is the type of wine that's a bit of an acquired taste.  It has some definite Bordeaux style funk going on with a good bit of earthiness, so if that's not a style of wine you enjoy, you might want to look elsewhere.  This wine might be a bit tough to pair, as it's very distinctive, so perhaps it's best just to pick a meal that can come along for the ride!  Tonight I'm enjoying this wine with a prime New York strip grilled Pittsburgh rare along with some linguine tossed with olive oil, fresh garlic and broccoli rabe.  Cheers!