2017 Forgeron Anvil Boushey Vineyard Syrah

Happy Saturday!  It's been a long week and I'm happy to have a day to catch up around the house.  It was sunny and 55 degrees here today, ideal for the first lawn mowing of the year, but unfortunately the snow (!) didn't fully melt until this afternoon.  So instead I cleaned the gutters, another day in the life!  So tonight I'm planning a casual dinner with a nice bottle of wine, a recent wine club selection from Forgeron Cellars.  The 2017 Anvil Boushey Vineyard Syrah is a 100% Syrah from the Birdhouse Block of the Boushey Vineyard in the Yakima Valley of Washington.  This particular block has a thin layer of topsoil resulting in the vine roots reaching directly into a layer of basalt which provides some interesting character to the fruit.  So let's see how this wine is tasting!

The wine is a deep, inky purple in the glass, with bright ruby along the edges, a bit darker than some examples of the varietal.  The nose is a rich combination of leather, intertwined with green grass and tart cherry.  The taste is just a classic syrah, with a rush of ripe black fruit up front, cherry, blackberry and currant that transitions to some interesting warm spice notes midpalate, white pepper, oak and some stark minerality on the finish.  The tannins are well structured, and fully supportive of the lingering and very dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as it's near the top, if not at the top of the 2017 Syrahs I've had the pleasure to taste.  This wine would be fairly food friendly, pairing well with anything from barbecue and steaks, to salmon, pasta or tacos.  Tonight I am hankering for summer, so I'm enjoying this wine with a classic cheeseburger with some sweet potato fries.  Cheers!