Winery - Stephenson Cellars
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Syrah is Dave Stephenson’s forté, and this new release is sharp, racy and bright with citrus flavors. The acids taste like lemons and orange peel, while the fruit is tart and the tannins earthy. A broad swath of earth and fungus circles the wine like the asteroid belt, deepening and lengthening the flavors.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is ripe, textured, sexy fruit; given two years in mostly neutral oak, which has softened the wine, and taken the edge off the herbal notes. It’s ready to drink, a delicious, spicy wine that keeps going long after you expect the flavor to stop.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This tiny Walla Walla producer made just 220 cases of this Willow Crest Vineyard Syrah. It’s a dazzling display of elegant power, offering polished red fruits with overtones of peach, apricot and candied orange. Finishes with a well-defined tannic edge nuanced with ash and smoke.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
From Willow Crest (Yakima Valley) fruit, this is done in a lighter style for Washington Viognier, and it shows an elegant precision to the mix of flavors and spices. Beeswax, lemon oil, hints of honeysuckle and scents and flavors of flowers flow gracefully through to the harmonious finish, without ever turning oily or hot.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
100% Cabernet, this is very smooth and supple, a lovely wine, with darker, earthier flavors underneath the opening fruit. It shows the kind of elegance and grace one finds in Bordeaux, without intrusive barrel influences, and it’s the kind of nose you want to bury your nose in. It wraps around you seductively, with an appealing shyness. The fruit and wood and earth flavors are seamless and interesting, as the wine leads you gently through a very long finish.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is very dark, virtually black in the center; a brooding wine bursting with bass notes. Drinking it young is not a bad thing; the berry flavors—especially boysenberry—rush out at you, but with generous streaks of smoke and bacon fat in the finish. It will benefit from decanting and additional cellar time.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is pure Cab, from Wooded Island and Inland Desert vineyards. Sappy and tight, it opens with some notes of Band-Aid® and a very tart, astringent mouthfeel. There’s good fruit here, but it’s wrapped into a stiff and somewhat plastic base that doesn’t feel as if it will go anywhere good.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is the winery’s first (and only) wine to be given the 100% new oak treatment. Just 23 cases were made. The oak simply does not show; it might as well be stainless. The fruit is tight, citrusy, and slowly expands into a lovely, smooth expression of Syrah that seems to envelope the back palate with flavors of licorice, cotton candy, mint and bright berry. Intriguing and quite definitely cellar worthy.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Tight and dense, this is a full-flavored, smoky and rich version of Syrah, with flavors that seem a bit cooked. The fruit is smooth, mature and showing a mix of berry, currant and plum flavors. Forward and softer than the reserve, it’s a wine for near-term drinking.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Just 100 cases were made by this boutique producer, with grapes from Wooded Island Vineyard. It is polished and classy, as usual with Stephenson. The fruit is perfectly showcased, with full, precise, lightly spicy flavors. Tannins are substantial, with no rough edges, no bitterness, nothing unripe and everything in balance.
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