2016 | Cayuse Vineyards | En Cerise Vineyard Syrah

This has quite an austere edge of savory, dark stones and spices with a core of fresh black cherries and blackberries. The palate has the same mix of stones and pepper and the tannins are assertive yet fine, carrying plenty of dark berries and plums in a contained, gently stony brand of tannin.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2016 Syrah En Cerise has a tight core of red and black fruits on the nose with a dusty and juicy focus. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, the wine has a youthful expression of mineral tension and granular tannins, then turns to more of a rugged nature with hints of wild underbrush. The wine lingers with a long, dusty finish, showing a mineral grip that remains more on the tart cherry side with flutters of smoked spices.

• Vinous: Bright dark red. Wilder aromas than the Cailloux: dark raspberry, plum, smoked meat, black olive, hoisin sauce and baking spices. Very backward and slightly medicinal, in a more brooding style, with its concentrated dark raspberry fruit complicated by notes of wet stone and smoky minerality. Less fun today than the Cailloux but this is silky, savory and complex, not to mention darker in character. Finishes ripely tannic and very long. I suspect this wine will make a perfect match for a slab of rare duck breast, but I'd still hold it for at least a couple more years.

Producer Information

Cayuse Vineyards is a wine producer based in the Walla Walla Valley on the border of Oregon and Washington. Its focus is on the Rhône grape varieties, and in particular Syrah, wines from which have earned several 100-point ratings from The Wine Advocate. The company was founded in 1997 by Christophe Baron, a Frenchman from a Champagne-making family near Charly-sur-Marne. All of the vineyards owned by Cayuse are within the newly formed Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA, which is wholly in Oregon. However, Cayuse continues to label its wines with the broader Walla Walla AVA, which is usually associated with the Washington wine industry, though it straddles both states. Cayuse only uses estate grown fruit from its five vineyards totalling 24 hectares (60 acres). The first plantings were self-rooted vines but, in 2000, Cayuse introduced grafted vines as a precaution against phylloxera. Cayuse has always farmed its vineyards organically and, in 2002, became the first entirely biodynamic producer in the Walla Walla Valley. The soil is "Freewater very cobbly loam" and consists of rolled stones similar to the galets roulés of southern France, particularly Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Cayuse's first vineyard is named Cailloux in honor of its stony soil, and it is from here that the flagship Syrah is produced. The estate's name is a derivation of the same word, and is the name given by white settlers to the local native American tribe. Other top wines in the portfolio include the En Chamberlin Vineyard and Bionic Frog Syrahs, and the Impulsivo Tempranillo. The majority of Cayuse wines are sold to members of the mailing list, places on which are keenly sought.

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