[Wine] McCrea Syrah 2001

[elfs]

Sometimes, it's good to have a comparison. Tonight's comparison was McCrea Syrah 2001 (the last time, it was a Sirocco) and a Rosemont Syrach/Grenache blend. At first, neither I nor my fellow diners were particularly impressed with the McCrea Syrah when comparing it to the McCrea Sirocco we'd enjoyed a few weeks earlier. It seemed uninteresting.

And then we compared it to the Rosemont, and discovered the difference. When you hold the Syrah in your mouth, it has a texture and activity. As one diner put it, "it has a conversation that the Rosemont doesn't."

It's a pretty good wine, rich, flavor-bombed, but it's quiet with less aftertaste, good or otherwise, compared to the Sirocco. I'd recommend the Sirocco if you're going have you choice. And pause before you swallow; that's where it really speaks.

I can understand why wine tasters use such a complicated language that seems so opaque. Flavor is hard to describe. We don't have a useful vocabulary for it. Describing wine as "oaky," "smooth," or "conversational" is just a desperate attempt to bridge the divide between subjective experience and objective recommendation with analogy.

Comments

[pookfreak.livejournal.com]

Let me preface this with I'm not a wine connosiure (see I can't even spell it correctly). I'd be interested in your opinion if you were ever to try the Coppola Green Label Syrah. I received it as a recommendation from, of all places, the Delta shuttle sheet between Boston, NY and DC - they had an article on the best wines under $15 dollars or something and the description sounded yummy and it actually tasted good and at the time I wasn't much of a wine drinker (aside from the generic white zinfandel which I'd let warm to room temp to get fruitier - just don't laugh too hard at me). I've gotten better - I'm sipping a nice glass of 2001 Cab Sav Marques du Caceres which is my current favorite red and I've also discovered what I think is a relatively new Texas wine - St. Ginevieve Cav. Sav. which was $3.99 a bottle the other night and it was actually pretty good for tasting kind of ... new, fresh, young. I don't know the right words either.

Anyway - if you get a chance to compare your McCrae Syrah to the Coppala Syrah I'd be interested in your feedback.

[alice-in-texas.livejournal.com]

I spend half of the year in Washington State and am familiarizing myself with the local wines...so many vineyards. I've been sampling those on the east side of the mountains where I stay when I am there - Chataeu Faire Le Pont, Saint Laurent, and Kestrel most notably. In addition, I have joined the wine club at Faire Le Pont. It's great having wines shipped to me when I go home to Texas. Each has its own unique blends. But for the usual merlots, cabernets, etc. I prefer one winery's over another. Usually, each wine will have a description as to what the flavor is. Sometimes it is hard to discern what they describe. I often don't try but just enjoy the wine for its quality and how it tastes to me.

[intrepid-reason.livejournal.com]

Have you ever tried a Rioja? Similar in depth to a Syrah, but not as spicy.