As a winemaker, Beau Moore constantly picks at his wines. Nagged by the desire to improve, he looks for any little flaw, any flutter in the finish or warp in the color than he can hone in on.
So it’s not surprising he has little to say about the Moore Family Winery’s 2011 Syrah.
As soon as you lift the glass, juicy, swirling aromas of red cherry and ripe plum reach your senses. Behind this are some more rugged impressions — blackberries, a pinch of spice and a fleeting whiff of milk chocolate — but the jammy fruit brushes these into the corners, leaving you with only temptation on the mind. A fetching wine awaits.
And it is, indeed: bursting berries and bright cherries pirouetting on the palate to a tannic rhythm, yet with a vanilla and spice baseline coming from another, distant room.
“I think it came out perfectly,” Moore said.
The Syrah is both fruit forward and easy drinking. Unfortunately, those phrases are too often employed by critics to demean a wine — especially the latter, meant to winnow out the everyday bottles from the brooding, contemplative cellar dwellers. But Moore’s 2011 is something you can indeed enjoy every day, in any situation. And that’s a very good thing.
At around 3,000 feet, Moore’s vineyards sit at the highest elevation of any California operation producing more than a couple hundred cases. While this means a shorter growing season and less hang time thanks to the threat of frost, it also stresses the vines and bulks up the skin on the grapes, leading to denser fruit flavors.
“We wanted the red soils, we wanted the mountainside,” Moore said. “We go for the fruit forward character.”
To enhance that aspect, Moore relied heavily on neutral oak in the barrels, preferring to build depth in the fruit and a pleasant mouthfeel. Yet he included about 30 percent new oak, both French and American, to lend just enough of the darker complexities to the wine.
Clearly it worked well.
The Moore 2011 Syrah is pleasing in so many respects. There are nuances aficionados look for and appreciate. But there are also the luscious, smile-inducing fruits that appeal to those just wanting a good experience, whether paired with a pork chop or poured for an evening of television.
So what could the winemaker find to complain about? Not much at all.
“We’re really excited about this one,” Moore said.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
