Syrah accounts for just a fraction of California’s wine crush.
It’s a point to ponder only because the wines that flow from this are so jovial — pealing with fruit, pricking with earthy spice. Syrah welcomes grilled foods and hearty dishes, but happily join celebrations not tied to the table.
Take, for example, the 2014 syrah from the Steele Stymie label. There is a casual gentility on the nose, with aromas of freshly picked blackberries drifting alongside pails of split blueberries.
The fruit is kindly, yet of courtly stock, supported by worldly hints of toasted spice, exotic vanilla bean, drying herbs from a kitchen garden, marbled meat and hand rolled cigars. Yet it is the generous greeting you remember as a bouquet of dark berries gathers over the glass.
It’s a sensation suggesting depth and balance — bold fruit and equally substantial earthiness. But there are also indications of that elusive umami, the intricacies that appeal to those who contemplate every bottle.
A wealth of fresh berry flavors envelop your palate. Ripe blackberries dashing ahead of a more stolid impression of blueberry jam. But this is underscored by a rustic note of allspice scored on cast iron, along with hints of nutmeg and cured bacon.
The big notions benefit from this earthy treatment. They gain depth, picking up indications of chocolate, peppercorns, and wafting tobacco.
There is a lot to ponder. Still, the enthusiasm of fresh berries never wanes on the palate.
Jed Steele and his team may have benefitted from an exclusive growing season, withered enough by drought to focus the grapes — at least that’s what they claim.
But terroir makes up only part of the equation. They held fermentation temperatures steady, hovering just below 90, and matured the 2014 in a mix of French and American oak — 20 percent of it new — for almost two years.
Whatever the cause, it’s a wine difficult to contain. It wants to greet you, it wants to settle in, it wants to challenge and to celebrate in equal measure.
No wonder the staff at Steele’s tasting room are so eager to pour this vintage. The 2014 Steele Stymie syrah will make you ponder the essential question: shouldn’t there be more of this varietal around?
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
