Que Syrah Syrah (Whatever will be, will be)

I generally drink wines from France and Italy... when I am paying the bill. The reason for this is simple. I prefer wines made with little or no intervention and wines with character. I don't mean to imply that wines in France and Italy are all naturally made or that they all have character. It just seems easier to find those that are. There are importers that do the hard work for you. More than 70% of the wines in my house have back labels by Lynch, Rosenthal, Dressner, Wasserman etc. When someone else offers to pay, e.g. samples, friends etc., however, I'll try anything. Looking for naturally made wines in CA is like looking for an honest politician or Rabbi in New Jersey these days. They exist but it certainly seems like they are out numbered.

After reading Alice Feiring's book "The Battle For Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World From Parkerization" and reading blogs by others, I was reminded that there are some producers in CA that make wine naturally and that are worth checking out with my dime. Edmunds St. John and Copain are two of them.

Whatever will be, will be. Making natural wines i.e., interfering with them only to prevent them from going off or bad, takes a lot of faith. Faith in your fruit, your yeasts, and your ability to make wine without resorting to chemistry tricks says a lot about you as a winemaker. To me, it means that you are respecting time and place and nature and are not manipulating wines to please the critics or masses. From the Copain website - "Winemaking practices aim to express each sites unique qualities which thereby means a minimum of intervention. Overripe fruit, excessive physical and chemical manipulation of the must and over use of oak, all mask the subtleties provided by the vineyard." From the Edmunds St. John website - "It is our goal to produce wines of the highest level of quality, integrity, and authenticity, the hallmarks of which are balance, nuance, and elegance, wines that express their origins in place and time, wines through which "the earth speaks" in a clear and strong voice." Sounds like my kind of guys!

Finding wines by both of these wineries in my state proved to be a challenge. I actually happened quite accidentally on the Copain at a little wine shop in a backwater town located just 2 towns away from my backwater town. I was surprised to find the Edmunds St. John in PA at one of their "Premium Wine and Spirit Shops". I have friends in PA that I visit a few times a year. The running joke is the wine shops in PA are so bad they have to shop in NJ, NY, or DE to get a decent bottle. I took my two acquisitions of providence and decided to drink them on two separate but consecutive nights. Both were served with grilled beef to have a little consistency with the accompanying flavors.

The 2003 Edmunds St. John Bassetti Vineyard Syrah, San Luis Obispo County is the second bottling of this vineyard that Steve Edmunds made. The color was a deep red with bluish purple edges. The nose showed dark black fruits, wild black-raspberries, framboise and a little burnt rubber which blew off fairly quickly. On the palate there was a dense structure and formidable acidity. The wine also showed a mint-like coolness and a touch of saddle leather. Brett? The framboise showed up on the long finish. I liked this wine, but I really jumped the gun on this one as it was too tight to enjoy thoroughly. It really needs time in the bottle. My guess would be 5 to 8 yrs and would probably last a lot longer than that. Very Good+



The 2005 Copain Harrison Clarke Vineyard Syrah, Santa Ynez Valley is the first vintage for Wells Guthrie from this vineyard. The color was a medium but deep ruby red with a tinge of purple on the edges. The bouquet was profuse, rich and very deep, with blackberries, honey, caraway, forest floor and a minor touch of pepper, mint, burnt sugar and butter. On the palate a burst of black and red fruits that was brightened with a vibrant and fresh acidity. For all its palate awakening acidity it was texturally very suave and sexy. This wine displayed a beautiful balance. Excellent-

I think that both wines were excellent examples of what California Syrah in the right hands can be. The two wines were miles apart in drinking accessibility but both had character and tasted like real wines. I loved them both and look forward to searching out other examples of California wines suited to my taste. In the meantime, whether it be wine or life in general, perhaps we should all practice a little "whatever will be, will be". It's certainly a less stressful way to be.