Ah, Syrah… one of the world’s great noble varieties. It can sneak across the stage in the background: dark, cloaked, brooding, and mysterious, but it can also slide out onto front and center stage screaming its head off, shredding an electric guitar at a dizzyingly fast pace. And then, everything in between. It can be so many different styles, depending on where it is grown, and how it is vinified.
Que sera sera, or rather, Que Syrah, sera. What Syrah is, it will be.
I need “Que Syrah, sera” on a t-shirt or bumper sticker. 🙂
You think you know Syrah? Think again. Have you ever been fortunate enough to taste a Syrah borne out of the Milton-Freewater Rocks District in Oregon? Well, my friend, let’s chat….
Wines from the Rocks District AVA (American Viticultural Area) have gained acclaim for their distinctly savory and mineral characteristics, which make them taste especially unique.
Let me give you a quick geography lesson….
Take a glance at this map of Washington state wine AVAs and below it the Oregon state wine AVAs:
As you can see on the Washington map, the Walla Walla Valley AVA includes land in both Washington and Oregon states. The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater (#22 on the Oregon map) is situated WITHIN the borders of the larger Walla Walla Valley AVA, but is completely on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley AVA.
The only wineries that can put Rocks District AVA on the label have to produce AND bottle their wine in the state of Oregon, which is where the Rocks District AVA is. However, many Washington producers, even though they may source grapes from the very nearby Rocks District, are producing and bottling wine in Washington STATE, so they can only label their wines with the Walla Walla Valley AVA.
So, chances are high I’ve very likely had a Syrah from Walla Walla that contained Rocks District grapes. But with a Washington winery, it wouldn’t necessarily indicate so on the label. On the Washington side, digging deeper is required (sorry for all the rock puns, they’re gonna come flying). 😉
There. Clear as alluvial silt? Hopefully that didn’t hurt your brain too much. If so, take a sip of wine.
So, what makes the Rocks District soil unique? Why all the fuss? In a nutshell, tons of basalt cobbles spewed from a volcanic eruption and deposited by flood waters.
There is literally no topsoil which forces the vines to go DEEP into the earth, to struggle, and this causes the grapes to be lower in number of clusters and smaller in berry size (leading to more powerful, concentrated wine).
These topographical and climatic conditions result in some jaw-droppingly incredible wine, not just with powerful body and tannins, but with aromas and flavors of meat and brine.
Incidentally, if you’d like to read a bit more about minerality in wine from a winemaker (it’s very interesting and not too long), check out winemaker Matt Brain’s (no, not a typo for Brian – I triple checked) 🙂 article on minerality in wine. Basically, according to Brain,
“… minerality in the soil does not seem to be the major contributor to minerality in the glass. Soils that are thin or deprived of organic matter, however, may contribute to a less fruity and floral grape, allowing mineral characters to be more easily identified.”
Hence why Rocks District wine aromas and flavors come across more pronounced on the mineral spectrum than the fruit/flowers/herbs/spices/etc. spectrums.
This particular Syrah is one I fell in love with at the McMinnville Wine + Food Classic in Oregon. It has rocked me to my molten core every time I’ve tried it and I’ve held on to my one bottle for long enough now. Time to pop the cork and relive the magic!
- $48/bottle
- 14.4% ABV
- Sourced from Noble Rock Vineyard in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, Rocks District AVA
- Winemaker’s notes: “2019 Rocks District Syrah is soft and subtle but lookin’ sharp. Black fruit takes a backseat to savory meats, crushed violets and brine. A charcuterie for the senses! Huckleberries and wet stone give great acid that lingers on the finish. Decant to discover layers of earth and umami in your glass.”
- Medium ruby color
- Black plum, soft violet floral component, boysenberry, minerals
- Very full and soft, not as much punch as I recall it having
- Aromatic complexity that blew me away initially was not as strong at home
- Tannins are there but not overpowering
- Some acidity but very discreet
- The complex fruit seems to vanish quickly
- Still, a delicious wine I would buy again
While I was a little surprised this wine didn’t have quite as much acidity as I remember it having when I had it at SIP, it nevertheless delivered much pleasure. Wine is constantly evolving, and it’s highly susceptible to the different environments we drink them in (hello, dinner cooking in the kitchen with poor ventilation) and the various physical states WE consume them in (time of day, hormone levels, and so many other things ALL influence how a wine tastes to us).
This wine is a wonderful introduction to the Rocks District Syrah genre. It is a wine to savor and explore, and I would absolutely buy this wine again.
I hope to unearth some more red wines (especially Syrahs) from The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. These are something phenomenal and extraordinary. I’m hooked!
Here is a cheat sheet of other wineries using Rocks District fruit if you’d like to go on the hunt for some fine bottles o’ wine: Rocks District Wineries.
Have you ever tried a Rocks District Syrah? Comment!
The Rambling Vine 