2006 Cayuse Syrah – “Armada”

Recently tasted the 2006 Armada from Cayuse Vineyards in Walla Walla, and it blew us away. Their fifth vineyard, Armada, planted in 2001, contains 3 acres of Grenache, 3 acres of Syrah and 1 acre of Mourvedre. With four feet between vines and five feet between rows, 2178 vines were planted per acre—nearly double the standard vine quantity—and easily marks it as the highest density vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley. Cayuse Vineyards is bio-dynamically farmed and even the most labor intensive tasks are performed manually.

Christophe Baron started Cayuse Vineyards in 1996, and is also the viticulturist and wine consultant at Reynvann Family Vineyards and it is being well received in the cult wine community.

Note: Aged 30 months in 20% newRostaing barrels. Made with indigenous yeasts and bottled unfinned and unfiltered.

Review: An intense full-bodied wine with a brawny bouquet of blueberry, cherry, smoked wild game, pencil lead, lavender, pepper, liquorice, with a beautiful earthy mineral component.The wine shows great balance and an extremely long finish. The Armada is a totally gratifying wine to be cellared for years, and will improve to near perfection IMO, if you can stay away from it, and deny your inner hedonist.

The Armada was opened for about 1.5 hours for this review, and could have benefited from more time. PS This is a tough mailing list to crack!

Rating: 99 JH, 98 PC