Bedrock Syrah Calif (14.5%; Hudson/Griffin’sLair/AlderSprings/Weill/ShakeRidge + Bedrock/WalkerVineHill vnyds; 20%-100% w-c; + Viognier) 2018: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/Syrah/ripe/bit boysenberry bit c-c/black pepper some Rhonish/roasted/w-c somewhat complex lovely nose; fairly tart/tangy bit hard/angular strong blackberry/Syrah some w-c/Rhonish bit c-c/peppery light toasty/oak flavor w/ light brisk tannins; very long strong blackberry/Syrah/spicy some w-c/Rhonish bit c-c/peppery bit complex finish w/ modest bitey tannins;badly needs another yr and should go out 4-6 yrs; a terrific Syrah for the price. $20.00
A wee BloodyPulpit:
This just came in with my recent Bedrock shipment. Each release usually has a “value” wine (like OldVine Zin) and this one way overdelivered on the $.
I was not aware that Morgan takes Syrah from AlderSprings or ShakeRidge. That’s pretty fancy grapes to blend away in a generic Syrah, yet I’ve not seen a vnyd-designate Syrah from those vnyds.
Tom
Sounds tasty. Is this a widely-released wine, or more of a smaller production wine that is thrown in as a less costly bonus to list members? I saw a “Coast to Foothills” that was relatively inexpensive, but I doubt this is the same wine.
I started a discussion on CT about Washington Syrah that were co-fermented with Viognier. Was it very evident in this wine? I had an Delmas SJR Vineyard Syrah a few weeks back and the Viognier component was very evident.
Brandon,
I’m thinking this was a widely released wine…like the OldVine Zin.
The Viog was not at all evident in this wine. I have tasted a lot of Syrahs that were co-frmtd w/ Viog and never once have been able
to identify a Viog component in the nose. I once barrel-tasted tasted w/ DanGehrs/ZacaMesa in which he blended in 35% Viog into a Syrah and could
still not identify a Viog component in the nose. Except the color was lighter.
Mostly, co-frmting Syrah w/ Viog is about co-pigmentation…darkening the color of the wine by including a white grape. Not so much about
increasing the aromatics.
Tom
This is widely released. Was called North Coast Syrah then Coast to Foothills and now California as Morgan adds many different vineyards from different areas.
Morgan bottled a Bedrock Syrah from Alder Springs from 2012-2015. Cody Rasmussen (Bedrock Assistant Winemaker) bottled a Desire Lines Syrah from Shake Ridge in 2016 and 2017.
Interesting…I’d heard about purposefully adding Viognier also as a means to enhance flavors and aromatics. With that Delmas, it was clearly in there. Then again, it was 8%.
this, the north coast Syrah, and the coast to foothills are all very similar.
FWIW everyone, on the last Coast to Foothills, I got my allocation, tried one, and emailed them to order more, was told filling another order was no problem. I assume this would be the same.
First wine from Bedrock I didn’t think hit it out of the park. By no means bad, just that I’ve gotten so spoiled with their stuff. This one just felt, well, ordinary somehow. Like a local table wine in a small mountain village in France. I’d say 87-88pts. For $20, still pretty good QPR.
Re Viognier, I can easily detect it in a Syrah.My early experiences with Delille and Betz on sorting lines and crush may have had a big influence though.
Co-fermenting sets color at a very deep level for Syrah…Viognier as an aromatic white can add a peachy or ripe nectarine note to the nose, that I am not a fan of, so when I mess around with a barrel now and then I prefer Roussanne for co-ferments vs. Viognier.
I really wish someone would ‘research’ why syrah was co-fermented with Vio back in the day in Cote Rotie. My guess has always been because the syrah was always tough to ripen, and by adding viognier, which was much riper, you were increasing the brix level and decreasing the overall acidity in the final wine.
I believe the ‘co factor’ effect, which is actually short lived, was determined ‘after the fact’. And I’m not a ‘believer’ that by co-fermenting, you are ‘adding’ a floral aspect to the wine.
Can only speak to WA, but Viognier is ripe weeks prior to Syrah, so when you wait with Viognier on vine to pick with your Syrah, its overripe and higher RS than if you were fermenting Viognier as a wine.
I think that riper more floral aspect can add notes to Syrah depending on % you add.
Well, whether or not people believe it does anything to the aromatics, all I know is that the Viognier was so apparent on the nose of that '16 Delmas. None of us even needed to look at the label to confirm that it was in there. It could have been blended in…I don’t know definitively if it was co-fermented. So, I might not describe it as decidedly “floral,” but it was a stone fruit note that came through, and almost a bit of orange blossom. It was unmistakable.