You may have noted from my barrel tasting at Pindar and my visit with Martha Clara Vineyards, that Syrah as a varietal is inching up my list as favorite.
Syrah or Shiraz as it is also known, is used alot on Long Island in blending, but there are a few vineyards that bottle this as a single varietal. It is found almost all over the world, but popularized in the Rhône region of France and in Australia where it is called Shiraz.
This, Pindar Vineyards 2007 Syrah ($15) On the nose I was picking up juicy dark fruit. Plum and blackberry come to mind. It was smoky and spicy too. I was picking up a hint of some vanilla bean.
When I tasted it, the elements I was picking up on the nose were also there on the palate. There was some decent amount of acidity with some strong tannins, however, the tannins did not linger. I was getting elements of a baked blackberry raspberry pie. There was some leather and dark bitter sweet chocolate at the end.
There was not a big time pepper element, that is known to be found in Syrah. I found this to be more smoky.
It had a very long finish with a little smoke and vanilla.
Sláinte!
Undertaking Wine 
I was at Pindar last week, tasted this wine and was plesantly suprised. I’m generally not a Pindar fan, I find their wines to be either thin and boring or super charged in sweetness in catering to the endless parade of Hummer limos parked in front for the bachelorette weekend wine tastings. However the 07 Syrah had alot going on, your review hit the nail on the head. What got me was the finish which lingered for a while. And its priced right at $15. I’m glad a producer got it right with Syrah on LI, some of the other straight syrahs I’ve had left something to be desired. One that comes to mind was Schneider Vinyards, can’t recall the vintage, not good. If you look for these producers from Calif. (Alban, Qupe, Tensley, Kinton) I guarantee you’ll love syrah.
Matt,
Thanks for reading and commenting. Somehow I missed this comment. Sorry!
Since Pindar Vineyards hired Les Howard as their wine maker, they have turned the page. Les is a excellent and underrated wine maker. Not to mention a world class guy.
In my conversations with Les, this is the type of wine he strives to make, great mid palate and long finish. I am on a Syrah hunt and plan on finding as many as I can find. Pindar makes on of the better ones.
Please makes sure to try some other of Pindar’s wines, especially their whites like Vioginer and Riesling. Les is doing a great job with them. Pindar is really making strides to prove that they make some excellent affordable wine.
Thanks for the Reco’s I will seek them out and try.
By the way….I still need to visit you at the shop….I did not forget! 🙂
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