2008 Cayuse Syrah Armada Vineyard
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Tasting notes
"The vintage died and another one was born," was Baron's rhetorical flourish to describe the effect of 2008's half an inch of rainfall at harvest. Thanks to the rain, sugar levels fell and picking was delayed, giving the vines the time they needed to ripen their phenolics. The ensuing 2008 Syrah Armada Vineyard is a very singular wine, offering up a rich and sumptuously degraded bouquet of charred meats, espresso roast and cassis, notes of black truffle emerging with air, though never with the precocity of the 2007 that followed it. Full-bodied, layered and mouthwateringly saline on the palate, it's balanced by bright acids that lend it precision and tension despite its concentration and substance.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Absolutely spectacular and a thrill ride of a Syrah, the 2008 Cayuse Syrah Armada Vineyard is the most rich, decadent, and fruit driven of the single vineyard wines. Loaded with pure plum, aged prime beef, smoked herbs, lavender, and ground pepper aromas and flavors, this full-bodied Syrah is powerful and decadent on the palate, with a thrillingly seamless texture, brilliant concentration, and a blockbuster finish. Syrah doesn’t get much better and this should be given another handful of years in the cellar, and then consumed over the following 15+ years.
Full red-ruby. Explosive aromas of black cherry, minerals, flowers, brown spices and pepper. Wonderfully dense and penetrating, with compelling sweetness to its dark berry and spice flavors. Finishes with silky tannins and outstanding length. Like a topnotch Old World wine in the way it spreads out horizontally to saturate the palate without leaving any undue impression of weight. The best yet for this bottling, from high-density vines (by Washington standards) planted in 2001.