A vintage line up of Shafer syrah /Michelle Locke
I drank a little history the other day.
The occasion was a tasting of all 11 years of Shafer Vineyards‘ Relentless wine, an 80-20 blend of syrah and petit sirah named in honor of Shafer’s dynamic winemaker Elias Fernandez.
A tasting like that is called a vertical, for obvious reasons. It’s interesting from a sensory standpoint; you can pick up differences in the various vintages and tell how the wine is aging. But it’s also intriguing sociologically. As I sipped the ’99, I thought about that year, a time when the Internet was going to make millionaires, or at least thousandaires, of us all _ if we didn’t die horrible deaths from the Y2K computer bug that was about to strike.
The wines were generally bold and fruity and would pair well with meaty, hearty dishes. It was interesting to see how well the ’99 had aged; Fernandez said that wine was a real monster when new, but it’s calmed down considerably. Still has amazing color, too. My favorites were the 2000, which was the result of a long, cool growing season, and was a little bit more restrained with velvety tannins and a warm finish, and the 2005, very fruity and fresh with soft tannins. The 2007, which is the current release, had plenty of black fruit, good acidity and some saltiness on the finish. I would let this one sit for a while, or at least decant before serving.
(Petit sirah, by the way, is not a shorter than average syrah grape, but a different variety altogether that is known for its deep, inky color and blueberry flavors. Shiraz, on the other hand, is just another name for syrah. Wine nomenclature _ not so much with the logical.)
Cheers.