2001 Kongsgaard Syrah Hudson Vineyard

(15.1% alcohol): Bright red. Great symphonic nose delivers all of the major northern Rhône food groups: raspberry, musky bacon fat, dried flowers, spices and roasted meat. A wonderfully intense midweight with terrific definition and grip owing to pungent acidity. With its outstanding energy and verve, this tastes like a much younger wine. And yet this was the first wine in the line-up that revealed even a bit of brick development at the edge. Classy, fine-grained Syrah with lovely energy and length.

(always from the same 2.3-acre parcel within Hudson Vineyard) Saturated ruby. Knockout Northern Rhone-like aromas of raspberry, bacon fat, minerals, cocoa powder, pepper and licorice. Superconcentrated, saline and distinctly dry, with flavors of berry liqueur, dark chocolate and licorice. Almost painfully intense and a bit clenched today. But this expanded impressively with extended time in the open bottle. In its flavors, texture and structure, this is midway between Cote-Rotie and Hermitage.

The 2001 Syrah may be the finest yet produced by Kongsgaard. It is a dead ringer for a more exotic version of Chapoutier’s great Le Pavillon (from 80+ year old vines planted in granite soils on the Hermitage Hill). Aromas of white chocolate, ground pepper, blackberries, cassis liqueur, and flowers (lilacs?) is followed by a wine of great density, a certain exoticism, and powerful, thick, huge flavors oozing with extract, glycerin, and personality. There is also considerable tannin as well as decent acidity. This is about as close to a northern Rhone as Kongsgaard Syrahs get. Look for this 2001 to tighten up considerably, and be at its finest between 2007-2020. The mystical John Kongsgaard is one heck of a winemaker. These are low tech, artisinal offerings that eschew commercial yeasts, bacterial strains, and enzymes. Of course, they are bottled naturally, with no fining or filtration. What one gets is the essence of the varietal, vintage, and vineyard. As readers know, these wines are sold via a mailing list. Fax (707) 963-4512