2009 The Thrill Of Stamp Collecting Syrah

93% Syrah, 4.5% Grenache, 2.5% Viognier. Co-fermented. 58% from Eleven Confessions, 20% Bien Nacido, 13% White Hawk, 9% Cumulus. 50% new French oak. 1,000 cases. Deep dark cherry colour. Intense dark fruit, with dark notes of tar and smoke and leather and garrigue, violets. Fabulous nose. Can't remember when I have ever found so many aromas in a wine, especially not a wine as young as this. Rich, deep velvet texture. Intense and ripe but not at all raisined. Plenty of oak sweetness and spice but all beautifully integrated and not too hot despite the alcohol, though I would be having trouble if I were drinking not spitting. Full and chewy but highly polished. Still seems young. Fabulous aromas in the empty glass. (JH)

The 2009 Syrah The Thrill Of impresses for its poise and underlying energy. Dark fruit, spices, licorice and violets sit on a core of firm tannin as this powerful wine opens up in the glass. Today, The Thrill OfYcomes across as very, very young. The intensity of the fruit and the oak are dominant at present. In another few years the wine should be spectacular. The Thrill Of... is 90% Syrah, 6% Grenache and 4% Viognier, all destemmed and mostly from estate owned vineyards. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024. Manfred Krankl calls 2011 the most consistently cold year he has ever seen from start to finish, although he adds that every year since 2008 has been cooler than normal. Unlike 2010, there were no heat spikes or even hot days in 2011. A bit of frost in April reduced tiny yields even more, but in retrospect that was a saving grace, as a full crop might never have ripened under the conditions of the year. Vintage 2010 was marked by a late frost that mostly affected Grenache by reducing yields. The rest of the vintage saw quite a bit of rain along with heat spikes during the summer, which produced big, bold wines. Krankl describes 2009 as a vintage that was shaping up to be great, until the rains arrived at the end of the growing season. With one exception, the 2009s are just as sexy and silky as they were last year. Unfortunately, the 2009 Syrah Estate No Name as of Yet was in no mood to be evaluated, so I will have to wait for another opportunity to taste it. In addition to these wines, I also tasted about a dozen library wines that reconfirmed my opinion, stated last year, that the Sine Qua Non wines have gained in elegance and refinement with the gradual move towards estate-owned vineyards. Sine Qua Non fans will find a lot to get excited about with these current and upcoming releases. I also urge readers to check out Manfred and Elaine Krankl’s newest project, Next of Kyn, also reviewed in these pages, and Sine Qua Non’s new website, which gives consumers a rare look at one of this country’s most compelling estates. Tel. (805) 649-8901