2010 K Vintners Syrah Cougar Hills

From deep, loamy soils and a north facing slope located to the west of The Rocks region of the Walla Walla Valley, the 2010 Syrah Cougar Hills is an age worthy effort that boasts complex aromas and flavors of kirsch liqueur, crushed stone, ground pepper and dried flowers. This is followed by a medium to full-bodied, broad, chewy effort that maintains an overall sense of elegance and freshness. Drink it over the coming 10-12 years. Drink now-2025. In the top tier of producers in Washington State, wild man Charles Smith fashions singular, exotic wines that never lack for richness or texture. While his wines can push the limits in some vintages and be slightly controversial, there’s nothing controversial or over the top with these 2010s and 2011s and they have beautiful purity of fruit, clean, integrated acid profiles and solid underlying structure. In almost all cases, given the quality, they represent incredible values. While this was a slight marathon tasting, when the wines are this good, it’s always easy to keep your motivation. Focusing on low-yields in the vineyards, the winemaking here is straight-forward with almost all of the wines seeing some whole cluster fermentation, time on lees and aging primarily in neutral French oak. www.kvintners.com