2008 Radio-Coteau Syrah Dusty Lane

The 2008 Syrah Dusty Lane is big, rich and powerful. Black cherries, grilled herbs, spices and leather are some of the notes that come to life in the glass. The 2008 is a rich, deep wine, yet it possesses considerable muscle and structure as well. It is an exciting, thrilling wine with at least a handful of years of fine drinking ahead of it. This was a very late harvest; the fruit wasn’t brought in until late October and early November. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2020. I was only able to taste a handful of wines from Radio-Coteau, but I will be addressing that oversight in the near future. These are some of the most compelling wines being made in California. Proprietor Eric Sussman pursues organic and biodynamic farming with a focus on cooler, marginal growing sites. In the cellar the wines are made with ambient yeasts and natural malolactic fermentations. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered with the exception of the Chardonnay, which is lightly fined. Yields were down dramatically in 2010, mostly because of the lower crop set. The Pinots saw 5 days of cold soak followed by 15-17 days of fermentation. The Syrahs are potentially even more interesting, but I wasn’t able to taste a fully representative set of wines. Tel. (707) 823-2578; www.radiocoteau.com

My favorite in the lineup was the 2008 Radio-Coteau Syrah Dusty Lane. From a cool, coastal site in the Russian River Valley, it possesses a brilliant purple color to go with vibrant, energetic aromatics of violets, raspberries, and pepper that literally soar from the glass. This gives way to a brilliantly detailed, pure Syrah that has a medium to full-bodied, textured mid-palate, firm underlying structure, and loads of concentration and length. I'm a fan this gorgeous wine should be hidden in the cellar (or decanted for a hour or more if drinking anytime soon) for 2-3 years, and then consumed over the following 12-15+ years.

Inky purple. Sexy, exotically perfumed nose combines boysenberry, candied violet, bitter chocolate, five-spice powder and woodsmoke. Sweet, lush and expansive but lively, with captivating flavors of dark berry preserves, floral pastilles, gingerbread and dark chocolate. Finishes juicy, spicy and very long, with fine-grained tannins and impressive energy. This is Sussman's first vintage for this wine, which comes from a vineyard in a very cool, coastal-influenced hillside vineyard west of Sebastopol; it was slated to be bottled in May.