2004 Armada Vineyard Syrah

Starting out funky, earthy, and slightly reductive, the 2004 Cayuse Syrah Armada Vineyard opened up over the evening and deserves its place alongside the best of best. Incredibly aromatic and exotic, with textbook Armada aromas of bloody meat, roasted herbs, mineral, and thrilling levels of plum and black fruit, this beauty is full bodied, impeccably built, and shows uncommon levels of finesse and elegance that’s backed up by a powerful, core of fruit. As with the other Syrahs, this is still youthful and vibrant; plan on giving bottles anther 3-4 years in the cellar and then drinking over the following decade or longer.

(this spent two and a half hears in puncheons that came from Rene Rostaing) Medium-deep red. High-toned aromas of raspberry and spice; conveys an impression of noble rusticity, like a great northern Rhone wine. Thick yet vibrant, with great retention of raspberry fruit complemented by notes of liquid rock and smoked meat. The extremely long finish features a strong element of brown spices. This has less lift than the 2005s, but then it spent much longer in barrel. Incidentally, Baron admitted that the VA here is considerably higher than the levels shown by his '05 syrahs, which should prove to be his suavest and best collection of wines to date.