2007 Jaffurs Santa Barbara County (Syrah)

From an apparently "care-free vintage" as Jaffurs put it in a recent interview, this Syrah was absolutely gorgeous and yes, huge. This is their general appellation bottle, and it positively throttled us with its lovely blueberry cream/cobbler scents and palate, but yet it has the tell-tale savory sweetness of Syrah and the white pepper after-scents you might expect from a good northern Rhone. Between this and the CdePape (reviewed below), have to give this wine the nod for the match with the leg of lamb we enjoyed Xmas Eve.

And frankly, for $24 (thanks Marc!), this was an absolute steal. It was punching well above its weight class.

95/100

Bottom line: A great, reasonably-priced California Syrah. If you can find it, you're nuts not to buy it.

2006 Copain L'Hiver (Syrah)

Copain has consistently made some of my favorite Syrahs from California. While Guthrie, the wine-maker, tends to draw on a variety of leased and contracted grape parcels from producers around the state, his style is a balanced mix of Old World (pepper) and New (blueberry/occasionally some cola flavors). The latest release of l'hiver, his budget-minded Syrah from Mendocino, shows the coolness and low alcohol of the 2006 growing season as it rings it only at 13.7% abv. And that made it fair game tonight with the stuffed salmon with garlic fries that we enjoyed with it. It worked. Great aromas of blueberry, sassafrass, and some creamy notes coming through from the oak and lees on this 06. The palate was nice, a little fat, but balanced with good acidity (thank you Mendocino). It didn't do much in the glass after 30 minutes, but that may change tomorrow...will update. Day 1: 89/100. Day 2, Thanksgiving, with lamb? 90/100 updated score. Yep, even better on the second night.