*Disclaimer: I received this bottle as a sample from Sonoma Vineyards
Recently the wine I’m being sent as samples is falling squarely into the under $20 range in retail price. I’m wondering if that’s a sign of the current economy and wine-buying habits or if it’s just a coincidence. Whatever the case may be, I think it’s great since wines in the under $20 range fall squarely into my “everyday” drinking wines category!
I picked the 2007 Sonoma Vineyards Syrah to try this evening. It had a screw cap closure, clocked in at 13.8%, and has a suggested retail price of $15. This Syrah is a first release Syrah for Sonoma Vineyards, with fruit sourced from the Alexander Valley.
I first noted the color on the wine…it was dark dark purple, almost inky, letting no light through at all. On the nose I found cinnamon, plums, chocolate, a little anise, blackberry, slight meatiness, and some earth. In the mouth, I found the wine to be very fruity, showing, raspberries, red fruit, blackberries, anise, plums, and chocolate.
Overall, I found it to be a bit tannic. This is a really young red wine, so it might benefit from a little more time in the bottle, though by the second night, it had smoothed out nicely, and was drinking really well. So perhaps just open it a few hours before you drink it. A nice wine at a nice price.
Filed under: California, Red, Syrah |
Wannabe Wino Wine Blog 
Interesting. I got the same bottle, and reviewed it here- http://2daysperbottle.blogspot.com/2008/11/sonoma-vineyards-syrah-2007.html.
When I have two minutes to rub together, I will cross-link your review at 2 Days per Bottle.
While you note the “under $20” mark for the wines sent to you, what do you think about the release of an ’07 Syrah? Is it really drinkable that young? Honestly? I know you can decant and all that, but isn’t the release of an ’07 a big statement about the economy as well?
Thanks dhonig, I’ll toss up a link here to yours when I’m editing tonight.
Hi Amy-Thanks for stopping by and commenting. That’s an excellent point that I didn’t consider. The wine arrived about the same time this fall that I was receiving shipments of 06 red wines from my various clubs. So comparatively, it was a year earlier, though priced significantly less than most of the wines I got from CA in the 2006 vintage. I wonder if they were going for a red wine in a mid level price range that could be consumed immediately? As I noted, I thought it was really young and needed more time to settle down. It could also be a sign of trying to move inventory earlier to realize profits rather than having your money tied up in wine bottles in your cellar on a part of the winery. I wonder if we will see more 07 reds on the shelves earlier than normal in this economy? Still, for $15 I thought this wine represented quite a good buy, even if I think it needs to sit down for another year or so.