Get on the bus now!

One of my mentors that I have learned a great deal from has officially released the inaugural vintage of Shane Wines.

Shane Finley, who is the Associate Winemaker at Kosta Browne, and learned the ropes working under Pierre Gaillard in the Rhône, and also worked at Torbreck in Australia, Paul Hobbs and at Copain Custom Crush on such brands as Carlisle, Copain and Pax amongst others. A fine resumé of Syrah making indeed!

His initial offering is miniscule, The Unknown, his largest bottling is only 125 cases so get on the list as fast as you can. Shane's wines are a true marriage of New World fruit and Old World vinification resulting in a style that is at once powerful and voluptuous, and yet also complex, elegant and floral.

And at $38 a bottle, an absolute steal for sure!

2002 Sine Qua Non "Just For The Love Of It" Syrah (California, USA)

By golly, have I been on a roll. My FIFTH Sine Qua Non in a little over a month, this time courtesy of Bennett Traub and his wonderful wife Linda who hosted Emma and myself for a farewell dinner at their house before we jaunted off to our new home in England.

Now before I get into my tasting note, I wanted to get out in the open my thoughts on "100 Point" wines. This wine was my second Robert Parker 100 Pointer, the other being the 2003 Sine Qua Non "Poker Face". My opinion has always been that there is no such thing as a "100 Point" wine - I mean what happens if you come across a wine that is better? It's not like we live in Nigel Tufnel's world where we can go to eleven ("You're on ten on your guitar. Where do you go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly!"). As I pondered this conundrum for the umpteenth time Emma turned to me and said "Well if it's not 100 points, what is the fault [in the wine]?". Ummmmm...

The best thing about Sine Qua Non for me is that it has never (in my five bottles) not lived up to the hype. A dark, brilliant purple in the glass - a hint of what was to come. An exquisite, otherworldly nose that refused to be pinned down. Constantly evolving, first showing mouth-watering meatiness including bacon fat and beef blood, before pushing into more floral (violets) and peppery, coffee territory. In the mouth this was an extraordinarily well constructed wine - Manfred's talents as an artisan can not be exaggerated. The wine had linearity without being straight-forward, it was mouth coating without being unctuous, it hit on every spot on your palate and finished with a clear, ringing finish that I could still taste after the hour long car ride home. This wine had everything.

Still, I haven't got my head around the "100 Point" thing so let me do an artful dodge for now and give it a 99.999 which rounds up to 100. Ehh?!

Score: 99.999
Price: $630 (Saratoga Wine Exchange)

1998 Sine Qua Non "E-Raised" Syrah (California, USA)

Am I a lucky bugger recently or what? Getting to try my first four Sine Qua Nons in the period of a month.

Like the Sine Qua Non's before, this wine did not disappoint. For an aged wine, the color has stood up well. Dark and brooding, with no hint of brickishness even at the rim! Rich and ripe black fruits, bacon fat, and violets on the nose - a hedonistic delight of aromatics. Exquisitely well constructed wine on the palate - silky smooth, integrated tannins, with a long linear progression of flavor and an elegant finish that goes on and on like the Energizer bunny. Big and brooding yet still delicate and elegant - does wine get better than this?

I had this wine in a blind tasting of twenty Syrahs that scored 95 or more points from Robert Parker and I ranked it Number 1 overall. Damn shame that this wine is so expensive or I would be backing up the truck. I don't know how long I can wait to get on the mailing list... best guess - 2018, anyone?

Score: 98 points
Price: $395 (Blicker Pierce Wagner Wine Merchants)

2004 Sine Qua Non "Poker Face" Syrah (California, USA)

I had the luck to have this wine alongside the Sine Qua Non "Into The Dark" at the Jemrose Vineyards harvest party.

This wine, along with being my first experience of Sine Qua Non, was also my first Robert Parker "100 Point Wine".

Decadent is the perfect word. Rich, lush, black fruit, pepper, violets, coffee, meat and some toasty oak notes on the nose - what a heady mix! The darkest of dark purple in the glass. The palate was immensely lush, yet focused, building and building up to a crescendo of fruit - an explosion in your mouth, finally finishing with some focused acidity.

I could get used to this - unfortunately my position on the wait list probably won't come up for 10 years or more!

Score: 96+ points
Price: $400 or so (Winecommune.com)

International Pinot Showdown — US vs Australia (with a Shiraz/Syrah coda)

The name of the restaurant was all I needed to hear — Bird, Fish, Cow. Sounded like a great excuse to see how Russian River, one of America's top Pinot regions, matched up against Mornington Peninsula, which has been heralded as the region that will put Australia on the world Pinot map. Considering all the controversy that erupted out of the Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Conference, the theme seemed timely.

Wines were tasted blind by a group of eight wine geeks in Sydney during my eight hour layover on the way from Los Angeles to Wagga Wagga. All that we knew was that one wine in each flight would be Australian and one would be American.

Flight One — 2003 Stonier Reserve vs 2004 Roessler Kanzler


The Stonier was leathery and had an unpleasant green stemminess along with a dash of band-aidy Brett and a dab of VA. On the positive side there was some bright red cherry, plush strawberry, and some snappy acidity. Once the bag was lifted it was a bit of a shock, I had really wanted to like this wine. Especially after James Halliday had practically drooled all over it. Bummer.


The Roessler was your prototypical Russian River Pinot on the first whiff. Cherry cola, forest floor, red berries (raspberry and strawberry) and baking spice. Super plush in the mouth, nice acidity to cut the ripeness of the fruit with a long high toned finish.


Group Vote: 8 votes for Kanzler, 0 for the Stonier



Flight Two — 2005 Port Phillip Estate vs 2005 Kosta Browne Russian River


The Port Phillip was very well constructed. Sandro Mosele is one of Australia's great Pinot artisans, a bottle I had recently of his 2004 Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir was superb. The Port Phillip was the most feminine wine of the day — not light, feminine. Opens with violet, dark cherry and maybe some plum. Very "juicy" in the mouth with elegant tannins that will make for damn tasty Pinot in a couple of years but still approachable now.


The Kosta Browne Russian River was a great wine. Seeing as I am working with them, I feel I must refrain from commenting except to say that I voted for this bottle.


Group Vote: 6 votes for Kosta Browne, 2 for Port Phillip




Anne "Swervin" Irvine with the flight's winner, the 2005 Kosta Browne Russian River


You say Shiraz, I say Syrah - 2004 John Duval The Entity vs 2004 Carlisle The Judge


Can you say Deep Purple? The John Duval was an opaque, deep purple verging on squid ink! Wow! Blackberry, violets, dark cherry, plum and some oak. In the mouth cocoa and vanilla show themselves too. Fantastic balance of fruit, alcohol, wood, and tannins. Will be even better in a few years when the tannins get a chance to settles down because the are B-I-G right now.


Carlisle is one of my favorite Syrah producers and so I was excited to have it matched up with the John Duval. Once it hit the glass, I was sure this was the Carlisle, in fact I was so sure I have fuzzy memories of offering to run down the road naked if I was wrong. Almost rivaling the John Duval for color this is definitely the Carlisle I have come to know and love. Big and ripe aromas fly out of the glass - the first thing that hits me is freshly baked blueberry pie and pepper. Blackberries, smoke, bacon fat and licorice follow. Massively rich mouth-feel — this is almost more of a sensory experience than a wine. Kudos to Mike Officer!


Group Vote: 5 for Carlisle, 3 for John Duval
(although it should be noted that the table thought that the scores may be reversed if the tasting was held in 2010.)