The February edition features Syrah. Click the cover image to visit Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine.

Now, while we recognize that Syrah is not the newest kid on the block, its tenure in California is but a comparatively short one, and it is only in the last decade that its popularity and number of makers have grown to any significant level. It is arguably still in its infancy in so far as finding its true California voice, and, despite an explosion of new plantings in the late 1990s, the districts of Syrah and the characters they might engender are anything but clear.

While the notion of terroir and variety with respect to California Syrah is a topic worth exploration, it also a topic about which there is not yet enough data to make valid any meaningful conclusions. The grape has done well in the warmer climes of the Central Coast and Sierra Foothills, but it occasionally excels in such unexpected places as the cool Carneros district and the Russian River Valley.

We expect that, as vintages pass, answers will catch up with the questions of site and soil, but it remains reasonable even now to ask how our efforts thus far stack up against their French cousins from the Rhône, which are, after all, their very inspiration.

The purpose of this our latest "California versus France" tasting is, as always, to find context for our local product rather than to foment invidious competition. The questions we carry are those of character as much as quality. Selected for tasting were wines from both mainstream Rhône producers and smaller, less-well-known estates, and we tossed in two presently reviewed California "ringers", the Santa Barbara Winery 1999 and the Justin Halter Vineyard 1999, as hoped-for points of comparison.

We limited our brief look to the recent 1998 and 1999 vintages. The former has been described as a "classic" vintage for Syrah in the Northern Rhône that produced wines of solidity and firm structures while the warmer 1999 harvest is noted for wines of opulence and generous fruit. Joining us and contributing invaluable winemaking insight into the ways of Syrah were Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St. John Winery and Jeff Cohn, winemaker for Rosenblum Cellars and proprietor of his own JC Cellars label.

When the evening's swirling, sniffing and spitting finally came to an end, some very interesting and in some unexpected truths became evident. Not so surprisingly, the wines from France are typically far less driven by the ripeness, oak, and elevated alcohol that seem to be the norms for the Pacific Coast, and, more significantly, the finest examples from Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, Cornas and St. Joseph give up nothing in way of richness, range or texture despite their somewhat more temperate manners.

We have watched alcohol levels slowly rising in Zinfandel, in Cabernet and even in Chardonnay as California's infatuation with ripeness has seemed the apparent path to richness, but here, at least with Syrah, the certainty of that equation is brought in question.

As massive and so very substantial as they are, Chapoutier's "La Sizerrane" Hermitage and Guigal's very ripe and highly oaked "Chateau d'Ampuis" Côte Rôtie steer well wide of the blunting coarseness and persistent heat that so often attends California Syrahs of similar size.

Largely absent too in the French versions are the intensely gamy, leather and brushy spice qualities that seem synonymous with varietal character in many of our home-grown efforts. Only in the Hermitage of Chapoutier does the tell-tale scent of gamy meats emerge, but, even here, it is not singularly dominant and shares the stage with plums, pepper and ample berry-like fruit.

It is also true, of course, that Syrah has many faces in its homeland both grand and uninvolving, and that, when grown in superior sites, it is decidedly reflective of any particular terroir. The bright, perfumey, keenly etched versions of Côte Rôtie will never be mistaken for the big-shouldered bruisers of Cornas and Hermitage, the wines of lesser pedigree seem rather amorphous if ripe and reasonably weighty.

Even with the many faces shown by the French offerings, however, it is worth noting that the California "ringers," which did well in terms of preference rankings in the tasting, nevertheless stood out by dint of their depth, hard-charging fruit and ready ripeness.

We would not argue against the notion that California Syrah could be a bit more poised and polished, but that refinement should not come at the cost of richness and the rambunctious fruit that is the State's greatest gift. It seems more than clear that West Coast Syrah is no fad, no momentary bow to fashion. It is here to stay, and there is no reason to expect that as its harvests pass it will do other than follow the heady successes of its vinifera predecessors.

CÔTE RÔTIE

** 91 GUY BERNARD 1999
An altogether remarkable elegant interpretation from Syrah, this classic Côte Rôtie begins with lovely, highly perfumed aromas of raspberries, violets, lavender and deftly laid-on oak, and it follows with vigorous flavors of bright, softly spiced fruit. If wonderfully polished in feel and wholly lacking in toughness, it still shows a fine streak of integral tannins and ends with a burst of fruity acidity and reiterated notes of raspberry. Free of the excessive oak and ripeness of "obvious" winemaking, it is a different approach to the grape from the local norm in California. $39.50

* 90 E. GUIGAL "Chateau d'Ampuis" 1998
So different from Guy Bernard's offering as to seem born of another appellation, this big, bold, highly oaked wine shows a very real affinity with the richer, well-ripened California versions. Made from grapes grown on several of Guigal's best vineyards, it is loaded with dense, solidly extracted fruit that smacks of blackberries while elements of cocoa, vanilla and cream-sweetened coffee heighten its overall sense of richness. Ample tannins underlie its length, yet there is little sign of heat, and its coarseness is of the kind that will be tempered by age. If the racier, distinctively perfumed aspects of Côte Rôtie have been largely lost to oak and seeming ripeness, there is still plenty of depth and plenty to like here. $80.00

ROBERT & PATRICK JASMIN 1998
Puzzling notes of dried herbs and oyster shell at the outset slowly dissipate as aromas of this initially closed Syrah slowly open to reveal restrained fruit, wisps of white pepper and glints of stony spice. On the palate, the wine is fleshy and fairly light on its feet despite its clear impressions of extract, and its careful oak lends quiet support to central themes of black cherries, pepper and ripe berries. Lengthy, but a bit more tannic than its fruit can wholly buffer, it keeps alcohol in check and is thus never so rough and raw as it is simply astringent. $54.00

HERMITAGE

** 91 CHAPOUTIER "La Sizeranne" 1998
This full-scaled Syrah lives up to Hermitage's reputation for producing wine's of immense mass and fruity volume, and it is one of wines in this survey to display the gamy, roasted-meat elements that are so prevalent in California versions. For all of its considerable substance and sheer muscle, however, the wine is never heavy, and its density comes with finely fit acidity and relatively hidden alcohol. Coarsened by tannins that are entirely appropriate to its provenance, it is a wine whose lifeline is long and certain. $50.00

PAUL JABOULET AINÉ "La Chapelle" 1998
Surprisingly over-developed and a bit cooked in character, this fabled wine still managed to display the kind of weight and overall density expected of Hermitage. Its early gifts of sweet fruit and roasted spice fade to tannins and an errant edge of tangy acids, and, while it gets things right in terms of size and structure, its sense of place and real terroir are, in this sample, impossible to define. $70.00

CORNAS

** 91 AUGUST CLAPE "Renaissance" 1999
Clape's "Renaissance" bottling is made from the fruit of relatively younger vines (18 to 20 years old), but there is little about this solid, supple, wonderfully well-filled wine that in any way suggests it is a second-string player. Intense, ripe and quite deep in fruit with a sense of plumpness that momentarily reminds of California, it is shot through with accents of smoke and spice and is given a boost in richness by an evident streak of creamy oak. Moderately tannic as befits its place, it at once shows both potency and polish in a way that is less evident hereabouts. $40.00

* 87 ALAIN VOGES 1998
Showing the prominent tannins and more rigid musculature that are typical of old-school Cornas, this gutsy youngster has none of the polish and plushness evinced by Clape's version but is not wanting for substance. Rustic rather than coarse or crude, it dries a bit in the latter going, yet, as with so many of its slightly lower-alcohol Gallic cousins, its astringency is not inextricably tied to flaring heat at the finish. $30.00

ST JOSEPH

** 92 PHILIPPE FAURY 1999
The district of St. Joseph is so large and consists of so many varied sites, that no appellation ideal exists, but Faury's bottling is a model worth emulation by any standard. Many of our tasters tagged it as coming from Côte Rôtie, and its impressions of grace, vitality and perfumey fruit make the analogy wholly apt. It shows a touch more fat and fleshiness on the palate than either the Bernard or Jasmin offerings, however, and, if never quite a powerhouse in the Californian sense, its remarkable balance of tactile richness, temperate alcohol and silky smooth tannins offers an interesting model for the West Coast product. $24.00

CROZES-HERMITAGE

PAUL JABOULET AINÉ Domaine Thalabert 1998
Although purchased from a different source, this bottling surprisingly showed some of the same, prematurely aged qualities that plagued Jaboulet's Hermitage. Smoky, cedary and a bit dull and lifeless on the palate, it shows a gasp of ripe plums and spice before drifting away to a short, dry minimally tannic finish. $20.00

BERNARD CHAVE 1999
Heading off to places that are better described as herbal and earthy rather than spicy in any varietally typical sense, this ripe, soft-centered wine fights against undue bitterness and a vague note of almost "metallic" acidity, both which seem all the more evident in lieu of better central fruit. Something seems amiss here, and the wine teaches little of Syrah. $13.00

JEAN ASTIER 1999
The cleanest and least peculiar of our Crozes-Hermitage trio, Astier's version is also a little too neutral when it comes to well-defined Syrah character. Ripe, balanced and entirely pleasant on the palate, its comparatively dilute flavors are framed with crisping acids and finished with a token bit of unassertive tannin. $12.00

CÔTES-DU-RHÔNE VILLAGES

DOMINQUE ROCHERS "Monsieur Paul" Cairanne 1999
Sporting a cépage that is 60% Syrah, this sturdy, fairly full-bodied bottling from the Southern Rhône displays impressive weight and lots of fruity substance, but its steers a bit wide of the varietal's unique spiciness and instead comes up brushy, smoky and oddly redolent of old mushrooms. Its sense of depth and mass may be instructive of Syrah, but its earthy quirks teach little of the grape, and, in fact, suggest that something has gone awry. $14.00

VINS DE PAYS

EARL GEORGES VERNAY Syrah 2000
Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes. Although it is hardly a textbook rendition of majestic Syrah, this nicely defined effort is fit with attractive, slightly plummy fruit and trimmed with subtle notes of dry spice. It is a bit richer in feel than it is in flavor, yet it still musters a bit of varietal "pepper", and, if reasonably ripe, it is never soft or sloppy. $10.00

THE CALIFORNIA "RINGERS"
(Tasting Notes extracted from over 100 reviews of West Coast Syrah appearing in the February Issue of Connoisseurs' Guide"

* 89 JUSTIN Halter Vineyard Paso Robles 1999
Showing all the oak, not quite the degree of fruitiness and far more ripeness than the wine above (Justin's regular Paso Robles bottling), this tough and very gutsy youngster is as brash and unrefined as they come. It is a little too hot for its own good, but it is also deep and fairly rich, and it will reward those who have the patience to wait a few years for its hefty tannins to abate. $22.50

* 90 SANTA BARBARA WINERY Santa Ynez Valley 1999
Ripe and outgoing, this aromatic effort leaps out with notes of blackberries, game, toast and mint with background hints of tar and dill. It is full and fleshy on the palate and noticeably tough in its youthful astringency, and it needs all of its concentrated fruit to find balance at this point. Bottle age will see it to a more inviting stance, and three to five years would seem the minimum wait for this one to come around. $22.00