New Cayuse Arrivals – February 18th, 2018
Walla Walla’s Finest
(well, from the Oregon side at least…!)
SOLD OUT
Cayuse Vineyards Bionic Frog Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2014 750ML ($349.95) $299 special
Wine Advocate 100 points “Always one of the most unique in the lineup, the 2014 Syrah Bionic Frog is phenomenal stuff any way you look at it. Cold fireplace, charred meat, tapenade, shiitake and loads of dark, earthy fruit all emerge from this full-bodied, tight, backward and beautifully concentrated Syrah that readers just need to taste. Incredibly long, elegant, building and heavenly juicy, don’t miss a chance to get some of this! It needs 3-5 years of cellaring and is going to blow you away over the following two decades.”
Cayuse Vineyards Bionic Frog Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2013 750ML ($299.95) $259 special
Wine Advocate 97-99 points “I think the best of the Syrahs is the 2013 Syrah Bionic Frog, and while I’ve liked other single vineyards more than this cuvee in the past, it seems a solid step up in both 2012 and 2013. The 2013 offers incredible notes of roasted herbs, beef blood, mushrooms, scorched earth and sweet black fruits in a full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated, structured, serious style. Short-term cellaring should be the name of the game here, and while it should offer plenty of pleasure around age 5-6, I’d put money on it still singing at age 20.” JD
Cayuse Vineyards Cailloux Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2008 750ML ($179.95) $149 special
Wine Advocate 97 points “A vintage that saw rain in late September, the 2008 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard is a co-fermented blend of 90+% Syrah and the balance Viognier, that wasn’t harvested until October 10. Hitting 14.1% natural alcohol, it’s drinking beautifully today and offers a meaty, iodine, peppery and plum-pit bouquet to go with a full-bodied, refined and elegant feel on the palate. It shows more and more floral and rose petal qualities with time in the glass, has plenty of mid-palate depth and will have no issues evolving for another decade.”
Cayuse Vineyards Cailloux Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2009 750ML ($169.95) $139 special
Wine Advocate 96+ points “A hot vintage that has the grapes harvested mid-September, the 2009 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard offers lots of pepper, dried herbs, white flowers and black and red raspberry fruit to go with a gorgeously ripe, layered, full-bodied style on the palate. Slightly closed at the moment, with lots of structure, give it a few years and enjoy bottles through 2029.”
Cayuse Vineyards Cailloux Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2010 750ML ($179.95) $149 special
Wine Advocate 98 points “Coming from a cold, late vintage where the Syrah didn’t ripen until the first part of October, the 2010 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard showed spectacularly in the retrospective. Inky purple in color, it gives up classic floral qualities intermixed with ample olive tapenade, black raspberry, lavender, orange blossom and pepper on the nose. This gives way to a full-bodied, sexy, seamless and yet always elegant Syrah that has juicy acidity and ripe tannin kicking in on the finish. This was the first vintage where they moved part of the élevage to foudre, and this spent 16 months in roughly 15% new French oak.”
Cayuse Vineyards En Chamberlin Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2008 750ML ($179.95) $149 special
Wine Advocate 98 points “The 2008 En Chamberlin Vineyard Syrah offers up notes of tar, licorice, earthy minerals, blueberry, and blackberry. Dense and powerful on the palate, this appears to be Baron’s take on Hermitage.” WA
Cayuse Vineyards En Chamberlin Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2009 750ML ($199.95) $169 special
Wine Advocate 97 points “Smoky evocations of peat and black tea along with pungent, well-hung gaminess are what first tweak the nose from Baron’s 2009 Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard, followed by high-toned candied lemon and orange rind; bittersweet distilled floral essences; and evocations of kirsch and framboise eau de vie, a wealth of aromatic constituents that may well arise from the relative coolness and long hang time of this site. Bourcier suggests that there might be something about the 2009 growing season that particularly favors this vineyard, and it sure tastes that way to me! Its soaring and penetrating smoky and high-toned intensity seems to billow across the palate, where dark cherry and plum preserves mingle with marrowy rich meaty savor. Salt and crystalline impingements so vivid one seldom associates their like with red wine, lead to a finish that leaves my mouth tingling and my salivary glands helplessly stuck wide-open. (“Long hang time:” could have been a reference to my tongue on Chamberlin.) Above all, this wine is just plain mysterious, not only in the intrigue of its flavors, but in engendering wonder as to how it manages to taste as it does. Baron’s response to that thought is (no doubt but half in jest): “The monks and nuns of Cayuse need their own thousand years to figure that out!” Follow at least one or two bottles – assuming you’re lucky enough for this to be possible – well into their second decade.”
Cayuse Vineyards En Chamberlin Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2010 750ML ($179.95) $149 special
Wine Advocate 96+ points “A 100% Syrah and always the most exotic and wild of the lineup, the 2010 Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard has the Cayuse peat moss, iodine, underbrush, olive brine and gamey qualities on full display. Blossoming in the glass and showing a core of sweet fruit, it has a rich, substantial feel on the palate with a concentrated, full-bodied mouthfeel, brilliant mid-palate depth and a focused, detailed finish that carries ample finely polished tannin. Very gamey and bloody on the palate, this singular beauty will be better in another year or three and thrill for 15 years or more. Drink now-2025.”
Cayuse Vineyards En Cerise Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2008 750ML ($219.95) $189 special
Wine Advocate 99 points “The 2008 En Cerise Vineyard Syrah offers up a remarkably complex, sexy perfume that leaps from the glass. Exotic spices, a velvety texture, and a succulent richness on the palate are sublime. It, too, can be enjoyed for a decade or more.”
Wine Enthusiast 98 points “A subtle, complex, utterly distinctive mix of flavors, with opening streaks of butter cookie, then mushroom broth, tightly wound berry fruit, earthy coffee grounds and even darker streaks of espresso and smoke and licorice. It is deeply layered with flavors that just keep piling on. Amazing wine.”
Cayuse Vineyards En Cerise Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2009 750ML ($169.95) $139 special
Wine Advocate 96 points “Fermented in concrete, then aged in demi-muids, only around 20% of which were new, Baron’s 2009 Syrah En Cerise Vineyard incorporates a mouthwateringly savory alliance of smoke meat and soy sauce to its luxuriantly rich, silken-textured matrix of confitured cassis and cherry, further laced with salted caramel, while striking perfume of mint, gentian, cardamom, and rose wood hovers above the glass and inner-mouth. The finish here lingers with an uncanny combination of seductive caress, vibrancy, richness, and buoyancy, its many flavor strands – floral, fruited, animal, spice and mineral – dynamically intertwining. I would surely give at least some bottles of it 12-15 years’ opportunity to show their true potential. Cautious as I attempt to be in drawing such parallels, if Baron’s latest Cailloux bottling resembles Verset Cornas, then this En Cerise puts one in mind of another of his Rhone heroes and (albeit self-effacing) near-legends, Marius Gentaz of Cote Rotie, and in either instance Baron’s result measures up to that of these old masters.”WA
Cayuse Vineyards En Cerise Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 2010 750ML ($169.95) $139 special
Wine Advocate 95 points “Showing consistently from barrel and bottle, the thrilling 2010 Syrah En Cerise offers up a perfumed, wild array of ripe, meaty black cherries, soy, black olive, smoked herbs and river rock as well as a full-bodied, voluptuous and awesomely textured palate that carries its core of deep, concentrated fruit beautifully. Showing the classic Cayuse funk, as well as a complex, layered profile, it will benefit from short-term cellaring and evolve for 15 years or more. Drink 2015-2025.”