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A plethora of Colson Canyon Syrah
My husband is tenacious and extremely focused. If he gets sparked by something, he follows the rabbit hole until he has thoroughly exhausted the subject. For example, he was on a chipotle kick last year, where *everything* he made included chipotle – even cocktails…chipotle raspberry martini anyone? Earlier this year some fabulous friends gave us a smoker as a housewarming present…everything was smoked for months. Ribs, fish, pork shoulder, hard boiled eggs, chicken, turkey, garlic, tomatillos, tomatoes, tomatoes, onions, peppers – it all went into the smoker. This kick hasn’t stopped, though thankfully it did slow down a bit. There are only so many rib recipes you can smoke and eat in one weekend. Whew!
One of his latest obsessions started while tasting the 2008 Brander Colson Canyon Syrah at the Brander tasting room a few months ago. Even though it is relatively young, this is a complex, full-bodied wine with flavors of black cherry, white pepper, anise and hints of cigar box. Jason and I loved the wine and asked Louise (the knowledgeable, personable and all-around wonderful tasting room manager) about the Colson Canyon Vineyard. From her we learned that Colson Canyon Vineyard is a small vineyard, relatively isolated in the hills of Santa Maria. She told us that Colson sells fruit to only a handful of wineries. That was all it took – Jason was on the hunt to taste every wine made with Colson Canyon fruit. Over the next few months, through various purchases made in person, online and over the phone, Jason collected about 2.5 cases of Colson Canyon vineyard designate wines from a bunch of different wineries. Our friends collected still more Colson Syrah. Naturally, the next step was to taste these wines and try to glean a sense of place, the terroir of Colson Canyon. This was the perfect excuse for a dinner party, so we invited some friends from the wine and food business over to help us with the plethora of Colson Syrah. With 2.5 cases of wine to choose from, we sorted and re-sorted the bottles. After much deliberation we settled upon which bottles to open (and found that we have enough wine for a second Colson Canyon dinner – tba).
Here is the lineup of wines we chose:
2001 Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah
2002 Duo (Duo is now called Costo de Oro) Colson Canyon Syrah
2003 Tensley Colson Canyon Syrah
2004 Margerum Colson Canyon Syrah
2005 Barbieri Colson Canyon Syrah Colson Canyon Syrah
2005 McPrice Myers Colson Canyon Syrah (not pictured, oops)
2006 Cleb Colson Canyon Syrah (sadly, this wine was corked)
2006 Alchemy Colson Canyon Syrah
2006 Wades Wines Colson Canyon Syrah
2007 Brander Colson Canyon Syrah
As this was more of a social, fun evening, I did not take detailed notes but our group did draw a few conclusions from this tasting. It may sound odd, but the younger Colsons seemed to have more complexity than the older vintages. I can also tell you that the group consistently gave top marks to the Brander and Margerum Syrahs. The McPrice Myers was a very close second for me (and my husband). All in all, a wonderful evening of wine, food and friends. I am already looking forward to the next Colson Canyon Syrah dinner! A very special thank you to everyone who helped make this evening so much fun. You know who you are!
So much has happened since I last posted. Nope, I am not part of the witness protection program – I’ve just been really, really busy. Let me try to condense the last month into a few words and some photos. First and foremost I moved from Santa Barbara to a lovely house out in wine country with a view of the edge of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Moving is never easy or fun, but in this case the massive effort was worthwhile. I’m reminded daily about what makes Pinot Noir so good, when I wake up to a view of the Santa Rita Hills. Often times the hills are shrouded in fog that burns off by mid-morning. The east-west coastal valleys combined with fog, wind and rocky soil stress the vines and reduce crop yield. This results in incredibly complex and layered Pinot Noir. If you want to taste what I am referring to, check out Ampelos Cellars’ 2005 Rho Pinot Noir. You’ll be happy you did!
Though I’ve only been in my new place about a month and a half, so much has happened! In the few weeks I:
- unpacked a seemingly infinite number of boxes, many of which were full of wine or books…I wonder if I really need all these books?
- enjoyed some of my favorite fabulous local wines (De Su Propia Cosecha, Brander, Tre Anelli, Stolpman, McPrice Myers) while unpacking boxes – no wonder it took so long!
- poured Consilience wines at an event at Blush in Santa Barbara
- ate amazing woodfired pizza at Full of Life Flatbread (and oysters – WOW!) – if you’re into woodfired pizza come to Los Alamos to eat at Flatbread
- wrote the tasting notes for a couple of fabulous soon to be released wines from Tre Anelli (2007 Pinot Grigio, 2007 Sangiovese, 2008 Diavolessa)
- went wine tasting at Brander (Thank you Fabian and Louise for the tour and barrel tasting!) – I *love* the Purisima Sauvignon Blanc and the reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
- encountered all sorts of wildlife out here in the country – deer (see photo below), red tailed hawks, turkey vultures, mice, moles, skunks (unfortunately one of my dogs got too close to the skunk, sigh) a myriad of songbirds, mice, horses and a tree frog (oddly enough the frog was in my shower…go figure)
- visited chef Paul Kulik at the Boiler Room restaurant and La Buvette in Omaha – my two favorite places to eat and drink in the Old Market district
So much has happened and so many wonderful things are on the horizon! First and foremost, there is lots of great news from one of my local favorites, Dragonette Cellars. Very soon you won’t have to go out to the wine ghetto in Lompoc to visit Dragonette, because they are opening up a tasting room in Los Olivos, right across the street from Stolpman. Also, any day now, Dragonette will release a wine that consists mostly of the co-fermented Syrah/Viognier that I fell in love with while barrel tasting last year (there are a few photos from this below). The wine is a reserve release and is called MJM. John Dragonette, Steve Dragonette and Brandon Sparks-Gillis dedicated this wine to their wives (Mitchi, Jen and Michelle), hence the name MJM. Smart husbands. 🙂 Recently I visited Dragonette and tasted the 2007 MJM with winemaker Brandon Sparks-Gillis. He was quite proud (and rightly so) of the almost released blend of 96% Syrah, 3% Grenache and 1% Viognier. This is a gorgeous wine with layers of flavors – definitely one to save for a special occasion! It wasn’t officially for sale yet (the bottles had not yet been hand dipped in wax) however I was able to convince him to let me go home with a couple of bottles. Thanks Brandon! Last but not least, Dragonette now has a wine club – you can join online too!
On Saturday May 15th, the Wine Hound Santa Barbara County Wine Futures event is happening. Last year was an amazing opportunity to taste incredibly fabulous local wines. Check out my post with details from last year’s event. This year I promise to charge my camera battery. There will be around 130 different wines available for tasting from local producers. Old favorites, including Au Bon Climat, Jaffurs, Qupé and Stolpman will be there and also some newer producers like Rey, Kaena and Shai. I am really looking forward to this event!
Last but not least, my wine tasting group is collecting bottles for a special Colson Canyon Vineyard themed tasting. So far we have collected red wines made from Colson Canyon fruit produced by Cleb, Tensley and Brander. If you know of any other wineries that make a Colson Canyon vineyard designate wine please drop me an email.
Here are some random snapshots of food, wine and other miscellany. Cheers!
Dragonette winemaker Brandon Sparks-Gillis with a bottle of MJM
De Su Propia Cosecha red (Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah)
Me pouring Consilience wines at Blush in Santa Barbara
Lunch at Terravant (a fun place to taste wine - ask for a tour)
This is the first meal at the new house -we hadn't unpacked much yet
Dragonette 2008 Sauvignon Blanc - it makes unpacking boxes better
McPrice Myers 2007 L'Ange Rouge at Side Street Cafe (we were too tired to cook)
Tre Anelli 2008 Diavolessa - red blend of Dolcetto, Barbera, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel
First course of salad and oysters at Flatbread
Happiness is eating at Flatbread
What a fun surprise - a deer in my yard
2007 Duckhorn Decoy at Urban Wine Company in Omaha's Old Market district
La Buvette - you'll think you're in France, but it is really Omaha's Old Market district
One of the walls of wine at La Buvette
The view from the patio - cool foggy mornings help make good Pinot Noir
Foggy mornings turn into warm, clear days
- Barrel tasting at Dragonette (photo courtesy of pixillusion.com)
Dragonette extracting wine with a wine thief (photo courtesy of pixillusion.com)
Wine Nation Underdog 
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