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Perhaps you’ve heard the almost mythical story, how the brash, young French Vigneron visited the then little-known town called Walla Walla, and fell in love with a few acres of seemingly useless, stone-covered farmland. While the nay-sayers nayed, Christophe Baron deftly turned that field of stones into the acclaimed Cayuse Vineyards. And the rest, as they say, is history—and a whole lot of spectacular wine.
Christophe purchased the property and planted his first vineyard in the Stones of the Walla Walla Valley on March 21, 1997. “People said I was crazy, that I’d break my equipment and waste my time and money,” he recalls. “But I knew that vines need to struggle in difficult ground in order to provide their best.”
He called the venture Cayuse Vineyards, after a Native American tribe
whose name was derived from the French word “cailloux”—which means “stones.” In the following years, it has grown to five vineyards, encompassing a little more than 47 acres.
What was considered by many a foolish gamble on that field of stones has been rewarded year after year with some of the most acclaimed wines in the region—and in the nation.
| Varietal | Syrah |
|---|---|
| Vintage | 2009 |
| Rating | 98 RP |
| Bottle Size | 750 ml |
| Bottle Quantity | 1 |
| Country | USA |
| Region | Washington |
| Location | Columbia Valley |
| Producer | Cayuse Vineyards |
| Color | Red |
| Wine Type | Table |
| Rating | 98 RP - From his high-density 2001 planting, Baron's 2009 Syrah Armada Vineyard leads with a high-toned, penetrating nose that one can scarcely avoid calling Cote Rotie-like: bacon fat, fresh cherry, kirsch, framboise, and violet. But there are also black tea, caramel, and a penetrating note of sealing wax that's reminiscent of mature Bordeaux. Around one quarter of the 600-liter barrels in which this was raised (following fermentation in a mixture of cement and wood) were new. Dense, fine-grained but more evident tannins than in most of the present collection appear on a palate whose savory salinity and saliva-inducement, however, are utterly Cayuesque. The interplay of flavors here is kaleidoscopic and at the same time almost eye-squintingly bright. What's more, as the wine opens to the air, a real layering and interplay emerges of diverse carnal elements alone: smoked meat, game, bloody roasted red meat, marrow and bone meal. This Syrah's phenomenal sense of energy as well as of sheer, sappy, expansive presence, make for a finish whose vibratory intensity shakes-up my entire mouth. A truly awesome effort, it will surely be worth following for at least 15 years, though I've a hunch "without knowing how Baron" earliest wines (which were surely different in important respects anyway) have matured – that it will reward for significantly longer. (And if you wonder what Baron can do for an encore to such a performance, just sit tight for a year or two!) I'm relieved I didn't consider it necessary to score this wine any higher, otherwise I'd have left no room to express symbolically that the best is yet to come. RP |
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| Varietal | Syrah |
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| Vintage | 2009 |
| Rating | 98 RP |
| Bottle Size | 750 ml |
| Bottle Quantity | 1 |
| Country | USA |
| Region | Washington |
| Location | Columbia Valley |
| Producer | Cayuse Vineyards |
| Color | Red |
| Wine Type | Table |
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