Outstanding wine. On the young side, but I really savored it and geeked out 🤓
On opening:
Very restricted and obviously young. Tight, bitter, stoney aroma in the glass. Not the best time to drink it, but not bad and clearly well made. Not much alcohol showing, even at 15% abv
2+ hours:
Starts to open up with underripe raspberry fruit and herbal aromatics
3rd day:
Fully open with amazing red fruit complexity. Raspberry is still leading with dry notes of current and cranberry. Savory and white pepper, refined acidity and balance. — 6 years ago
Nice balanced grapefruit hints, not too overpowering — 6 years ago
What a smokeshow. Gorgeous nose of cherry liquer, cassis and lavender. Amazing purity and so not gloppy Grenache. Smell those Galets. Spice and licorice as well. Palate is so fresh and elegant with unreal purity. So juicy and Stoney with a trickle of heat but as it airs it will integrate. Lovely texture and freshness. Long finish. — 7 years ago
Incredible value, punching well above its weight class. Classic CNDP character and texture, true to form and class. There’s a deal of finesse here not often seen at this price point. To me another example of Mourvedre’s place in CNDP’s future regarding climate change. Nose is ripe and confitured blackberry, roasted black plum, Provençal herbs, mocha, hot stones. Palate confirms nose; plump black fruit framed by stony minerality, garrigue, and white pepper. Underlying savory elements of meat and smoke. Tannins are assertive yet very fine, again very stoney in character. Acid is fresh, almost has a Gigondas or elevated character to it. Pure class with plenty if soul. Will develop quite well but so delicious right now. 70 GR 30 MV — 7 years ago
Stoney stream water. — 9 years ago
Yowza. This is crazy. Stunning mid season cherry. Just phenomenal pure, deep and clear cherry. Sick clarity here. 9.6 nose. Just insane. Stones, soil, licorice as well. Floral. So focused. Amazing fruit clarity here. Top notch. Superb concentration and power. Sappy and so pure. Electric freshness and just ridiculous energy. This is so balanced, deep and well made. Big noble tannins that are perfectly ripe and just gorgeous. Juicy clean fruit and so stoney and mineral. Utterly classic and superb Pommard. 103 year old vines. — 5 years ago
* appearance: dark purple
* aromas: blackberry, black olive, vanilla, cracked pepper, smoke
* palate: very dense, black fruit, black olive
* structure: full bodied, medium+ acidity, medium tannins, 14.7% ABV
* finish: long, peppery
* winemaking: 100% Syrah blended from three vineyard: Les Collines Vineyard (44%)/Lewis Vineyard (41%)/Stoney Vines Vineyard (15%), aged for 17 months in 15% new oak and 85% older oak barrels
* cost: $45 — 7 years ago
Light but funky nose, fruitier and not as dark as the other reserve syrahs from VA piano, very smooth — 8 years ago
I love these guys. Lush and smooth, beautifully weighted and textured. — 8 years ago
Holy hell this is great. I mean wow. Leather galore. Gorgeous, stunning, pure. So granitic and mineral. So expansive. Cocoa. Mint. Olive. So wafting and expansive. Palate is rich, ripe and dense with stunning purity, red berry fruit, a gamey, stoney character and lots of freshness. Awesome acids. Really elegant as well. Terrific inner mouth aromas. Really complex and finishes very stoney. So so long. Will only open more. I won’t get to evolve with it as I’m dropping off at a friend’s place for him to enjoy with dinner with some friends he needs to impress. Wow, this is long! Sickness. — 5 years ago

Sourced from the esteemed ‘Stoney Vine Vineyard’ in the Walla Walla Rocks AVA, the 2017 ‘Tall Tales’ Syrah begins with lovely stony undertones that mingle with the green olive tapenade, bacon fat, cigar ash and clove aromatics that all marvelously combine in the glass. The texture imparted is seriously good as is the flavor range from Satsuma orange zest to ripe red cherry to shades of Umami, bulls blood and sweet pipe tobacco. Delicious now, this will continue to evolve well over the next eight to ten years — but why wait? Drink 2019-2026- 93 — 6 years ago
Great smokey nose, nice representation of Walla Walla Syrah w savory notes. — 9 years ago
Bob McDonald
Interesting to compare this with the 1er Cru Les Perrieres from Henri Boillot from 2015 a few months ago. A touch of oak initially on the nose - caramel notes. Lemony and citric on the light weight palate, with stoney mineral notes and a noticeable saline finish. You can taste the well balanced oak on the palate. More minerality than most top notch Australian Chardonnays. — 4 years ago