The Reynvaan 2009 Syrah In the Rocks – co-fermented with Viognier – smells of sandalwood, dried cherry, dried mushroom, sage, smoky black tea, and hints of game. I might have momentarily taken it for Chateauneuf. Dense and slightly chewy, this delivers the complexity adumbrated in the nose, and a hint of black pepper adds to the pungent persistence in its finish. While one could wish for a bit more sheer sap, energy, or mouthwatering savor in this richly complex Syrah, it remains an impressive accomplishment that should be worth following for, at minimum, another half dozen years.
Mike and Gale Reynvaan purchased their home site near the base of the Blue Mountains south of Walla Walla in 2004, although their first-planted site was In The Rocks – neighboring to Cayuse’s En Cerise – the following year. Christophe Baron helped arrange for that purchase after agreeing to become their consultant (his only such gig). “He said ‘no!’ which progressed to ‘hell no!’” relates Mike Reynvaan, “but at last he said ‘I’ll do it if I have carte blanche.’ I knew enough French to know that meant trouble!” Planting around the impeccably-, indeed (in keeping with Reynvaan’s premonition) lavishly-equipped winery began in 2007, incorporating some of Baron’s vine selections, but principally a wealth of clones several of which aren’t represented at Cayuse; and that vineyard – which has thus far been exclusively dry-farmed; and which, at 1,500 feet, is amazingly one of the highest in the state – was dubbed Foothills In The Sun. Matt Reynvaan is in charge of organically farming that site as well as of the estate’s day-to-day winemaking; Baron and his crew collaborate in farming The Rocks. Eighty percent of the Reynvaans’ total plantings are Syrah. Extremely low yields, block-by-block fermentation and conscious exploration of terroir differences across small distances are fundamental to the Reynvaans’ approach, as is the determination they share with Baron that Reynvaan not become “a mini-Cayuse,” but establish its own protocols and style. “I do whatever I like to do,” asserts Baron, “and there’s a market for it. The same has to be true here, and every year the Reynvaan style is being fine-tuned.” Fermentation – usually co-fermentation with diverse white grapes where Syrah is concerned; and usually incorporating at least some stems – takes place exclusively in small stainless steel tanks and involves both pump-overs and punch-downs. Elevage is in barriques, though some 600-liter barrels (different in origin from those employed at Cayuse) are in the immediate future.
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