Page 41 - the NOISE June 2016

with Cody V. Burkett
illustration By Kris Pothier
Last month in my review of the Four-Eight Wineworks Red, I talked a bit about the Southwest Wine Center’s vineyard. The fact is the Southwest Wine Center is amazing. Here, the next generation of winemakers is learning how to explore the terroir of Arizona in the vineyard, on the crush pad, and in the tasting room. Illustrious professors such as Michael Pierce take fledgling students under their wing, and every year the students at yavapai College make wines themselves, bottle them on their own, and eventually sell them in the tasting room. Given my love for Arizona expressions of syrah, it’s only natural we’re going to explore the 2014 vintage of this fabulous grape. Syrah is arguably one of the best grapes in Arizona, and it has everything to do with where the grape came from originally, before arriving in the Rhone Valley of France
— Syria and Lebanon. But we’re not here to talk about origins; we’re here to drink.
The 2014 Southwest Wine Center Syrah was made using fruit from Rolling View Vineyards on the Willcox Bench, which belongs to the Pierce family. Dan Pierce runs a tight ship on the vineyard and it shows with the quality of the fruit I’ve seen coming from there; I seem to remember The Beer Captain making similar comments in the April issue in between comments waxing poetically about Dan’s mustache. This wine was made by the viticultural studies students themselves at the Southwest Wine Center. Made from 100% syrah, the wine was then aged in neutral French oak. This vintage also picked up one of the first awards for the college — it was a Bronze medal winner in the Arizona Republic competition which was associated with
the Grand Arizona Wine Festival last October.
On the nose, this is a pretty spicy syrah. Notes of clove, anise, allspice and black pepper
emerge, intermingling with boysenberry and latakia pipe tobacco. As the wine opens notes of vanilla, eucalyptus and cherry emerge from the glass. Subtle notes of monsoon petrichor are also present; this is something I’ve encountered in many wines made from grapes coming from Willcox, and I’m now confident enough to suggest this is actually a terroir feature in reds from that region. On the palate, the 2014 Southwest Wine Center Syrah is a pretty earthy expression of the grape, but it’s also quite spicy. Notes of cherry and boysenberry fruit intermingle with anise, cloves, myrrh and bay leaves. As the wine opens in the glass the latakia tobacco notes, which I so often get in our local syrahs, also emerge. There are some light tannins here, intermingling in the spicy finish which lasts for just under a minute. This syrah reminds me of many classic French syrahs from Crozes-Hermitage.
Because of this aforementioned similarity, I’d actually pair this wine as I would a French syrah, with a local twist. Pair this wine with an Arizona take on a classic Rhone meal: Baronnet de Pigeon Farci aux Cèpes — but this time use Band-tailed Pigeon from the higher elevations within the Arizona mountains or White-winged Dove from the desert lowlands. If you don’t have access to game birds, a nice coq au vin will work well with this wine also. It is too delicate for elk or barbecue. For a vegetarian pairing, make a nice herb-loaded, baked ratatouille.
The students at the Southwest Wine Center have produced a wine I feel is an excellent introduction to Arizona syrah, and one I’d readily recommend for those exploring this varietal. It’s a little more delicate than some other expressions of this varietal in the state, but this makes it stand out among the crowd. Like many syrahs in the state, this wine is a pinup model, but she is more slender, smoking a clove cigarette, and dressed in dark navy blue. She’s reading a copy of The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, while lounging on the couch, a semicolon tattoo visible on the back of her neck.
The tasting room space at the Center is absolutely gorgeous, decorated with old wine barrels on the walls, so you must go and check it out when you get a chance. The tasting room is open Thursday-Sunday, between 12-6PM. Tell them I sent you!
| Cody V. Burkett is feeling hungry for French cuisine. As they say, “Que cera, Syrah.” Follow him at azwinemonk.com.
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