Marichel Syrah 2006, Naramata, British Columbia
All right, jumping into my 1st wine review, I’m jazzed I picked this wine to kick things off.
I recently had the opportunity to re-format Vancouver’s Yaletown Brewing Company’s http://www.markjamesgroup.com/wine list. What a great project it was, because my mandate was to create an all BC list. For the better part of a decade, I have been an evangelist for British Columbia wine and the potential we have here for growing world class grapes. Needless to say, whipping up an all BC list was just what the wine doctor ordered. Not only did I have an excuse to revisit some of the killer producers I’ve come to know and love but I was able to dig deeper into some up & comers, which was a treat.
After a month of meeting and sampling with BC wine industry reps I narrowed the list down to approx 20 whites and 20 reds. The overall list is a work in progress as new releases will be included moving forward, as they come into the market or wines sell out. The kicker here is that my favourite wine was the last wine I reviewed for the project & it blew me away. This wine reaffirmed my belief that BC is on the right track and it also made me a believer that Syrah can be grown & produced in a fashion that is true to the variety with an end result that is comparable to quality global examples.
Marichel Winery http://www.marichel.ca/ is located in the prominent Naramata region of the Okanagan Valley (I will profile the region itself in future posts). A family operated “boutique” or “garagiste” labour of love, this winery makes two bottlings only, Syrah & Viognier (I’m a Viognier freak by the way).
Note: My juice profiles will keep the personal adjectives to a minimum as I want to concentrate on the overall character & potential of the wine, not the candy floss fluff that comes with attempting to re-create the aroma wheel!
The 2006 Syrah was an immaculate example and is my new benchmark for the variety in BC. Great depth and concentration of colour, immediate attention coming from the nose, super intriguing aromas individualistic for BC Syrah’s. Rustic, gamey, floral & spicy. I knew right away I was onto something here. The mouth feel was texturally silky with juicy tannins, obvious ripe dark fruits, again a touch of gaminess which I crave & prominent pepper tones which is unfortunately absent in so many of BC efforts. Alcohol was in check and the finish is still winding up. Lie this bad boy down for 3-5, and then check again for further ageing potential.
Great effort, seek this one out!
