Searching for Syrah

Lately I've been craving meaty, smoky Syrahs - the kind that remind you of bacon at Sunday brunch. It started when I first moved out here and visited a wine bar in my neighborhood where we got a glass of 2009 Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage Mise en Bouche, a classic Northern Rhone French Syrah. I've been looking for something similar ever since. Recently I encountered 2 that fit the bill. The first one materialized at an event we co-hosted last Friday night at the San Francisco Wine Center with Wine Gavel, an online wine auctioneer. We invited our storage clients, and someone ran down to their storage locker during the event and grabbed a bottle of this to share with everyone:

Alesia Santa Lucia Highlands Fairview Ranch Vineyard 2006

Unfortunately I didn't see the person and no one I asked could tell me who it was. But it was really delicious, and I'm glad this mystery person donated it!

Then, this week, one of the guys at work was making a delivery for a storage client and they gave him a couple bottles of wine as a thank-you. He brought them back to SFWC and shared them with us. The storage couple made the wine at Crushpad, a custom crush facility in Sonoma. I loved their 2006 Syrah "The Bailout." Really smoky and meaty with a touch of dark fruit. Full bodied, really smooth. I'm going to look into getting some of this - I hear they are looking to sell some bottles.

Both these wines are from Santa Barbara county, which I've heard is a great place for Syrah. Clearly I already have a preference for this area. Maybe I better plan a weekend trip down there.