Coming from a cold, late vintage where the Syrah didn’t ripen until the first part of October, the 2010 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard showed spectacularly in the retrospective. Inky purple in color, it gives up classic floral qualities intermixed with ample olive tapenade, black raspberry, lavender, orange blossom and pepper on the nose. This gives way to a full-bodied, sexy, seamless and yet always elegant Syrah that has juicy acidity and ripe tannin kicking in on the finish. This was the first vintage where they moved part of the élevage to foudre, and this spent 16 months in roughly 15% new French oak.

The only one of Christophe’s Syrahs to be co-fermented with Viognier, the 2010 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard (90% Syrah, 10% Viognier) shows the least amount of Cayuse funk and has classic northern Rhone-like aromas and flavors of black raspberry, black pepper, edgy minerality, spring flowers and hints of bacon fat. Gaining additional complexity and nuances with air, it is silky and polished on the palate, with full-bodied richness, a seamless, elegant texture and remarkable persistence and length on the finish. One of those wines that delivers incredible amounts of fruit and texture without ever seeming heavy, it is a brilliant wine that will benefit from a handful of years in the cellar and shine for 10-15 years. Drink now-2025. These singular efforts are made by Champagne transplant, Christophe Baron, from his winemaking studio that lies just outside of the town of Milton-Freewater, in Oregon. I doubt these wines need any introduction, yet it is worth pointing out that it is rare to find such a complex and diverse portfolio today where all of the wines are at such a high level. Certainly, this unique terroir has something to do with it, yet Christophe falls into the realm of the Manfred Krankls and Michel Chapoutiers of the world, who stand apart from the crowd and produce a range of incredible wines that always make me scratch my head and wonder what, exactly, is going on. Having visited with Christophe and tasted these wines over the past 4-5 years now, both from barrel and bottle, I don’t believe there’s any hidden magic going on and it is a dedication to the vineyard, to low yields and to a simplistic, hands-off approach in the cellar that creates these singular wines. Looking at the recently bottled releases, 2010 is an interesting case where the wines are still tight and compact at this stage. For comparison, the 2009s at this time last year has completely filled in and fleshed out and were showing heart-rate-increasing levels of fruit and texture while these 2010s are more reserved, focused and medium to full-bodied at this stage, with supple textures and focused profiles. I don’t think they’ll hit the high of the 2007s, 2008s and 2009s, hence, they’re rated a handful of points below those wines. Nevertheless, they will continue to gain in richness and depth over the coming 3-4 years and will warrant these lofty ratings. Made in a similar vein, the 2011s actually have additional richness and concentration over the 2010s and have beautiful mid-palate density and depth, as well as ripe tannic frames. They should match, or surpass, the 2010s.Tel. (509) 526-0686; www.cayusevineyards.com