California vs Washington State Syrah Showdown

California vs Washington State Syrah Showdown – Episode #461

May 8, 2008

Today in a head to head confrontation Gary Vaynerchuk pits 2 Syrahs against each other, one from Washington State and the other from California.

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Comments on this episode(163) Leave a comment ›

“Looking for a Washington Syrah on Google brought me to this episode.
…” by mrzitro
“Im happy with the result. Its another mark in the win colum for Washi…” by Dessert Wine Nerd
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Rhapsody3 Syrah
2005 Gramercy Cellars Walla Walla Valley Syrah

163 Responses

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April 9, 2009

mrzitro
Looking for a Washington Syrah on Google brought me to this episode.

QOTD: the Pomum Shya
January 12, 2009

Dessert Wine Nerd
Im happy with the result. Its another mark in the win colum for Washington state, baby! A win is a win! QOTD: Probably a 1998 Pierre d’ Arche Sauternes. I cant actually remember if it WAS $30 ( I doubt it ). But its the only wine that Ive drank lately that was over $20 that was meh. Heck, it was beyond meh. I dont think it was corked, but it literally had one flavor, and that flavor was air with sugar. Horrible effort. Hopefully it was just the bottle and not the overall wine.
August 8, 2008

DeathValleyHiker
8/08/08 Just paid $9.99 for a bottle of Bourassa Rhapsode3 Syrah 2005 at Grocery Outlet in Hemet Ca.
June 13, 2008

Tommy Vernieri
QOTD: The most dissapointing $30 of wine I’ve had was the 2003 Elderton Shiraz. We had it at our Third Thirsty Thursday Tasting blind and it was in the lower half of the six we tasted from just about everyone’s scores (check out wine dot scribblewiki dot com, we did Shiraz in April).
May 30, 2008

James
Dude, UFC over Boxing any day

I like Syrah so much… I find I have really good luck in picking them between 20 and 30 bucks
May 28, 2008

Ben F
Great show GV i like the quick in out format sometimes…
May 24, 2008

Dan-o
GV – you have me stumped on the QOTD. I am certain that I have been underwhelmed by some wines at 30 bones, but I tend to remember the great bargains. I just scord some 1999 Balnaves The Blend (Connawarra Aussie Bordeaux style blend) from my old merchant in NC at ~$6 per bottle – a steal!
May 18, 2008

Sassodoro
QOTD. I have had too many $30-disappointments and $3-closeout-miracles to remember specifics. In general, though, I don’t recall a recent $30 Pinot Noir that brought much thunder, whether Burgundy or Oregon or New Zealand. Oregon Pinot Noir at about $40 starts getting good.
May 15, 2008

damon aka unknownwine
don’t remember names, but red burgundy for $30 I’ve have very bad luck with. Seems like a risky category to me.
May 15, 2008

Luis Felipe
QOTD – I got nothing.
May 14, 2008

Charlie Berg
I really like the new format, Gary, back and forth is like a real fight.
QOTD: The name isn’t coming to me, but it was a St. Emilion from a non-Premier cru producer from 2003. It just didn’t have anything on the nose, and I mean anything! Just a hint of dusty raspberry, both when I just opened it and after it had been decanted for a couple of hours. kinda surprising.
May 14, 2008

Mondavi4Life
Washington Syrahs? They cant even compare to Napa Valleys Syrahs. Its like comparing a Smart Car to a Bentley Continental.

My top 5 Syrahs/Shiraz of all-time:

Guigal La Mouline
Penfolds Grange
SQN Just For The Love Of It
Jaboulet La Chapelle
Robert Mondavi Private Select Syrah-unreal value cmpared to the other 4!
May 13, 2008

GR8wine
Thanks for the episode but it was a bit dissapointing (not the episode, the outcome of 2 $30 US syrahs from premium US winegrowing regions). This in itself is educational. Can’t say I can recall the most disappointing $30 bottle. I will say I’ve been disappointed by many bottles in that range at restaurants but I don’t count those since restaurants gat away with highway robbery in their wine markups. (maybe you should do a show about that!). So what are the 17-18 bones Syrahs from France that would compare favorably?
May 13, 2008

ScottyWed
Nice Head to Head battle. Thought you were going to taste them blended. HA.

QOTD: Any red from Wilson Creek or Ponte (Temecula Valley). I used to love the stuff, now I can’t think of paying that price.
May 13, 2008

boegemann
QOTD: N.V. MoÃ«t & Chandon Champagne White Star; I used to love the sweet/tart aspect of this stuff, but it’s just not doing it anymore.
May 13, 2008

jeffw
QOTD: 1996 Kalin Cellars pinot noir. I picked this up at The Wine Merchant in St. Louis…$49 bones down the toilet. Terry Leighton totally missed with this one. Umami my ass.
May 13, 2008

wannaBconnoisseur
Love the showdowns.

Q-??
May 13, 2008

pawncop
Thanks for a good episode.

QOTD – Quite honestly, I have yet to spend $30.00 for wine just yet. I can see it happening, but not at this point in time.
May 12, 2008

Stephanie from So CA
QOTD: Soter in Pacific Northwest. Very disappointed lately with Sparkling and Rose. Funky….
May 12, 2008

Colin
GV – Thanks for the show. QOTD – Early on in my wine drinking days, I got a bottle of Clicquot and thought I was the shizzle. Until I opened it – I was like “What are people raving about”. Luckily I had a bottle of Duval-Leroy and my brain waves about Champ. were spared…
May 12, 2008

SaraMHCRU
Don’t think I’ve ever spent more than $25 on a bottle of wine, retail.
May 12, 2008

Jon Martinez
As of late it was the Gramercy Syrah. I bought it a few weeks ago at there shared tasting room. It wasn’t available to taste, but I thought I would check out one of our small producers. I was expecting a lot more. I had very similar tasting notes. Nicely made, but not very exciting. A lot of money for something that could be had all day for half the price. Even then I wouldn’t buy it. I scored it at 87+ pts.
May 11, 2008

JayZee
QOTD: Too numerous to mention. I often drink $30 wines and it is not unusual to be disappointed. And it depends on the type of wine. I mean, if it’s an Amarone, or Nuits-St. George, or a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, it is pretty much a $30 or more wine and certainly some of them disappoint me.
May 11, 2008

Rossodio
QOTD – easy. It’s the N.V. Paul Goerg Champagne Brut Tradition. Despite the fact that so many actual champagne wines are overpriced, this one stands out on its own for being very poor quality, especially for the price point of 30 bones.
May 10, 2008

Jim in Atlanta
QOTD – I have had quite a few mediocre wines over $30. Many wines are over priced these days. Someone recently shared a glass of a $100 Napa Cabernet with me and it was nothing special.