Rival Wine 2007 West Side Syrah - 3 Pack
$54.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Red
PRODUCT: 3 Rival Wine 2007 West Side Syrah
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Wondered for a moment when I clicked on where wine.woot was supposed to be and landed on home.woot, which I was always surprised there wasn't one earlier, along with a beer.woot.

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Should I show this wine cellar on wine.woot or home.woot?

http://x.co/abNr

Are the grapes organically grown?

jeeperwoot wrote:Wondered for a moment when I clicked on where wine.woot was supposed to be and landed on home.woot, which I was always surprised there wasn't one earlier, along with a beer.woot.

Me too. Wine.woot remains for now. Hopefully for the long run.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as a lab rat for this Rival 2007 West Side Syrah.

From a visual standpoint I enjoyed the bottle's design and elegant script, and the wine itself poured with a deep purple hue. I was concerned that its 14.5% alcohol (and long legs when swirled) might be hot, but the first sip laid my fears to rest with dark fruit, acid, and bramble.

The wine opened up over the next few hours, emerging as an extremely well balanced wine in a restrained, European style. Blackberry, acid, and a hint of leather came through with a peppery finish that I found very pleasant. In my opinion this is a well-made, versatile wine that would stand up to steak or lighter fare, and is delicious for sipping on its own. No doubt it could spend some time in a cellar, but it is ready to drink now.

After a little googling, it seems that this is the winemakers' first effort, and an extremely impressive one at that. I hope to hear from them, including what the 10% cabernet adds to the syrah. This is my kind of wine. Despite my status as a starving grad student, at this price I think I'll have to make it a home.woot-warming gift to myself.

I almost feel like I should buy 3 of these too. I bought 3pack wine glasses, 3pack extinguishers, 3pack lunch pails...

Sorry woot but you already have enough of my money for one night.

Selling anything in this market is tough. Selling Syrah in this market is really tough. Selling Syrah at $20 (discounted) is kind of nuts. Not saying this wine isn't good. Rather, asking why it is.

They're selling wine glasses on the new home.woot today. Hopefully woot can keep the wine accessories over there and have even more wine buying opportunities here.

Cheers, Happy to Join In on the Wine.Woot Message Boards!

Daniel Darden
RIVAL Wine

Cheers, Cesare!

Daniel Darden
RIVAL Wine

Wine Rat Review
Rival Paso Robles west Side 2007 Syrah:
As I have stated in the past, I am partial to California reds mostly Cabs. On Friday I choked down a Argentinean Malbec that could also be used to strip paint. It took several hours to open and become palatable. This wine is far from that!
My wife and I corked the bottle before dinner and had a small taste. The cork was blackened and the aroma was very very nice. I thought this was a bottle of Merlot rather than a Syrah. The sample was extremely smooth. I began to think perhaps I was mistaken and I do like Syrah.
We poured a second tasting through our venturi and once again a very light smooth treat. I don’t get too involved with the cherry, berry, tar, thing. I think I could taste a hint of cherry and chocolate but to be honest I couldn’t tell if it had donkey dung in it. As long as it tastes good I’m happy. My wife said this wine was very smooth and not much complexity. I could cut and paste other reviews to sound cool but the idea is to be honest and give a regular average consumers review so I am.
We enjoyed some nice rib eyes and both thought this wine would go nicely with pizza or a pasta dish. The wine continued to open as we had a third sample. I was pleased from the first taste till the last drop. I have not been told the price or whether this will be available to us in NY. If its priced between $12-$15 dollars I’m in for three.
For those of you that saw my last post this is NOT!! … NOT!! Panther piss this is a very nice smooth wine from the first taste until the last.
Thank you Woot for introducing me to it.
Cheers!

2nd report from the same first time Labrat shipment. Friends and I popped and poured this along with Saturday's offering, the Passo Doble from Masi Tupangato.

We're serious home winemakers making a couple barrels of Paso Robles Syrah...so we were really looking forward to ratting this wine.

As with the Masi, we used the Robert Parker scale, so the format of this report is the same as the one I posted on Saturday.

Base Wine gets 50 points to start

Color and Appearance gets max of 5 points:

5s across the board for this inky purple Syrah..not a big proponent of "legs" but they're definitely there in case anyone else is interested.

Aroma/Bouquet gets a max of 15 points:

Nose is dark berries and some oak..Not a lot of oak and not a little, but it's there and it was just the right amount to go with the blackberries and other dark berries. We gave this a 12 for the pop and pour but dropped this down to a 10 after checking wine again 4 hours later..a lot of the fruit had blown off.

Flavor/Finish gets a max of 20 points:

for flavor we got still got dark berries..a little cedar..from our experience, this is a very very good example of Paso Robles juice..there's a nice long finish..and a hint of tannins..not too chewy...but it's there....Our scores averaged out to a 15. Later in the evening, this also dropped a couple points as the finish just wasn't there anymore..Still a really nice wine but interesting.

Overall Quality and Aging Potential gets max of 10 points:

For a 2007, we thought this was tasting a little young..We loved the taste of this wine (partial as we are to Syrah) and thought this was a good wine to buy now and lay down for a couple years. I'd like to know a little more about who makes it, as their website was a little sparse. We thought this was a very well made Syrah and gave this 8 points.


Taking the high scores again we came up with a 90, but taking into account the change over time of the wine, I think i'd amend it to an 88..a good solid Central Coast Syrah.

The Parker description is:

"80 - 89:
A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws."

JJHACamp

This may be a silly question but how "syrup-y" is this Syrah?

I usually like when it's more full-bodied and am surprised every once in a while when I buy a new brand that seems a bit watery. When served with smoked ribs, I'm told that "if you're going to give me watery wine, I'll just take some Kool-Aid instead..."

siriusblueus wrote:This may be a silly question but how "syrup-y" is this Syrah?

I usually like when it's more full-bodied and am surprised every once in a while when I buy a new brand that seems a bit watery. When served with smoked ribs, I'm told that "if you're going to give me watery wine, I'll just take some Kool-Aid instead..."

May be a bit light for Ribs for you.
My opinion.
I did buy six bottles for the holidays though.
just to give you an idea.

LAB RAT REPORT

RIVAL WINE 2007 WEST SIDE SYRAH

Past woot Syrah offerings I’ve tried include Wellington (’03, ’04, ’06), Madison, K Vintners, Saxon Brown and Firestone. The Rival Paso Robles is a good addition to my other Syrah woots and actually may be my favorite out of these selections.

Upon pop and pour into a Riedel Syrah glass, the color was a nice purple reminiscent of Bordeaux varietals. Swirling allowed the legs to show, if that is important to some. The initial aromas were black cherry, tobacco and spice, which was confirmed on the palate. Right out of the bottle, the Rival was fairly balanced and the alcohol (no heat), tannins and acid all were in proportion.

Passing the wine through the Vinturi accentuated the intense dark purple and brought allowed the black fruit (black berry and blue berry) to come through along with the black pepper and spice, with a component of leather and milk chocolate. The wine really expressed itself at that point and I recommend the Vinturi or decanting. The finish was pleasing and tapered off nicely-not too short at all. It is a medium-full bodied wine.

The Rival was paired with a grilled NY strip steak (trying to get in as much as possible on our charcoal grill before winter) and held up well and complimented the black peppercorn seasoning and richness of the steak. Later, the wine was really delicious on its own.

This Syrah did not have any vegetal (thankfully from this perspective) or barnyard aspects but it is not a fruit bomb either. The dark fruit plays a prominent role but is balanced by the spice, leather and pepper. It appears to be well integrated and structured and the QPR here is good. It is quite enjoyable and recommended as a very pleasant Paso Robles Syrah.

Check out the thread by Wine Spys...Indicates a retail price of $33

Here's the link: http://thewinespies.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/2007-rival-wine-paso-robles-syrah/

The Wine Production was Very LOW - We only produced 500 Cases for the Public.

The Blend is 90% Syrah and 10% Cabernet

The small amount of Cabernet made a big impact to the wine. The wine contains a fair amount of acidic snap, keeping the flavor finish bright and lively.

Cheers,
Daniel Darden
RIVAL Wine
Wine to Inspire.

I'm thinking this may have a shot at Shnozberry juice. A tad heavy for Fizzy Lifting Drink though.
In for two (six).

Morning all (afternoon for those not on the west coast),

Thanks for hanging out again and talking about Rival. For those that it matters to, Rival was made at Hahn Family Wines in Soledad. We had a great time working with Dan and getting this wine crafted. Dan will be around to answer any of your actual wine questions and I will be around, as per normal, for some comedy relief.

Have a great day!

danieldardenrivalwine wrote:The Wine Production was Very LOW - We only produced 500 Cases for the Public.

The Blend is 90% Syrah and 10% Cabernet

The small amount of Cabernet made a big impact to the wine. The wine contains a fair amount of acidic snap, keeping the flavor finish bright and lively.

Hi Daniel,

One of the other reviewers indicated this vintage was your first Syrah effort. Were you intentionally trying to keep the acid levels in this range so the CS was strategically calculated in the 10% area?

In my view, this was not a European/Rhone style but it was not an over-the-top Australian monster either. The fruit was forward but not overwhelming. It seems you were trying to be representative to Paso Robles and not some other area, which to me is logical-was that your intent?

Do you subscribe to the theory most wines these days can be enjoyed now but also fairly safely cellared for ten years or would you drink this one earlier?

Love me some Paso Syrah, but I just received my wellington shipment that I had bumped to a case and got back from Sonoma yesterday, so no Syrah for me. Were all full at the inn.

cortot20 wrote:Love me some Paso Syrah, but I just received my wellington shipment that I had bumped to a case and got back from Sonoma yesterday, so no Syrah for me. Were all full at the inn.

Cheers, I too am a Wellington & Saxum, Pax Syrah FAN!!
And as you can see.
Massive WESTSIDE PasoGEEK ;)

Enjoy your Wellington, like to hear your review on it...

Daniel Darden
RIVAL Wine

jonstrib wrote:Hi Daniel,

One of the other reviewers indicated this vintage was your first Syrah effort. Were you intentionally trying to keep the acid levels in this range so the CS was strategically calculated in the 10% area?

In my view, this was not a European/Rhone style but it was not an over-the-top Australian monster either. The fruit was forward but not overwhelming. It seems you were trying to be representative to Paso Robles and not some other area, which to me is logical-was that your intent?

Do you subscribe to the theory most wines these days can be enjoyed now but also fairly safely cellared for ten years or would you drink this one earlier?

>>>>>>>>>>>RIVAL RESPONSE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
I wanted this Paso/Syrah to maintain high acid, I'm a Northern Rhone fan. I tend not to drink low acid Reds, I find them to flabby and lacking in finish.

The Paso/Syrah acid helped us stay away from that Syrup-Juice bomb style.

On the use of 10% Cab - many winemakers have been known to add Pinot to the blend to bump up the natural acid (not a fan). I wanted to give the wine more structure, and the Cab filled in nicely on the mid-pallet and improved mouth feel.

RoosterBooster wrote:Morning all (afternoon for those not on the west coast),

Thanks for hanging out again and talking about Rival. For those that it matters to, Rival was made at Hahn Family Wines in Soledad. We had a great time working with Dan and getting this wine crafted. Dan will be around to answer any of your actual wine questions and I will be around, as per normal, for some comedy relief.

Have a great day!

RoosterBooster
Happy to see you on the Boards today -

I must give CREDIT to the Vino Talent of Paul Clifton @Hahn and my Napa Valley consult Winemaker(Steve Burch)helped me perfect my First Wine.

And massive RESPECT to Andy Mitchell, Director of Vineyard Operations!!! For Growing this Power packed wine.

If only I had room in the cellar for this. Wife's rule. No room, no woot. Time to uncork a few more bottles.

RoosterBooster wrote:Morning all (afternoon for those not on the west coast),

Thanks for hanging out again and talking about Rival. For those that it matters to, Rival was made at Hahn Family Wines in Soledad. We had a great time working with Dan and getting this wine crafted. Dan will be around to answer any of your actual wine questions and I will be around, as per normal, for some comedy relief.

Have a great day!

Nice Job, this Rat realy enjoyed it.

I know it has been a few months now, but has anyone else received corked wine from this purchase?

My original order was corked, and I received my replacement at the end of December due to some email communications that were apparently lost.

In inspecting the replacement when I returned from my travels, I discovered that the replacement bottles were also corked. So far I have been very disappointed about this and I have not heard from Woot.

Should I take this up with the winery or with my credit card company directly?

huktunfonikz wrote:I know it has been a few months now, but has anyone else received corked wine from this purchase?

My original order was corked, and I received my replacement at the end of December due to some email communications that were apparently lost.

In inspecting the replacement when I returned from my travels, I discovered that the replacement bottles were also corked. So far I have been very disappointed about this and I have not heard from Woot.

Should I take this up with the winery or with my credit card company directly?

Not sure what kind of an answer you're looking for here, equally confused what your credit card company would do (unless it's Amex).

Have you contacted Woot to see if they are able to arrange a replacement with the winery? Email is:

service@woot.com

If you want to contact the winery directly, Email is:

hello@rivalwine.com

And all else fails, and you would like to return your product for a full refund (final action) you can contact woot at

rma@woot.com

But seriously, try that service@woot one first.

Thanks for the tip. I have tried contacting service@woot several times in the past week or two, but have not received a reply. I understand that I can take it to the winery, but to be honest I think I would rather just get a refund and end this process -I will take this to AMEX.

Normally I am very pleased with woot's customer service and responsiveness, but this experience has been rather disappointing:

1) The initial product delivered was not only defective (corked), but also not what was originally ordered (if you remember, woot sent an email about this and issued a credit for those that ordered).

2) The replacement took over a month and a half and many email reminders to receive.

3) The replacement was also corked.

4) Now woot seems to be non-responsive to further attempts at resolving this.

ThunderThighs wrote:I apologize for the problems you are having with this wine. May I ask that you please email service@woot.com again. During the holidays, they got slammed with email and it may have been accidentally overlooked. Also, please check your email spam/junk folders for responses.

I'm going to send an email from my end as well. I'm not sure anyone will be there this weekend, but you should hear something back on Monday.

I will send another email as you recommend. I have also initiated a dispute via AMEX because I feel that this issue has really gone on for much to long.

The three bottles have been sitting on my counter for the past two weeks, and I am saving the box in case I am asked to ship it back.

Thanks for the quick reply!