Almesa Paso Robles Syrah 4-Pack
$72.99 $̶1̶5̶7̶.̶0̶0̶ 54% off List Price
2008 Syrah, Paso Robles
2007 Syrah, Paso Robles

Winery website

Oh yes. I do like Paso Robles Syrah...

I like paso Syrah as well but did not care for this. It was one of three brown bagged bottles at the woot socal meetup last month. I don't remember the vintage but I'm sure Kyle or RJ can figure it out. I have no specific notes because I simply wasn't taking any.

cortot20 wrote:I like paso Syrah as well but did not care for this. It was one of three brown bagged bottles at the woot socal meetup last month. I don't remember the vintage but I'm sure Kyle or RJ can figure it out. I have no specific notes because I simply wasn't taking any.

We had the '08, and while I was trying to keep notes it seems this one slipped thru the cracks when compared to the other bottles sampled.

I do seem to recall Sparky walking around with a notebook.


I am rather hoping a certain Rosé we had makes an appearance however.

cortot20 wrote:I like paso Syrah as well but did not care for this. It was one of three brown bagged bottles at the woot socal meetup last month. I don't remember the vintage but I'm sure Kyle or RJ can figure it out. I have no specific notes because I simply wasn't taking any.

Ditto - it had a few interesting notes, but the flavours just didn't work for me. I won't go into more details since I don't really remember the specifics - should have taken notes.

We tasted this wine and my first reaction was underripe fruit. 15.5% alc. Nope. Then klezman suggested it might have been 100% whole cluster fermentation. That's what it tasted like. It had a very astringent, green, bitter tannin streak it finished with and I'm not sure anyone liked it. Sorry, but this is an easy pass for me. Seems like a bad bottle when compared to trifecta's notes.

I had this about a month ago, and my recollections were much more positive then the ones listed above. I thought it had good fruit (not under ripe), a beautiful color, and was generally enjoyed by everyone who had some. I also can't find my notes, but remembered liking this one quite a bit. It was served at cellar temperature. However, we had the 2007 and it looks like the group with the brown bag tasting had the 2008. It could just be that the 2007 was far superior to the 2008.

hershelk wrote:I had this about a month ago, and my recollections were much more positive then the ones listed above. I thought it had good fruit (not under ripe), a beautiful color, and was generally enjoyed by everyone who had some. I also can't find my notes, but remembered liking this one quite a bit. It was served at cellar temperature. However, we had the 2007 and it looks like the group with the brown bag tasting had the 2008. It could just be that the 2007 was far superior to the 2008.

The stats of the 2007 are far superior (for my tastes) than for the 2008. Lower alc, higher acid, etc.

Given Kyle's recollection this is the wine I remember. It was very green in a tannin sense (not vegetal or herbal) with a relatively harsh bitterness. I did enjoy this wine's aromas - dark red to black fruit with some spiciness to it iirc. I think if you want to put something away for a year or three this could turn into a great buy (for the 2008) at under $20. For me, I've got other stuff that needs the space for those few years.

hershelk wrote:I had this about a month ago, and my recollections were much more positive then the ones listed above. I thought it had good fruit (not under ripe), a beautiful color, and was generally enjoyed by everyone who had some. I also can't find my notes, but remembered liking this one quite a bit. It was served at cellar temperature. However, we had the 2007 and it looks like the group with the brown bag tasting had the 2008. It could just be that the 2007 was far superior to the 2008.

I tasted this a few weeks back as well (2008) and I remember detecting A cough syrup note along with the green tannins mentioned here. I am wondering if it was a bad bottle or if there is bottle variation? I did not taste any Syrah-like qualities when it was brown bagged.

losthighwayz wrote:I tasted this a few weeks back as well (2008) and I remember detecting A cough syrup note along with the green tannins mentioned here. I am wondering if it was a bad bottle or if there is bottle variation? I did not taste any Syrah-like qualities when it was brown bagged.

I drink 1-2 different bottles of Paso Robles Syrah a week, and I also could not find anything Syrah-like about it.

klezman wrote:The stats of the 2007 are far superior (for my tastes) than for the 2008. Lower alc, higher acid, etc.

Given Kyle's recollection this is the wine I remember. It was very green in a tannin sense (not vegetal or herbal) with a relatively harsh bitterness. I did enjoy this wine's aromas - dark red to black fruit with some spiciness to it iirc. I think if you want to put something away for a year or three this could turn into a great buy (for the 2008) at under $20. For me, I've got other stuff that needs the space for those few years.

I am very confused! You can't be talking about Almesa Syrah. I have poured our wines for a lot of people and I have never heard anyone say our wine was "under-ripe","green", or bitter. I think you need to take notes next time. Our syrah is smooth and soft on the palate. The first thing you'll notice when you taste our syrah is big fruit that fills your mouth and then becomes velvet smooth and finishes with a smooth lingering of light smokey oak. No tannins or bitterness. These are tasting notes that better describe Almesa Syrah.

almesawinery wrote:I am very confused! You can't be talking about Almesa Syrah. I have poured our wines for a lot of people and I have never heard anyone say our wine was "under-ripe","green", or bitter. I think you need to take notes next time. Our syrah is smooth and soft on the palate. The first thing you'll notice when you taste our syrah is big fruit that fills your mouth and then becomes velvet smooth and finishes with a smooth lingering of light smokey oak. No tannins or bitterness. These are tasting notes that better describe Almesa Syrah.

Please note that the bottle that nearly all these reviews are from could have been fresh off travel or been an off bottle. I trust the palates of those who commented. As nearly all of us have experienced, bottle variation is real. Maybe the winery could get another sample out to the SoCal group for another chance.

We took one for the team and opened this in the AM today. I have PnP notes, but will post more as the wine opens up.

PnP. Chilled to 50F, upright overnight. Too cold on pouring, but things will warm up quickly here. Dark purple hue. Nose is somewhat closed but still showing broad dark fruit spectrum, leaning a touch toward red. Dark plum, blackberry, and bramble. On the palate there is dark fruit with a touch of spice and then oak toast on the finish. Medium tannin that is resolved. Medium acid. There is a good balance between the two. Lush, not picking up any smoke or umami.

I would admit that initially this isn't a typical syrah style, but I am not picking up the harsh or green tannins that others have mentioned. As this opens I am getting more and more fruit on the nose and some complexity on the palate.

almesawinery wrote: I think you need to take notes next time.

I will certainly take notes next time...from the wineries who have not lost my business.

almesawinery wrote:I am very confused! You can't be talking about Almesa Syrah. I have poured our wines for a lot of people and I have never heard anyone say our wine was "under-ripe","green", or bitter. I think you need to take notes next time. Our syrah is smooth and soft on the palate. The first thing you'll notice when you taste our syrah is big fruit that fills your mouth and then becomes velvet smooth and finishes with a smooth lingering of light smokey oak. No tannins or bitterness. These are tasting notes that better describe Almesa Syrah.

I assure you, our tasting notes are just fine. This was tasted by about 15 people, some of whom have palates I know very well and trust immensely. It is entirely possible that we got a bad bottle (I had a bad bottle of Vacqueyras last night). However, attacking (maybe too harsh of a word) our tasting notes -- that, again, were consistent among all of us -- and correcting our notes instead of suggesting that our bottle was off comes off as arrogant, even if that's not your intent. By the way, I hope a 2008 Syrah has tannins! Green and astringent are, obviously, not ideal, but structure is a must for most of us.

This is the first time you're offering your wines on woot (welcome! Can you identify yourself? Wine maker? Marketing?) and I know that it can be difficult to offer your hard work up to the sacrificial boards, but we are a very well educated, intelligent group when it comes to wine. Telling us that we're wrong and that you've poured it to X number of people whose palates we don't know at all and who could all be Coors light drinkers for all we know really doesn't help us at all. Indeed, it may hurt you within this community.

trifecta wrote:Please note that the bottle that nearly all these reviews are from could have been fresh off travel or been an off bottle. I trust the palates of those who commented. As nearly all of us have experienced, bottle variation is real. Maybe the winery could get another sample out to the SoCal group for another chance.

We took one for the team and opened this in the AM today. I have PnP notes, but will post more as the wine opens up.

PnP. Chilled to 50F, upright overnight. Too cold on pouring, but things will warm up quickly here. Dark purple hue. Nose is somewhat closed but still showing broad dark fruit spectrum, leaning a touch toward red. Dark plum, blackberry, and bramble. On the palate there is dark fruit with a touch of spice and then oak toast on the finish. Medium tannin that is resolved. Medium acid. There is a good balance between the two. Lush, not picking up any smoke or umami.

I would admit that initially this isn't a typical syrah style, but I am not picking up the harsh or green tannins that others have mentioned. As this opens I am getting more and more fruit on the nose and some complexity on the palate.

Thank you for your comment. This sounds more like our wine.

kylemittskus wrote:I assure you, our tasting notes are just fine. This was tasted by about 15 people, some of whom have palates I know very well and trust immensely. It is entirely possible that we got a bad bottle (I had a bad bottle of Vacqueyras last night). However, attacking (maybe too harsh of a word) our tasting notes -- that, again, were consistent among all of us -- and correcting our notes instead of suggesting that our bottle was off comes off as arrogant, even if that's not your intent. By the way, I hope a 2008 Syrah has tannins! Green and astringent are, obviously, not ideal, but structure is a must for most of us.

This is the first time you're offering your wines on woot (welcome! Can you identify yourself? Wine maker? Marketing?) and I know that it can be difficult to offer your hard work up to the sacrificial boards, but we are a very well educated, intelligent group when it comes to wine. Telling us that we're wrong and that you've poured it to X number of people whose palates we don't know at all and who could all be Coors light drinkers for all we know really doesn't help us at all. Indeed, it may hurt you within this community.

I am the winemaker and I did not mean to offend anyone or make light of your comments. It's just that the descriptions definitely do not sound like our wine. I can only assume that it was a bad bottle. I appreciate your comments.
Kim

almesawinery wrote:I am the winemaker and I did not mean to offend anyone or make light of your comments. It's just that the descriptions definitely do not sound like our wine. I can only assume that it was a bad bottle. I appreciate your comments.
Kim

Welcome to wine.woot! We're so happy to have you here - we love being able to experience new wineries. It's always sad when tasting notes come from a flawed bottle, and it is very encouraging to hear that trifecta's report sounds much more like your anticipation of the wine. Perhaps the posters for the notes from the SoCal gathering could go back and edit to make note that there is suspicion of a flawed bottle, so that those who have not yet read the comments will not be negatively swayed by their notes

trifecta - could you confirm if your notes were from the 2007 or 2008 vintage?

almesawinery wrote:I am the winemaker and I did not mean to offend anyone or make light of your comments. It's just that the descriptions definitely do not sound like our wine. I can only assume that it was a bad bottle. I appreciate your comments.
Kim

Did you ferment whole cluster at all for the 2008?

almesawinery wrote:I am very confused! You can't be talking about Almesa Syrah. I have poured our wines for a lot of people and I have never heard anyone say our wine was "under-ripe","green", or bitter. I think you need to take notes next time. Our syrah is smooth and soft on the palate. The first thing you'll notice when you taste our syrah is big fruit that fills your mouth and then becomes velvet smooth and finishes with a smooth lingering of light smokey oak. No tannins or bitterness. These are tasting notes that better describe Almesa Syrah.

Based on my notes from the evening, yes, we were talking about your 2008 Syrah.

I like Paso Syrahs, and when we tasted this one, it did not seem typical. But then it is possible there was some bottle shock, or it was a bad bottle.

I have received some wine club shipments where they've stated to let the wine sit for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer, before opening. And since the '08 bottle fell off the truck only a day (or a couple of days) before opening, it is quite possible that there was some bottle shock. Although I think I've experienced it more with PN than Syrah wines.


Edit: As mentioned, we tasted this "brown bag", so none of us knew what it was until later in the evening. And IIRC, none of us thought "Syrah" upon tasting.

kylemittskus wrote:I assure you, our tasting notes are just fine. This was tasted by about 15 people, some of whom have palates I know very well and trust immensely. It is entirely possible that we got a bad bottle (I had a bad bottle of Vacqueyras last night). However, attacking (maybe too harsh of a word) our tasting notes -- that, again, were consistent among all of us -- and correcting our notes instead of suggesting that our bottle was off comes off as arrogant, even if that's not your intent. By the way, I hope a 2008 Syrah has tannins! Green and astringent are, obviously, not ideal, but structure is a must for most of us.

As I recall we did three brown-bag bottles that evening; a white, pink and red. The white was, iirc, generally accepted by most, the pink by a greater number (I quite enjoyed that one), and this red by the fewest. I also recall we rejected as nearly undrinkable another red (?) that made it to the sink nearly untouched, while most other bottles were enjoyed by most if not all, depending on personal preferences.
I don't think we were "off".

Was this bottle received only a day or so earlier? I can't believe that alone would have affected it as much as we are reporting.

Again, I know Sparky was taking written notes and has yet to comment, perhaps he'll have a different take on this.
[edit] ahhh, just posted

cheron98 wrote:
trifecta - could you confirm if your notes were from the 2007 or 2008 vintage?

I can confirm it is the 2008 vintage.

As the wine warms up I am getting a fuller mouthfeel. There is a tad bit of heat sneaking through as it gets too warm (my inside temp is already 82), so I recommend cellar temp. It is a very soft velvety wine. While it does not have the typical juicy syrah fruit, it still has decent structure and is an enjoyable wine. I think it would go well with grilled veggies or burgers and would have general appeal at summer get togethers.

EDIT: Off to the beach for the day. Tough being me. I have 2 sneaker bottles ready to go.

WD,

Perhaps it's time to get some more De Long's stuff up on Wine.Woot?

People were admiring my De Long's Wine Tasting Notebook that I got from one of their offers here (a long time ago!).

kylemittskus wrote:I assure you, our tasting notes are just fine. This was tasted by about 15 people, some of whom have palates I know very well and trust immensely. It is entirely possible that we got a bad bottle (I had a bad bottle of Vacqueyras last night). However, attacking (maybe too harsh of a word) our tasting notes -- that, again, were consistent among all of us -- and correcting our notes instead of suggesting that our bottle was off comes off as arrogant, even if that's not your intent. By the way, I hope a 2008 Syrah has tannins! Green and astringent are, obviously, not ideal, but structure is a must for most of us.

This is the first time you're offering your wines on woot (welcome! Can you identify yourself? Wine maker? Marketing?) and I know that it can be difficult to offer your hard work up to the sacrificial boards, but we are a very well educated, intelligent group when it comes to wine. Telling us that we're wrong and that you've poured it to X number of people whose palates we don't know at all and who could all be Coors light drinkers for all we know really doesn't help us at all. Indeed, it may hurt you within this community.

Kyle
I will talk to Neil at Woot and provide an extra bottle to send down to your SoCal group for a future tasting. I know your tasting notes will be different than some I am reading today. Thanks for your comments
Kim

trifecta wrote:I can confirm it is the 2008 vintage.

As the wine warms up I am getting a fuller mouthfeel. There is a tad bit of heat sneaking through as it gets too warm (my inside temp is already 82), so I recommend cellar temp. It is a very soft velvety wine. While it does not have the typical juicy syrah fruit, it still has decent structure and is an enjoyable wine. I think it would go well with grilled veggies or burgers and would have general appeal at summer get togethers.

EDIT: Off to the beach for the day. Tough being me. I have 2 sneaker bottles ready to go.

Enjoy the beach!

But when you get back, how long have you had the bottle?

trifecta wrote:I can confirm it is the 2008 vintage.

Thanks That helps.

So , is the fruit sourced from the vineyard next to hunters ranch golf course?
East side Paso?

MarkDaSpark wrote:Enjoy the beach!

But when you get back, how long have you had the bottle?

SWMBO still packing....

Its been almost 2 weeks. Went straight into the fridge in an upright position (although there was no sediment in this bottle).

kylemittskus wrote:We tasted this wine and my first reaction was underripe fruit. 15.5% alc. Nope. Then klezman suggested it might have been 100% whole cluster fermentation. That's what it tasted like. It had a very astringent, green, bitter tannin streak it finished with and I'm not sure anyone liked it. Sorry, but this is an easy pass for me. Seems like a bad bottle when compared to trifecta's notes.

Kyle
We are a very small winery and we hand pick our fruit and remove all leaves and stems prior to fermentation. We do not whole cluster ferment as Kiezman suggested. Our vineyard is on the east side of Paso Robles so we get a lot of heat during the growing season, hence the high sugar/alc content in our syrah. After fermentation I age our wines in 1year old French oak barrels for 2 years. Thought you might like to know my approach to making our wine. Thanks for your comments.
Kim

trifecta wrote:SWMBO still packing....

Its been almost 2 weeks. Went straight into the fridge in an upright position (although there was no sediment in this bottle).

Thanks! Good to know.

neilfindswine wrote:WD and I tasted this a few months back and while we didn't take detailed notes, we both agreed that this was quality stuff.

The notes from SoCal indicate bad bottle to me. The wines we tasted did not have the flavors mentioned- I would have remembered that.

I've been known to enjoy a Paso Syrah in my day, and I quite enjoyed these.

So who's paso Syrah would you say is closes in taste.
I REALLY enjoy paso syrahs from mike mooney's chateau margene to Stephan's L'Aventure (east vs west).
Least I forget Madison cellars

almesawinery wrote:Kyle
We are a very small winery and we hand pick our fruit and remove all leaves and stems prior to fermentation. We do not whole cluster ferment as Kiezman suggested. Our vineyard is on the east side of Paso Robles so we get a lot of heat during the growing season, hence the high sugar/alc content in our syrah. After fermentation I age our wines in 1year old French oak barrels for 2 years. Thought you might like to know my approach to making our wine. Thanks for your comments.
Kim

The more info you can give us, the better. Most of us are wine nerds. We love numbers, stats, and inside info. I'm a huge Paso fan and don't mind the high alc. at all. Sparky (one of the board members) is interested in your port-styled Syrah.

neilfindswine wrote:Afraid I can't make a comparison, it was a couple o' months ago, we tasted a few things that day and I didn't take notes. But I know I liked it....

Hey, you really are one of us then, regarding notes that is.

neilfindswine wrote:I know. I can't read my own writing half the time.

could the wine be causing the unreadable notes

almesawinery wrote:Kyle
We are a very small winery and we hand pick our fruit and remove all leaves and stems prior to fermentation. We do not whole cluster ferment as Kiezman suggested. Our vineyard is on the east side of Paso Robles so we get a lot of heat during the growing season, hence the high sugar/alc content in our syrah. After fermentation I age our wines in 1year old French oak barrels for 2 years. Thought you might like to know my approach to making our wine. Thanks for your comments.
Kim

Hi Kim,
I should clarify that the bunch of us were trying to figure out why this wine would have tasted that way. Surprising that none of us thought of it being a bad bottle, probably because it still had fruit and some personality rather than being dull or dead. Anyway, that doesn't matter - based on the bitterness (which, in moderation, I quite like) and tannic quality I made a highly scientific WAG (that's wild-ass-guess to you non-engineers) that perhaps it was stem tannin that could have been due to overzealous whole-cluster fermentation/pressing. I'm glad that the consensus appears to be it was a bad bottle, espcially given trifecta's notes. I'm also sorry I didn't take better notes - my trip down I-10 that day was frustratingly long and I just wanted a drink

Regardless, thanks for coming by and helping us clear up this issue.