2023 Cayuse "En Cerise Vineyard" Walla Walla Valley Syrah

The 2023 Cayuse En Cerise Vineyard Syrah from Walla Walla Valley draws remarkable depth from this unique vineyard site, delivering a wine of breadth and lift that feels feral, yet exquisitely controlled. Raised with a modest touch of new French oak, it opens with smoked meat, asphalt, cured leaf tobacco, and preserved black plum, all threaded through a dense seam of crushed rock. The texture is generous and full-bodied, yet the wine never turns heavy, its vivid acidity and tensile mineral spine keeping the richness in check. As it unfolds, darker notes of blackberry, blue plum, forest floor, shaved black truffle, olive brine, and roasted game emerge, giving the wine a haunting earthbound complexity that recalls the fall in southern France, but more in spirit than imitation. A dish such as cassoulet with duck confit would suit it beautifully, since the wine’s savory depth, saline minerality, and ample extract can meet the dish’s richness while refreshing the palate. Monumental now and built for extended evolution, this is a profound, intensely site-marked Syrah. About 400 cases made. Highly recommended.