This one won’t go down in the history books with the 1976 Judgment of Paris, or be (un)fortunate enough to have bad movies made about the back story leading up to a blind tasting wine competition.  But, this was a heck of a lot of a fun and provided some very interesting results.

Our good friend and food/wine pairing expert, Nick Benz, graciously hosted the tasting at Landmark Vineyards and lined up about 20 tasting positions, each with a clean glass  for each wine and a scrap of paper for taking notes and voting.

The California Entries:

Eric|Kent 2006 Dry Stack Vineyard Syrah

Landmark Vineyards 2006 Steel Plow Syrah

The Washington Entries:

Fielding Hills 2006 Wahluke Slope Syrah

Syncline 2006 McKinley Springs Vineyard Syrah

Each wine was carefully selected to represent the best each state had to offer (in the sub $50 category) and came highly recommended from various sources, both professional and consumer.  Professional scores were all in the low to mid 90’s.

The tasting was based on the +/- formula and each individual taster award 2 +’s as well as 2 –‘s.  I found this to be a fair format, especially when 20 tasters were simply voting for their two favorite wines. Each wine was concealed and poured into A, B, C, D glasses.

The wines were remarkably unique in style, while maintaining the expected state tendencies. Having 4 high quality Syrah’s next to each other it was easy to see how unique the  different styles of Syrah  could be.  The California wines were easily identifiable and both had delicious fruit and very nice balance.  The Washington wines were dramatically different from each other, and from the California wines. Some had flavors of coffee and chocolate, and none had the high alcohol spiciness that you often find in an unsophisticated Syrah.

What I heard around the room:

• Lots of Coffee in this one. (Fielding Hills)
• Too harsh, needs more time (Syncline)
• Perfect balance, very drinkable (Eric|Kent)
• D is for delicious (Landmark)
• California brought the fruit to the party
• Those wines tended toward the minerality and complexity of a European Syrah.
• I knew these were the California wines, so I voted for them.

After the votes were tallied the results were all too appropriate… a first place tie.  The best of California turned out to be just as good as the best from Washington, with Landmark not too far behind.

1. Fielding Hills tied with Eric|Kent

3. Landmark

4. Syncline