The 2007 Syrah Armada Vineyard is simultaneously one of the most youthful wines in this tasting and also the most complete, unfurling in the glass with a savory bouquet of black truffle, bitter chocolate, cassis and other dark fruits. On the palate, the wine is both more expansive and more incisive than the 2008, its lavish, textural attack segueing into a deep, stony and layered mid-palate. The finish is sapid, even saline and very long. Aged in demi-muids, one of which is new, the 2007 finished up with 14.2% alcohol. Baron is planning to release a small tranche of library wines this June, so members of the Cayuse mailing list shouldn't hesitate to snap up a few bottles if they can.

The 2007 Syrah Armada Vineyard (100%) was aged in Rostaing puncheons, one of them new, for 30 months. Aromatically, it is the most brooding and Cote-Rotie-like of these Syrahs with notes of smoke, meat, game, garrigue, lavender, and blueberry. The most tightly wound of the Syrahs, it is the one that will most profit from several years of cellaring. It should offer prime drinking from 2014 to 2027. A cult of personality seems to have developed in Washington over the past couple of years. Whenever the name Christophe is mentioned, everyone immediately knows of whom you are talking. The man himself, Christophe Baron continues to find new and interesting things to do. His latest vineyard project is well underway on hillsides not far from his present location. His estate, just on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla AVA, consists of five small but distinct vineyards (41 acres in total – with more on the way). Syrah and the Bordeaux varietals are the principal focus but some of the finest parcels of Tempranillo and Grenache grown in the USA are on this estate. Unfortunately, there will be no more varietally bottled Viognier which will now be used only as a blending grape. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically and much of the estate is planted on rootstock to prepare for the day when phylloxera works its way through Walla Walla. The wines are all fermented with indigenous yeasts and bottled unfined and unfiltered.Tel. (509) 526-0686; www.cayusevineyards.com

The wine begins to change immediately; as soon as the cork is pulled the bouquet emerges and begins to evolve. Thin layers of scent and flavor are stacked, with rose petals on top, then supremely dense with darker layers of smoke, graphite, ash, mushroom, black fruits. The tannins never stick out and the flavors just keep on going, bringing in cured meats, mocha, and on and on.——P.G.(2/1/2011)—— 97