Made from 45% Mourvèdre, 30% Syrah, 14% Grenache, 9% Carignan and 2% Cinsault, the 2021 Subduction Red is red-fruited and rocky with a fresh and juicy nose that offers hints of peppercorns with dusty potpourri notes. Medium-bodied, the wine is spicy on the palate, with a balanced structure, succulent acidity, fine-grained tannins and a delightfully lingering, food-friendly finish. Just over 16,000 bottles were made.

Checking in as a southern Rhone-like blend of 46% Syrah, 27% Mourvedre, 14% Grenache and the rest Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise, the 2014 Subduction Red is terrific value that offers forward, charming, downright delicious notes of ripe black fruits, pepper, underbrush and earth. Drink this beauty over the coming 4-5 years.

Inspired by Southern France’s C?tes du Rh?nes, the 2013 Subduction Red is a lively, elegant blend of 39% Syrah, 19% Mourvedre, 15% Carignan and the balance Counoise and Grenache. Coming from vineyards spread throughout the Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain and Yakima Valley, it gives up pretty notes of leafy herbs, wet stone, sappy flowers and darker berry fruits to go with a medium-bodied, silky, integrated and balanced style on the palate. It shines for its complexity and elegance more so than power and richness, and scores high on sheer drinkability. Enjoy it over the coming 3-4 years.

Also charming, with bramble, pepper, herbs, licorice and red and black fruit aromas and flavors, the 2011 Subduction Red is the estate’s take on a value priced southern Rhone and checks in as a blend of 39% Mourvedre, 29% Grenache, 14% Syrah, 9% Carignan, 7% Counoise and a splash of Cinsault. Seamless, lightly textured and with excellent purity, as well as notable acidity, this approachable and balanced blend will drink nicely for 5-6 years. It’s a good value that will easily compete with comparably priced Cotes du Rhones and is worth checking out. Drink now-2019. Focusing on Rhone styled blends, Syncline Wine Cellars is the brainchild of James and Poppie Mantone. The wines are always of high quality and stress purity, elegance and drinkability over concentration and power. In addition to these releases, James is also producing a Rhone Styled blend for the Force Majeure lineup, which is reviewed (highly I might add) in this report. Tel. (541) 912-7961; www.synclinewine.com

The Syncline 2010 Subduction Red – their largest bottling – represents a geologically and geographically diverse range of vineyards and the following varieties: Mourvedre, Syrah, Grenache, and smaller amounts of Cinsault, Counoise, and Carignan (of which, yes, there is some, at Alder Ridge in the Horse Heaven Hills). Bright red raspberry tinged with bay and sage and allied to red meat juiciness takes on increasingly smoky, piquantly fruit pit, as well as stony notes as it heads into a long, quite fascinating finish of infectious juiciness and refreshment. Firm and lean in feel, this is apt to loosen-up and become even more expressive in another year or so, which is amazing considering what terrific value it represents now. Poppie and James Mantone met while working at a Willamette Valley winery, and in 1999 moved to the Columbia Gorge with the intention of specializing in Rhone varieties but also in affordability and value, all of which aims have already manifestly been met. “We do all the things they tell you not to do in school,” says James Mantone when asked for an overview of his methodology, which includes typically spontaneous fermentation (though the 2010s needed to be yeasted -- clearly with no ill-effect!) and low sulfur, but not anything that seems extraordinary in a global context, or that would not be expected from someone playing by biodynamic rules, which Mantone indicates that they are applying to their new estate vineyard, only a tiny share of which has as yet been planted. To the extent possible, at least some lots of any given wine were fermented and/or matured in concrete, and to give readers an idea of the barrel regimen, for most bottles none are younger than seven years of age! Unfortunately, I could not take time this year to taste the entire Syncline line-up, but what follows are notes on more than three quarters of the portfolio, and you may rest assured that I’ll be paying them an extended visit next year. Tel. (509) 365.4361