2018 Meadowcroft Syrah

Divvy-Up · June 2021

Tasting Notes

"It is fresh, smooth, approachable while young, mouthwatering, and widely pairable."

-Adam Edmonson, CSW The Sommelier Company

This is a quintessential syrah, with meaty-leathery first impressions over dark fruit, white pepper, floral violet, and light herbaceous undertones. After opening up in the glass, rich blueberry, and red raspberry flavors emerge, framed by clove spice and a pleasant bittersweet cocoa bitterness to the finish. SUGGESTED FOOD PAIRING This classic California Syrah will complement lamb ragout with olives and peppers, but this wine is also delicious when paired with backyard BBQ. .

Divvy-Up · June 2021

Divvy-Up · June 2021

A little peak into Meadowcroft. The wine making, the vineyards and the tasting room. Making a trip to Sonoma anyone?

https://vimeo.com/559188870

klezman · June 2021

Hi all!

I was pleased to get the UPS notification and email from Alice telling me that a sample bottle was en route.

When I opened up the box I was happy to see a bottle of Meadowcroft Syrah waiting to be sampled, especially since I've never actually had one of their wines before (despite the semi-frequent offerings on the other site). Since this arrived Thursday evening I was able to let it sit a day to recover from shipping. We drank it over two nights, the first night with help from a visiting friend as well. Our consolidated thoughts are here.

I generally prefer wines with a few years of age on them to help the fruit integrate a bit more and gain some balance with the other complexities in the wine. So I was pleasantly surprised to open up a young California Syrah to find it had a nicely integrated and complex set of aromas at this stage of its development. I got some dark cherries and maybe plums, along with a floral accent and cracked pepper - very typical Syrah aromas from a moderate to cool climate. The palate followed suit: a little fruit, a touch of pepper, medium body, some fairly fine grained tannin, and no one feature outdoing the others. A very well balanced wine for me. The finish was relatively short, but that's not uncommon in a wine this young either.

molarchae (my wife, for those who don't know) who is not frequently a Syrah fan also liked it enough to drink a couple glasses.

Our friend who was visiting found it slightly "sharp" (his word) due to the high acidity.

We all thought it went well with food, probably a bit more so than on its own. The high acidity (despite the low pH - the Winsmith school of winemaking?) carried everything nicely and it didn't overwhelm the food but stronger foods did tend to overwhelm this wine a bit.

About a quarter of the bottle was re-corked and left out until Saturday evening. It didn't change much, actually. Perhaps a touch more fruit came out, which was fine with us. It remained a well behaved middle-of-the-road sort of Syrah. It's varietally correct, and done in a style that will appeal to most, especially if paired with something like chicken or a pork chop. I don't think it would necessarily stand up to lamb or beef. I suspect this wine, while not built to age a decade+, will probably improve for at least 2-3 years but it that rare Syrah that (for my palate) is enjoyable young.

As for value/QPR, I can't imagine buying this at the stated SRP, at least not without knowing more about the vineyard sources. I'd probably put this more like a $25 or so SRP type of wine given California pricing. But at the Divvy-Up case price of $13+ per bottle it's obviously solid value. If you like Syrah and could use more in your cellar then this is a great way to do it!

D-UpWineGirl · June 2021

Thank you Klezman for a most informative "prevView" of this wine. I too am enrolled in the WineSmith school. 😉

koala_1622305801632 · June 2021

I love bold reds with heavy flavor, and my wife barely drinks reds at all; we both had multiple glasses of this perfect red medium wine! We tried this wine with a few different food items: steaks, chocolate, and pretzels, and the wine really adds to the flavor of whatever you're enjoying it with. With our steaks, this wine brought out the really wonderful strong, smoky flavor. With the pretzels, it brought out the smooth, buttery tastes. And with the chocolates, it tasted more fruity than with either of the other two foods. On its own, this wine has a good mixture of the woody, smoky tastes and plum, and it really is a fantastic bottle.

I could see myself paying around $30-ish for a Syrah that both my wife and I find pleasing. With the Divvy-Up pricing, this bottle is a steal!