Nickel & Nickel Syrah, Darien Vineyard, Russian River Valley, 2007

I purchased this for the club earlier in the year, but have not seen a huge following for it... yet.  In January, we are featuring a red and white from the cellar on Fridays, knocking $20 off each, and providing a glass pour price.  This was our first red for the month.

Let me start by saying, I love Rhone Varietals.  Some of my favorite wines are big, smokey, luscious Syrahs.  No exception with the Nickel Darien 2007.

The nose begins with rich, deep red berries and earth. You might get a small buzz from the 14.9% bouquet... wow... you can definitely catch that aroma. The palate is berry forward, then becomes lush, kind of savory, in the middle, with flavors of deep plum and cocoa, and a good rush of smoke. The end is clean and dry, showing its tannins, but also has an alcohol presence... although, what wouldn't at almost 15%? It's a big wine. My recommendation would be a pairing with lamb or possibly pork with a brown butter sauce... yum. You wouldn't think pork would stand next to a big wine like this, but we have had a huge success pairing Crozes-Hermitage (a Syrah-based Rhone) with our pork dishes in the past.

The Nickel sold fairly well last night... we only had a few tables in house, so what we did sell, I was happy with.  You can find Darice Spinelli's (the Winemaker) notes on her awesome bottle here.