Hors Categorie Vineyards Wine at Flickinger Wines

Qty	Wine	Subtotal

0	Order Subtotal	$0.00

Producer

Vint.

Wine

Price

Qty

Order

USA Red

Hors Categorie Vineyards

2015

Walla Walla Valley Syrah

$325

WA 100 (6/2018): The 2015 Syrah from Hors Catégorie is spectacular, bursting from the glass with a stunning bouquet of smoked charcuterie, blackberries, licorice, dried violets and rich forest floor. Structured around beautifully velvety tannins on the palate, the wine is full-bodied, layered and immensely concentrated, yet it manages to remain weightless. While there's plenty of fruit here, it's this Syrah's mouthwateringly savory qualities that define the protracted, penetrating finish and make the wine so exciting. Cropped at a mere 0.8 tons per acre from a steep hillside vineyard that's trained on stakes à la Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie, this was matured in neutral oak, with the exception of one second-fill puncheon that was eliminated after the first racking, demonstrating that when it comes to new oak and Syrah, less is emphatically more. Having seen this vineyard and tasted this wine, any skepticism that its eye-watering price might elicit is immediately dispelled.

JD 97+ (4/2018): From Christophe Baron and the team at Cayuse, the 2015 Syrah is only the second vintage from this steep, rocky vineyard located south of the town of Milton-Freewater, in the North Fork of the Walla Walla River. Despite coming from a different terroir than the Rocks region, it certainly has some classic gaminess that’s common from that region. Blackcurrants, bloody meats, ground pepper, lavender, and exotic spices all emerge from the glass, and it needs lots of air time to show at its best. Deep, full-bodied, and seamless, with sweet tannin, it’s a singular Syrah that needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will knock your socks off over the following 10-15 years. (Drink between 2022-2032).

VM 95 (11/2018): Bright medium red. Hints of roasted fruits, smoked meat, bacon fat and brown spices on the nose, plus a note of cold ash. Then wonderfully savory and energetic on the palate, conveying an uncanny light touch to its dense flavors of red berries, charred meat, spices and salty minerality. Like a fruit syrup in its mouthfeel but not at all outsized or heavy. Finishes with building tannins that saturate the tongue. This is hard to scrape off the palate. If the extraordinary 2014 bottling was Hermitage-like, this one is more akin to a Côte-Rôtie from the Côte Brune. (Christophe Baron's vineyard in the Blue Mountains is on a very steep slope at about 1,400 feet.) (13.5% alcohol) (Drink between 2021-2030). Stephen Tanzer.

2016

Walla Walla Valley Syrah

$325

JD 99 (4/2019): The 2016 Syrah is from an up and coming terroir located on the north fork of the Walla Walla River, in Oregon, and comes from two steep hillside slopes on broken basalt soils. Not destemmed and brought up in all neutral demi-muids, it has a Côte Brune-like style in its smoked red and black fruits, crushed violets, cold fireplace, bloody meats, and ground pepper aromas and flavors. Concentrated, medium-bodied to full-bodied, incredibly layered, and pure, it has an ultra-classic, mineral-laced Syrah style that's just magical to behold. Give bottles 2-4 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 10-15. The Hors Categorie Syrah comes from the up and coming North Fork region of the Walla Walla AVA, in Oregon, which was discovered in 2003 by Christophe Baron. The site for this cuvee was purchased by Baron in 2004, planted in 2011, and his first release was in 2014. (Drink between 2021-2036).

VM 96 (12/2019): Good medium red. Tight but already incredibly complex nose offers classic northern Rhône (Hermitage?) scents of dark raspberry, licorice, black pepper and brown spices. Robust and densely packed but also savory, smooth and magically light on its feet, with its flavors of crushed blueberry and blackberry, spices and saline minerality conveying remarkable urgency for a wine with a pH of 4.1. Finishes with serious but harmonious tannins and outstanding palate-staining length and lift. This remarkable site, as wild and Old World in appearance as any in Washington, is worked with a winch owing to its steepness and produces barely 1.5 tons per acre of fruit in a good year. Christophe Baron, who vinifies all of his wines with wild yeasts, does a cool fermentation (never higher than 85 degrees F.) and ages this wine in a combination of mostly demi-muids, the youngest of which was third use, and some barriques. A knockout. (from a mostly south-facing slope in a bucolic valley in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, planted in 2011 at an altitude between 1,350 and 1,450 feet and at a slope reaching as steep as 60 degrees) (Drink between 2023-2035). Stephen Tanzer.

WA 94+ (4/2025): Matured for 18 months in used French demi-muids, the 2016 Syrah has intense aromas of cassis, powdered sugar, mint chocolate, grilled peppers and lavender. The medium-bodied palate is very youthful with floral fruit and iron-like mineral tones. It’s structured by silky tannins and vibrant acidity and has a very long, latent finish.