We are big Peju fans, belong to their wine club and always look forward to enjoying a bottle with a nice meal. Mostly we drink cabs from Peju, 

Img_56331 however our last few shipments have included Syrahs so last night we decided to decant a bottle and see how it fared against their excallent cabs.

Given that we’ve never been disappointed with a Cabernet from Peju, we had high expectations for this 2004 Peju Syrah. I decanted the bottle for about an hour while Loni prepared some pasta and a salad.

The nose has a nice, traditional aroma of raspberry and blueberry. Definitely bold and raised my expectations it would pair well with the spicy pasta.

After enjoying the nose, and swirling a little to take in the color and body, we tried two small tasting pours.

Our first reaction: disappointment. Loni called it fruit forward, but felt the nose was better than the actual taste.

My notes: slightly boring & dull, lacks complexity, structure not good, flabby.

In the end, Loni and I both agreed that it was lackluster and certainly not up to the expectations we typically have for Peju wines.

We should note that we had better luck last year with a 2003 Peju Syrah so perhaps ’04 was a bad year for their syrahs (although it is an excellent vintage for Napa cabs).

2004 Peju Syrah Estate Napa Valley
Peju Province Winery, Napa
Syrah, Alc. 15.1%
750ml
$34.99

Clint says: Pass on this dull, flabby Syrah. Stick with Cabs from Peju. A disappointment and clearly not a vineyard strength.

Rating: 79 out of 100 (not recommended)

Clinton Stark
Clinton shoots videos for Stark Insider. San Francisco Bay Area arts, Ingmar Bergman and French New Wave, and chasing the perfect home espresso shot 25 seconds at a time (and failing). Peloton: ClintTheMint. Camera: Video Gear