Arista is my favorite winery, so let’s admit to that right away. The setting for the tasting room is lovely, the staff friendly, and the wines wonderful. When the hubs and I went on our Alaska cruise, we took a case of wine with us, and about 9 of the 12 bottles were from Arista. We even shared tastings with the crew, which for some reason, knew us by name in very short order and invited us to an exclusive chef’s dinner (photo at right) on one of the last nights on board.
But I digress.
Arista’s Syrah, we call it ‘3 clubs’ since there are three clubs on the label, has a gorgeous plum color. The best way to describe its aroma is that of a hot summer day in Sonoma County. It’s earthy, fruity, woodsy and spicy. The flavors are a nice blend of dark cherry, oak, clay, pepper, chocolate, and black raspberry. It has more acidity and less jamminess than most California syrahs. But don’t think you’ll be missing a nice mouth feel; its tannins build slowly and linger for a long time. Then the finish is bright and clean.
We enjoyed this syrah with two vastly different pairings:
1. It completely held its own (and shined way brighter than our recently-reviewed Porter Creek zin) with a cheese plate consisting of Rivers Edge’s Sunset Bay Logsden Oregon, and two soft cheeses from France (Corsica and Le Delice de Bourgogne).
2. It was super-tasty with a basic meatloaf and mashed potato dinner that we got from Costco. (We’re not that snooty, after all!)
LINKS:
Rivers Edge Chevre – “A fiery orange line streaks through this luscious cheese beneath its coating of ash.” Three Ring Farm Sunset Bay
Arista Winery – “Produced in small lots of several barrels, the wines are deliciously balanced with fruit, tannins, acidity and oak in harmonious proportion.” Arista
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