We knew what to expect, but we were wowed nonetheless when this wine made its way around the tasting table. Master Sommelier Greg Harrington, who founded Gramercy Cellars in 2005 with his wife, Pam, and partner/co-winemaker Brandon Moss, has focused most of his small winery’s resources on the Syrah grape and its many expressions within Washington State’s Columbia Valley—and this 2014 “Lagniappe,” while certainly not the first Gramercy Syrah we’ve tasted, is among the best ever.
It’s a case study in the varietal character of Syrah: the black-tinted fruit, the violent/lavender aromatics, the signature hint of roasted meat and olive tapenade. We know and appreciate how much immense concentration this region’s reds often achieve, but this wine reveals how much soil character and aromatic complexity is possible as well. It is truly impressive, offering a nod to Old World Syrah strongholds such as Hermitage while charting its own course. Count Harrington among the West Coast’s next-generation “Rhône Rangers,” as he and Gramercy have clearly found their voice with this variety.
After passing the MS exam at the tender age of 26, Greg directed wine programs for a host of top restaurants, but his jones for winemaking grew stronger each year. He was drawn especially to Washington’s Walla Walla Valley, where he worked harvest in 2004 and established a foothold for Gramercy, which launched its first wines with the 2005 vintage. Vineyard-specific Syrahs and Bordeaux-inspired red blends are the focus here, and while Walla Walla in particular can produce reds of immense concentration, Greg seeks to moderate this by harvesting on the early side and using whole-cluster fermentation to give the wines some “cut.” What I notice about Greg’s Syrahs is that there’s no shortage of fruit, and concentration, but the wines are neither sweet nor syrupy. Instead they’re nicely balanced by acid, tannin and a raft of savory flavors that lend funk and spice.
Technique aside, however, a critical component of this wine’s style—as Harrington would be the first to tell you—is its vineyard sourcing. Any discussion of the Columbia Valley must include a mention of the epic “Missoula floods” that swept through the Pacific Northwest at the end of the last ice age. This vast plateau in Eastern Washington, traversed not just by the Columbia River but by tributaries such as the Walla Walla, the Yakima, and the Snake River, contains many different microclimates and sub-appellations. The primary vineyard source for “Lagniappe” is the acclaimed Red Willow Vineyard, provider of fruit to a who’s-who of Washington greats and high enough in elevation to have remained an “island” during the Missoula floods. Situated at around 1,200 feet in the northwest corner of the Yakima Valley AVA, in the shadow of the Cascade Range, Red Willow has a patchwork of soil types, with the Syrah planted in thin sandy loam over a bedrock of volcanic material and limestone. Nearly 80% of the fruit for Lagniappe comes from Red Willow, which is widely regarded as the first, and best, Syrah
vineyard in Washington State. A significant amount of the remainder hails from another cool-climate site called Forgotten Hills, which sits at the Eastern Edge of the Walla Walla AVA and is now a Gramercy-owned “estate” vineyard. They craft a vineyard-designated wine from Forgotten Hills, characterizing it as the “most Pinot Noir-like” of their many Syrah bottlings. (Because “Lagniappe” hails from two distinct sub-appellations, it carries the broader ‘Columbia Valley’ AVA designation). As Greg Harrington himself has said: “In New Orleans, ‘Lagniappe’ means ‘a little something extra,’ which is what we think this wine offers. Both the vineyards and the finished wine are gifts.”
Gramercy’s 2014 Lagniappe Syrah was fermented in large cement vats using roughly two-thirds whole grape clusters, and it undoubtedly picked up grip (and perhaps shed some alcohol) from this practice. It was aged in a mix of used 225- and 500-liter oak puncheons for 18 months. In the glass, it’s a deep ruby-black with hints of magenta at the rim, with a perfumed nose of black and red raspberry, black plum, violet, tar, roasted meat, black pepper, and wet stones. The mix of sweet and savory sensations is pitch-perfect, as is the wine’s scale: medium-to-full-bodied, with freshness from acidity and grip from sandy tannins. It finishes on a pronounced mineral note that hints at its volcanic origins, though there’s a nice floral lilt to it as well. Though I might mistake it for Northern Rhône Syrah in a blind tasting, I think I’d eventually land in the New World given its generous fruit concentration. It is just spot-on, and very approachable now after about 30 minutes in a decanter, though there’s enough structure and nerve to suggest a long life ahead; I think it will enter its peak drinking window around its 10th birthday and continue to age well through 2030. Serve it at 60-65 in large Bordeaux stems and serve it with something similarly smoky and savory, like a Texas-style smoked brisket. That’s
my kind of making America great. Enjoy!
