Hillside Syrah - 6 year Vertical

A few years in the making, and with some help from the winery, I was finally able to hold my 6 year vertical of Hillside Winery's Syrah from BC's Okanagan Valley. A vertical tasting is when you try the same wine from the same winery but of different vintages. A horizontal tasting is when you try the same vintage, region, and grape but from different wineries.

This journey started when I opened their 2008 Syrah for Christmas 2013. The bottle was bought during my first wine tasting trip to the Okanagan and was the first bottle I had personally "aged" so it held some sentimental value.  The wine had aged beautifully and at the time was one of the best BC wines I had ever tasted. It was one of those ah-ha moments in wine for me; I had faint memories of tasting it at the winery and thinking it was young. I looked and called around but I could not find another bottle anywhere.

So it began, I collected the 2009, 2011, 2012, & 2013, from Vancouver VQA shops. Wanting to make room in my wine fridge, I contacted the winery last fall about tracking down the missing 2010 and on a whim asked about the delicious 2008. I was in luck as the 2008 was stocked as part of their library collection and I was graciously allowed to purchase one of the last of the 2010's!

Quick camping trip to the Okanagan = 6 year vertical complete.

My wife and I got together with two other wine savvy couples to celebrate the holidays and a new baby among the group. It was an informal tasting where we tasted the wines in pairs, in descending order and I shared a few notes on the different weather of each vintage.

The 2013 and 2012 were both drinking a little young but had great flavour profiles that will still open up and develop further. They both drink well today, but came off as lighter for Syrah with the 2012 being slightly better balanced. They both displayed black fruits with a nice spiciness, smooth tannin's and good acidity.

The 2011 seemed to be the forgotten bottle as the night progressed and was the last one to be finished. It's not that it was bad, it's a nice wine it just was no ones favorite. The 2010 is drinking fantastic and became most of the groups "benchmark" wines for the night. In comparisons it was always 'this' vs. the 2010. It was not young nor old just sitting in this nice picturesque drinking window. This wine comes in with black raspberries, currants, and the spice has nuances of clove and cardamom with a hint of espresso. It really opened up as the night went on and a shame there aren't many more around.

The 2009 and 2008 were very different wines from the rest of the group, and I can't see the 2010 showing the age of the 2009 in a years time. 2008 & 2009 were both very hot vintages and it really comes across in these wines. These drank as mature wines with lot's of nice tertiary flavours starting to develop.  As you can see from the empty bottle to the right there was a lot of sediment left behind in the 08 & 09. The 09 had a really interesting spicy salami note to it to go along with the other earthy and savoury aromas. Both had riper almost stewed blackberry cherry fruits with raisins, leather and cigar ash notes. A rich textured mouth-feel and a long developed finish of ripe dark fruits with a peppery gaminess.

I have been a little slow getting this blog out as I couldn't find my original tasting notes. The bonus to this is I recently tasted the 2014 and its flavour profile and structure is similar to the 08 & 09 but drinking young for it's potential. Pick one up to drink it in 5-7 years and you will be pleasantly surprised. I know I will be and maybe using it to start another vertical as 2015 was all around a great vintage too!

More info about winery and their wines:       http://hillsidewinery.ca/

(All bottles were stored long term in my wine fridge, and were purchased at retail prices)