It's not often that I get turned on to a wine that has a little mystery behind it. I was in my old neighborhood in San Francisco the other day and popped in to say hello to Gary over at the San Francisco Wine Trading Company. I had him pick out a couple of bottles for me and I asked him for a nice big syrah I could have for dinner that night. He walked over to the Cal Syrah section and as soon as he spied this one, he said I had to try it. First the notes, then the rest of the story.
2005 Leo Steen Sonoma Mountain Syrah
First of all, let me say I loved this wine. It also would pop out at any tasting, as it has a more distinct aroma of cloves than any wine I've ever experienced. Meaty and viscous, this Syrah has a lift of blackberry bramble-y brightness around a firm spicy core. It has an excellent balance between the ripe juicy fruit from the 900 ft. elevation at Scala Estate, oak, and acid. The wine is unfined and unfiltered with minimal intervention and it shows. Drinking very well now, I am curious to see what this will do in another 5 years. $27.00
After I looked at the winery website, which consists of a single paragraph and a PDF order form, my interest was piqued. Either he is so busy that he can't get a proper site up with some background on the grapes and winemaker himself, or he has some non-compete clause preventing him from doing too much of his own publicity. I dare say that he will have no trouble selling out of this wine, as I understand he made only 46 cases (2 barrels). So after more searching, there is no Leo Steen, but instead this wine is made by Leo Hansen, winemaker at Stuhlmuller Vineyards. Hansen, who grew up in Denmark in a food-trade family, became a certified European sommelier and was sent to the U.S .on a buying trip for Kong Hans Restaurant in Copenhagen. (Check out the prices! $90 entrees!) In 2000, he decided to move to Sonoma and landed work at Clos du Bois, then later, Chateau Souvrain. After working with Stuhlmuller fruit at Clos du Bois and Souvrain, he moved on to working in the cellars at Stuhlmuller and in 2004 became winemaker.
We should all keep our eyes out for this very talented winemaker. I'm going to seek out some of his other efforts as soon as I finish this post!
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