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Betz Syrah La Cote Rousse Red Mountain 2017 - First Bottle

Technical Details

Blend	97% Syrah & 3% Viognier
Winemaker	Louis Skinner & Bob Betz
Country	US
Region	Washington
Appellation	Yakima Valley/Red Mountain
Vineyard	92% Ciel du Cheval
Farming Method	Practicing Sustainability
Aging/Cooperage	13 months in French Oak
Alcohol	13.9
Production	400 Cases cases

Betz Syrah La Cote Rousse Red Mountain 2017

Syrah Blends | US

WA96, JD95+, JS94, WS94, VN93+

$49.95 $65.00 - 750mL

We hope you’ve been able to grab some of the Betz wines that we've had the rare opportunity to sell here at First Bottle -- they are normally highly allocated to restaurants. If you know, you know...they are some of the greatest being made from the state!

What a beautiful wine!! You won't find a better deal on this rare Syrah, anywhere. Mostly sourced from the coveted Ciel du Cheval vineyard in the Red Mountain AVA (88%), this wine is all about balance despite its fairly large scale and ripe profile. This is very much like a domestic version of pricey Cote Rotie at a Crozes-Hermitage-esque price. Mouthcoating texture and crazy levels of complex fruits, iron, flowers, pepper, baking spices and a finish that seems endless. Truly extraordinary -- don't miss!

PAIRING IDEAS: We made this incredibly simple dish with Betz Syrah last week. AWESOME. It’s Shawarma - an Arabic dish of meat (you pick) and veggies and a little tahini and yogurt sauces, wrapped in a pita (we used naan bread and it was even better) -- so good. The spices complement Syrah perfectly.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Rock out. Put on the movie or the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie "Almost Famous", about a 15-year old hired to write for Rolling Stone, and crank it up loud.

Technical Details

Blend	97% Syrah & 3% Viognier
Winemaker	Louis Skinner & Bob Betz
Country	US
Region	Washington
Appellation	Yakima Valley/Red Mountain
Vineyard	92% Ciel du Cheval
Farming Method	Practicing Sustainability
Aging/Cooperage	13 months in French Oak
Alcohol	13.9%
Production	400 Cases cases

About The Producer

Since their first vintage in 1997, Betz has had a single-minded goal of crafting compelling wines with individual character that are approachable and age worthy, and which showcase Washington as a distinguished wine region of the world. By carving out specific vineyard blocks and being meticulous in the vineyard and cellar they are able to produce wines that are among the very best in the state. They are a blend of the best elements of the new and the old worlds; full ripe fruit and yet structured for longevity.

Reviews

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Syrah La Cote Rousse was made from co-fermenting Syrah with Viognoeir to help lift the nose and add to the structure of the wine. Medium to full-bodied, it boasts beautiful floral notes and a dusty finesse of Red Mountain with a powerful mineral-driven kick that lingers on the focused palate. The La Cote Rousse is finessed and delivers expressive, elegant tart blackberry fruit and soft oak spices, followed by a lingering finish with soft black pepper tones and a rustic, dusty earth essence. Only 450 cases were made.

95+

Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the top Syrahs, the 2017 Syrah La Cote Rousse is always 100% Red Mountain fruit (92% from the Ciel du Cheval vineyard) and saw 30% stems and 13 months in French oak. Fabulous notes of bloody blueberries, lavender, dried herbs, and ground pepper as well as tons of minerality emerge from this full-bodied, concentrated, masculine Syrah. Compared to the La Serenne, this cuvée also shows a more savory, mineral, structured profile and benefits from short-term cellaring. It’s going to keep for over a decade.

James Suckling
This has deep-set dark berries, blackberries and dark cherries. Plenty of spice here and black stony nuances. The palate then offers a very plush, strong and long core of deeply ripe dark-fruit flavor. Very bold, rich and even. A blend of 97% syrah and 3% viognier. Drink across the next decade.

Wine Spectator
Silky and elegantly complex, with expressive violet and black raspberry aromas that open to refined and polished black cherry, smoked pepper and licorice flavors, dancing toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2027. 400 cases made.

93+

Vinous
Bright, dark ruby-red. Musky aromas of black raspberry, blueberry, licorice and wild herbs. Densely packed and fine-grained, conveying lovely inner-mouth violet lift to its cherry and dark berry flavors. Finishes tactile, firmly tannic and long. This juicy, seamless Syrah displays intriguing savory soil tones and a light touch but still needs a couple years to blossom in the bottle. (a blend of four clones; vinified with 30% whole clusters)