Long Shadows Sequel Syrah with Focaccia and Murray’s Cheese
Returning from a week of travel we settled in for a quiet evening to watch the latest session of ‘The Voice”, time-phase recorded for convenient viewing.
Linda prepared a creative unique crescent foccacia bread with a medley of sweet and savory flavoring combinations including cheese, bacon, chocolate, apricot butter and raspberry spread.
After baking, it was cut into bite size squares.
We also had a selection of robust artisan cheeses, Widmer 6 year old aged cheddar, and Mango Ginger Stilton, and an aged Gruyère.
Two of these classic selections are from Murray's Cheese from Greenwich Village, New York City. We discovered the NYC cheese purveyor, Murray's wine and cheese bistro on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village, a favorite eatery which we visited many times with son Alec and Vivianna when they lived in nearby Chelsea in Manhattan. How ironic or fortuitous that Murray's was acquired by the parent of our local grocer/marketer Marianno's and is now available here locally in the in-store cheese shop!
I pulled from the cellar one of our favorite sipping wines, a hearty robust premium Syrah (Shiraz). this classic Long Shadows Syrah from our club allocation cellar collection.
Readers of these pages will note several such occasions where we have enjoyed artisan cheeses and robust red wines, here an earlier tasting similar to tonight, Long Shadows Sequel Syrah 2016, and another favorite - Blue Eye'd Boy and CDP for Italian Beef Dinner.
Tonight, this Sequel label is part of the Long Shadows Vintners Collection - a portfolio of wines, each crafted by a world renowned winemaker, noted for each particular varietal selection. We gained appreciation for the Long Shadows program during out visit to their tasting room during our our Seattle Culinary and Washington Wine Tour back in 2018 - https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/08/long-shadows-cellars-feature-world.html.
This is the Syrah varietal member of the collection and was crafted by legendary John Duval who was winemaker for Australia’s iconic Penfolds Grange for 16 years. John Duval came to Washington State's Columbia Valley in 2003 as the “sequel” to his life’s work with Syrah.
Long Shadows Vintners Collection Columbia Valley Sequel Syrah 2016
This is a fun wine that we enjoy and started collecting, not only because of the QPR - quality price ratio of these Washington State sourced wines, but also due to the extraordinary portfolio of legendary winemakers' handicraft.
Lastly, this particular wine is sourced from vineyards of a distant family connection, our niece married into the Den Hoed family, boutique producers and vineyard owners and grape growers for Long Shadows and several other leading brands and labels.
I took a rare, limited release Den Hoed on vacation last month to have with son Ryan BYOB for a special family dinner.
I featured another similar label sourced from this famous vineyard in this blogpost - Arnaut Avenida Boushey Vineyard Columbia Valley Syrah.
The blend is 93% Syrah and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon. 1,924 cases were produced.
This was rated 93 points by James Suckling, 91 by Wine & Spirits, and 90 by Wine Spectator.
Winemaker's notes: The 2016 Sequel Syrah has a dark, garnet color with enticing aromas of black fruits, sweet spice, fresh espresso and roasted meats. Expressive on the palate, this is a complex and layered wine with vibrant flavors of ripe figs, wild blackberries and a hint of olive tapenade that linger on the finish.
Dark inky purple colored, full bodied, concentrated full rich round flavors of blackberry, black currant and plum fruits with notes of black tea, bitter dark chocolate, spice, black olives and hints of black pepper and anise with moderate tannins on a lingering finish.
RM 93 points.
