Long Shadows Sequel Syrah w/ Focaccia & Murray’s Cheese

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.    

 

This is sourced from Yakima Valley’s Boushey and Den Hoed Grandview Vineyards, comprised 50% of this blend which gives the 2016 Sequel its bright, vibrant character. Also, Bacchus Vineyard Syrah (25%), grown on a south-facing block planted in 1993, adds black fruit character and richness. And, a Shiraz clone from Sonnet Vineyard at the Benches brings blueberry notes to the wine, and a small amount of Red Mountain area Syrah adds to the wine’s dark, brooding character. Dionysus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon provides added backbone. 

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.  

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3096199

 

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Vintage Aged Cheese and Wine Pairing - 10 & 5 year old cheddars with Steve Hoff Barossa Valley Shiraz 2006

Vintage Aged Cheese and Wine Pairing

You read it right, vintage aged cheese paired with wine as opposed to cheese paired with aged vintage wine! Yes, there are aged vintage cheeses out there worthy of leading the pairing with a select wine. The word vintage indicating the year of production, or the age of the cheese. Tonight we feasted on two select aged cheeses, a 2001 vintage, ten year old cheddar from Sweetwater Valley Farms, and an aged five year old cheddar from Fair Oaks Farms. Both of these cheeses are sourced from large commercial dairy operations that take cheese very seriously. Both offer on-line shopping on the web or have commercial retail centers on main arterial interstate highways.While they may not warrant a long destination trip, they certainly warrant a stop if passing through or in the region. 

Sweetwater Valley Farms is located between the towns of Philadelphia and Loudon, in the heart of southeast Tennessee’s dairy-rich Sweetwater Valley, off of Interstate 75 between Chattanooga and the Knoxville - Nashville Highway Interstate 40. Sweetwater Valley Farm cheese is produced in a state-of-the-art facility, but they still preserve the fine art and craft of making cheese in the traditional farmstead manner, controlling the process from cow to consumer.They focus on high-quality cheddar cheeses.

Fair Oak Farms (FOF) is in northwest Indiana on Interstate 65 between Chicago and Indianapolis. One of the largest working dairies in the country FOF is a substantial diversified sustainable dairy farming operation run by five families spanning three generations. They feature the Dairy Adventure family attraction featuring a collection of educational exhibits,  a one-of-a-kind 4D movie experience, a world-famous Birthing Barn, and tours of the highly automated working dairy operation.

Of course any quality cheese counter will offer a broad variety of cheeses featuring such selections and many more from America, England, France and beyond.  

We enjoyed these cheeses at a gala dinner at Erin & Johnny's featuring bar-b-que ribs, twice baked potatoes, iceberg wedge wedge with feta cheese and blue cheese dressing, followed by a hearty chocolate cake desert. To complement the hearty cheeses, bar-b-que and chocolate we chose one of our favorite regional varietals a Barossa Valley Shiraz from Steve Hoff, vintage 2006.  These wines are full bodied, huge forward fruit flavored that go well with bold flavorful foods. We featured this wine in our tasting review May 6, 2011.

Steve Hoff Barossa Valley Shiraz 2006

This is as good as their higher priced select shiraz at a fraction of the price. Notably, a great compliment to hearty meats, cheeses, dark chocolate - Deep dark purple color - full-bodied, ripe and rich layers of deep blackberry, plum and anise, hints of blueberry and black cherry with a long lingering fine-grained tannin finish.  

RM 90 points.

Other reviews - 


92 pts Robert Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate (JM) - It is opaque purple-colored with an enticing perfume of smoke, meat, bacon, and blueberry. This leads to a full-bodied, plush, ripe, layered wine with gobs of savory fruit, well concealed tannin, and superior length. This in-your-face Shiraz will drink well for a decade.

91 pts Wine Spectator
Ripe and rich, with deep blackberry, plum and licorice flavors mingling for effect as the finish rolls on, finishing with fine-grained tannins. 

90 pts Stephen Tanzer International Wine Cellar (JR)
Ruby-red. Powerfully scented bouquet of cherry and blueberry preserves, smoked meat and dried flowers. Fleshy dark fruit flavors are weighty and velvety, with fully absorbed tannins and a late-arriving spicy quality. This is all about fruit and is already delicious, but it has the concentration and balance to reward cellaring for a few years.

As you read through our wine tasting journal here on unwindWine, note how often we include artisan cheeses. Next time you're planning a wine tasting, think, even start with cheese!