2006 Jean Farris Syrah

Kentucky wine - grapes produced with the help of the cold Kentucky Rain, best served with a side of polk salad, which looks something like a turnip green. Now, that's polk. dun. Salad. dun dun. What was I saying? Oh yes. We visited Jean Farris a few months ago, loved it, and bought a random selection of wine - this one is new to us.

A funky nose...odd, garbagey, chocolatey, strange.

Not as funky on the palate - loads of chocolate, a bit of black pepper, mostly cherry, but certainly a black cherry covered in dark chocolate sorta thing. Not much for noticeable oaky qualities beyond some mild vanilla in there, with nice acid and tannic structure.

Blueberry comes through on the finish, as well as blackberry, some more cherry, a mild implication of mint, maybe a spring of eucalyptus for good measure.

$25 ain't cheap, but this certainly doesn't offend even at that pricepoint especially when you consider the oddball region. Well played...more Jean Farris in the coming months, wines we've tried before buying, that should prove stronger than this.

Score: 88