2023 Flywheel, Syrah, Brosseau Vineyard, Chalone AVA, Monterey County.
The full bodied, dense and delicious deep purple/garnet 2023 vintage Brosseau Syrah from Flywheel and vines in the historic Chalone AVA is my favorite in Scott Shapely’s new set of releases with its dark berry, blueberry compote, delicate florals, subtle peppery spices, chalky notes and chocolatey mouth feel, all providing an interesting contrast to his efforts at Roar, where he is the winemaker as well, and the more chiseled and high toned style of the cooler Santa Lucia Highlands. I recently wrote about the outstanding Roar Rosella’s Syrah and so it was a thrill and intriguing mind opening experience to taste this wine, so that even within the same region, Monterey, and made by the same winemaker, to see just how much the individual terroirs here make the wines so vastly different, but similar in pleasure and quality, the same way you find the wines of Côte Rôtie versus Hermitage in the northern Rhône. Made with about 75% whole cluster and aged more than a year in used barrique or smaller French oak barrels this wine feels much more plush, luxurious and riper, highlighting the warmer aspect here in Chalone, along with the chalky limestone influence, in stead of the granitic loam of the SLH. This wine, with loads of boysenberry, damson plum, creme de cassis , tarry licorice and sweet cedary wood, begs for a rack of lamb and or other protein rich meaty dishes.
Winemaker Scott Shapely’s Flywheel Wines, his own project as I’ve noted in my prior reviews, specializing in hand-crafting small-lot wines in his home town from fruit grown in Monterey County, with most vineyard sources located near the Pinnacles and especially the unique limestone terroir of the Chalone region. This chalky region has, as Shapley puts it, a majestic landscape that provides amazing grapes that showcases this special place and its characteristic dense fruit and minerality. Shapely who has been the winemaker at Roar for a while now, crafting some of the greatest wines of the Santa Lucia Highlands, especially the Garys’ and Rosella’s Pinots, as well as consulting at some other high quality boutique producers. the Gabilan Range, where Chalone is located, very near the Pinnacles National Monument, set on collection of desirable soils including decomposing granite and brittle, chalky limestone from an ancient seabed uplifted by tectonic plate movement, it is a place of big daily temperature swings that brings out the lush fruit that takes center stage in the wines, like this Flywheel Syrah, but also the chilly nights refresh the vines and gives the wines a lift of acidity. Shapely makes a full selections of tiny production wines under his Flywheel label with a collection of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Mourvèdre, Syrah, as seen here, and Grenache, plus a Rosé, which is a fuller bodied expression that actually ages nicely. The Flywheel wines, still a bit under the radar, are really worth chasing down and I especially recommend this tasty Syrah!
($39 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive