2010 Sparkman Syrah The Darkness

Firm in feel, and slightly drying in finish, this manages still to project sufficient and persistent enough fruit to encourage another visit a year or two down the pike. Sparkman 2010 Syrah Darkness represents an almost implosively concentrated but rather undifferentiated and coarsely tannic exercise. Cooked dark berry fruit and bitter-edged greens and herbs stain the palate, but their formidable sheer persistence lacks primary juiciness, saliva-inducement or focus. With Boushey and Olsen vineyards as sources, there’s no denying this ought to reflect serious pedigree, but I don’t find it. I’m skeptical about such a wine’s aging potential. Chris Sparkman is among the numerous former sommeliers and wine buyers to end up as a Western U.S. vintner. His wife and fellow-vintner Kelly’s background in biology was not with plants, much less vines. They started their Woodinville winery in 2004 to achieve a life style conducive to raising their two daughters and were able to immediately benefit from personal contacts in the viticultural community to tap-into some of Washington’s foremost vineyards. The results I tasted were (in red) dominantly cooked-fruit without being seamlessly ripe, as well as unremittingly – at times downright ferociously, and almost surely superfluously – tannic, a characteristic that evidently wasn’t mitigated and might even have been exacerbated by the Sparkmans’ practice of early lees-stirring and relatively long elevage. Given how much at odds I am with glowing received opinion about this young winery’s accomplishments, I must in fairness call readers’ attention to that fact, as well as encourage them to consult next year’s report to see whether I determine that I was being too hard on these wines or that they (or the taster) were having a bad day (actually hour) this July. Tel. (425) 398-1045