Syrah. Inky bliss. I used to work with this wine-guru server who told me the Syrah grape was brought back to France from the Holy Land by disillusioned Crusaders who went to meditate on their sins in the Northern Rhone. Hermits. Hermitage. Etcetera. I've never been able to confirm this story, which is the perfect kind of story for a server. One founded on a romantic interpretation of a secondhand history. Horticultural archaeology aside, drinking Syrah can be an epic experience. Hedonistic even. Like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc it is grown around the world to quite different ends. But speaking generally (too general), syrah or shiraz is defined by ripe rushes of black fruit, pepper, smoke, high levels of alcohol and tannins that rarely (perhaps only in the Northern Rhone) punish the palate like Cabernet Sauvignon can.
There are two Syrah epicentres: (1) Australia (juicy-jammy fruit, chocolate, espresso, vanilla, soft tannins) and (2) the Northern Rhone (intense tar, leather, plum, spice, overtones of wild game, mineral, truffle, punishing tannins). Australia tends to take a bit of a beating, I find. There's some fatigue with Australian Shiraz. I hear a lot of fruit pie, bubblegum and vanilla in the Barossa Valley pie disdain. I don't think this is fair. Most Shiraz consumed in Canada is of the $10-$20 kind. Try to find a $10 Cote Rotie or Hemitage. If you do, I'd drink it with caution. It may not cripple you, but it will certainly work you over with sharp tannic jab-hook combos and the result may be post-concussion syndrome. That's a problem.
Personally, I love California's take on the grape. There's an opulence or silkiness about Californian Syrah that distinguishes it from wines produced in France and Australia. The wine featured tonight is from Stolpman Vineyards. Organic. Exclusively Rhone Valley in their orientation. So much so that they hold the only 'Cote Rotie' style vineyard in California. On the steepest hill on the property 6000 vines are packed densely together and the plant stock is identical to that found in Domaine Rostaing. In the years to come they'll be doing parallel tastings to examine terroir. These people like Syrah. I'll be matching it with a Mediterranean-stuffed rack of lamb.
Mediterranean-Stuffed Rack of Lamb
What you'll need to pull this off for 2 people:
- 1 rack of lamb (8-10 ribs) Bones should be trimmed of all fat or French trimmed - ask your butcher to do this for you. I didn't and had to make due with half-trimmed racks.
- 1/4 cup of fresh breadcrumbs.
- handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and diced
- 1/4 cup of feta cheese
- 2 green onions, chopped very fine
- 6 sundried tomatoes in oil, diced
- olive oil
- mustard
- salt and pepper
1. Make the stuffing. Combine olives, green onions and sundried tomatoes with feta in a bowl and mash it up. Add olive oil to give the stuffing consistency and moisture. I usually make more than I need. The stuffing is fabulous as a bruschetta topping. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the lamb racks in three equal portions. 2 bones is the minimum cut. Using a sharp boning knife, make an incision in the centre of each rack. Put the handle of a wooden spoon into the incision to make space for stuffing. Then stuff away.
3. Season the racks with salt and pepper and sear in an oven proof pan. Sear on all sides except those with exposed stuffing. Melted cheese is generally a good thing. Not at this point, however. You must wait for the big payout.
4. Once seared, let the rack pieces cool for at least five minutes on a separate plate. Then brush on mustard, cover in the breadcrumbs and return the lamb to the pan. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes. You're looking for an internal temperature of about 140 degrees. Medium-rare. Remove and let rest on a cutting board under tinfoil.
5. I served the lamb with roasted vegetables, deferring to the technique of Mr. Jamie Oliver. Fingerling potatoes, fennel and some green beans thrown in for the last fifteen minutes. http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/roast-vegetable-mega-mix
How did the 2007 Stolpman Syrah Hold up?
This is a cold weather wine for cold weather food. It was sumptuous and plush, but not quite as big as I was expecting. This is in no way a negative. There was complex minerality and traces of leather and just the slightest hint of chalkiness that balanced the wine out. Good acid too. All in all, it played off the lamb and the saltiness of the stuffing exceptionally well. How could it not? Lamb good. Syrah good. Basic math. At $32 Canadian, the Stolpman Single Estate is also well priced for California. Try it.
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