Willamette Valley Syrah vs Northern Rhône Syrah! Well, that’s a brave challenge!

Let’s introduce the competitors stepping into a Wine Swinging ring:

In American glass – Coeur De Terre Vineyard of Willamette Valley of Oregon. 

In French Glass – Domaine Guigal representing Northern Rhone and Côte-Rôtie!

E. Guigal

E. Guigal hardly needs an introduction because it’s “who’s who” in the wine world, especially Syrah. 

Since 1946 Guigal has scored countless victories from the “featherweight” wine category, like Côtes du Rhône Rouge (entry-level regional red) to “heavyweight” Côte-Rôtie, arguably the place where the best Syrah in the world comes from. 

According to Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Robert Parker, and many others, Guigal is among the best in the world and a heavy favorite to win this fight.

Coeur De Terre Vineyard 

Coeur De Terre (CdT) entered the wine scene in 1998 and remains a boutique winery 25 years later. The winery is owned and run by Scott Neal (winemaker) and Lisa Neal (general manager). 

Scott and Lisa are responsible for all vineyard and winery operation aspects. They direct all viticulture activity and even graft their own vines.

This allowed them to implement only organic practices and keep the entire property glyphosate-free for 5 years. 

Winemaking is done onsite in micro-sized lots keeping all blocks separate until the final blending and bottling. 

Controlling all the steps from vine to bottle allows Scott and Lisa to experiment with different grape varietals. They don’t have to answer to the investors and focus only on financial returns. They can step out of their comfort zone and create something edgier, like cool-climate Syrah.

 After falling in love with Syrah, Lisa insisted they plant some on their property. Understandably, few vintners had the guts to try growing Syrah in Willamette Valley, considering it’s best suited for cool-climate varietals like the king of the valley – Pinot Noir. 

Yet, despite some initial skepticism, Scott decided to try in 2005. Seventeen years later, the family is so confident in their results that they will plant more vines this year. 

CdT Syrah’s story reminded us of Katy Perry’s story of Tildio winery, the first to plant Tempranillo in the Chelan Lake region of Washington when no one dared. Tildio was a trendsetter, and CdT might become one as well.  

And here we are in 2023, and Coeur De Terre, the underdog of the tasting, is set for a historic bout with Guigal, the absolute Syrah authority. 

So, let’s raise the glass and get ready to ru-uh-uh-uh-uhmble!

Willamette Valley Syrah vs Rhône Syrah

2016 Estate Syrah Coeur De Terre vs. 2016 Saint Joseph E.Guigal 

In the first round, we compared 2016 vintage wines: Coeur De Terre’s Estate Syrah with E.Guigal’s Saint-Joseph (Northern Rhone appellation).   

The glasses were filled with two unknown wines when we entered the tasting room. As we smelled them, we thought both might be Coeur De Terre Syrah of different vintages. 

By the time we tasted and evaluated these wines 40-50 minutes later, they had evolved. We could smell and taste the difference. 

Both wines’ gaminess, cured meats, and smokiness gave way to stewed red plum and fresh cherry, along with herbal and mineral notes in Coeur De Terre.

On the other hand, Saint Joseph opened up with the aroma of red blossom, hatch pepper, earthy minerality, and plum with gaminess in the background. The palate came through with black plum, prune, licorice, anise, and sage notes. 

It was fun to smell and taste how different terroir was expressed through Syrah. A cool-climate CdT Syrah was more tempered, manifesting in red fruit and less pronounced herbal and mineral notes. From a warmer climate, Guigal was riper and expressed itself through black fruit and rusty iron minerality. 

It was like comparing Keira Knightley (CdT) to Monica Bellucci (Guigal). Both charming and beautiful women. Yet, different. 

In our professional opinion, the round went to Guigal because it was more complex, substantial, and had longer stamina. Those extra 40 minutes in glass were hardly beneficial for CdT and probably would’ve scored better had we had it earlier. The more reasons to replicate the experience. 

2012 Estate Syrah Coeur De Terre vs. 2018 Côte-Rôtie E.Guigal 

In the second round, each producer brought up heavy hitters. CdT opened up its 11-year-old Estate, Syrah, against Guigal’s 2018 Côte-Rôtie, from a benchmark Syrah appellation of the world.  

Some might think it’s unfair, and the older wine has an advantage. And granted, in wine world terms, Côte-Rôtie is an infant that has decades ahead of her before coming out of the wine cellar to spellbind your tastebuds. Still, Côte-Rôtie Syrah is a Muhammad Ali at any age, and it takes Joe Frazier-level wine to defeat him. 

2012 Coeur De Terre Estate showed up precisely as we expected from aged Syrah with leather, iron rust, and black cherry aromas. The savory cured meats flavors were complimented by dried cherry and raspberry on the palate. 

2018 Guigal’s Côte-Rôtie was youthful fruit-forward Syrah with blueberry and black plum aroma underscored by Provance herbs and cedar. The palate is fruit-driven by plum and blackberry and balanced by cured meats and bloody and toasty notes. While it’s delicious, it’s still a bit edgy and needs time to mellow, preferably a decade or two. 

The second round was even more exciting than the first one because we compared more than the terroirs. There were similarities pointing to the same grape varietal and differences indicating the place of origin and its climate. But there was another dimension to consider – time. 

While tasting these wines, we thought it was like watching Manny Pacquiao boxing with Muhammad Ali. Both are sensational athletes and the best in class at the pic of their careers, yet the difference in weight and, thus, the punching power is a huge factor.

It would have been a fun fight to watch but impossible, not because Manny and Ali are different-era boxers, but because boxing rules wouldn’t allow it. 

With that, we raise our glass to Scott and Lisa Neal and Coeur De Terre team for being courageous in challenging the status quo, growing Syrah where few would, and being fearless by comparing their wine to one of the best Syrah in the world.