Pax Wine Cellars Tasting

As a customer of The Chicago Wine Company I was invited on their behalf to a Pax Wine Cellars www.paxwines.com tasting held at the Lee Allison Company in Bucktown last Thursday, July 16th. I'm very familiar with the reputation of Pax as a top California producer of Rhone style varietals. These Syrah based wines aren't always easy to find, and when you do come across them they usually will set you back $55 to $65 or so. I'll have to admit that I had never tried any of the Pax wines so I was eagerly anticipating this tasting.

The scene:

The Lee Allison Company is located in a very cool loft space on Webster Ave. just off Wood St. They make custom, hand made silk neck ties. I looked over the ties they had on display there...very cool stuff. Great gift idea ladies... http://www.leeallison.com/

Our hosts for the evening were Lee Allison himself and John Svoboda. Also in attendance were the main players at Pax Wine Cellars; Proprietor Joe Donelan, his son Tripp who heads up sales, and winemaker Tyler Thomas who was pouring his work all evening.

The tasting line up:

Pink:

2008 Pax Rose, Sonoma County

This wine is a blend of Syrah & Grenache. I didn't pick up much on the nose. Very light pink color and slightly bitter fruit. Clean finish but not very crisp. Overall I'd grade this wine a "C"

White:

2007 Pax Venus, Roussanne/Viognier, Sonoma County

Starts off with a soapy nose, bit of nail polish giving way to lemon. Crisp tight finish. Kristina enjoyed this much more than I did but I'm not a fan of anything Viognier.

Red:

Here's what we came for....

2007 Pax Syrah, Cuvee Christine, North Coast

This wine is 100% Syrah from 6 vineyards in Sonoma. Aged for one year using 70% new oak.

Dark Purple color, lots of smoky bacon on the palate, a bit too much for my taste. A very nice balanced wine, smooth tannins and a 15 to 20 second finish. I'd give it a "B-"

2007 Pax Syrah Walker Vine Hill, Russian River Valley

Very Dark Purple in the glass, chalky, sweet fruit, very concentrated, smooth tannins. Wonderful wine. A close 2nd favorite for the night. "B+"

2006 Pax Syrah, Griffin's Lair Sonoma Coast

This is what I'm talking about...home run. Poured from a decanter the wine was almost black in color. Very rich, gamey, cherries and mouth coating tannins. There's alot going on here. Wine of the night for me, runner up for Kristina.

2007 Pax Cuvee Moriah, Grenache/Syrah/Mourvdere, Sonoma County

Big difference going from the Griffin's Lair to this. Really easy to pick out the light notes of Grenache. Strawberry, delicate, medium bodied. Kristina's wine of the night.

2007 Pax Syrah Kobler Family Vineyard, Green Valley

97% Syrah and 3% Viognier from Sebastopol. Smoky game meats, bacon, slightly disjointed. Near the bottom of both of our rankings.

Finally they were pouring another wine not in the official line up

2006 Pax Majik Vineyard Syrah

According to the label only 2 barrels (about 100 cases) of this wine was produced. The nose just exploded with the smell of, Marijuana? We thought we had smelled it once before in college, very similar aroma. Very herbal tasting, green tannins, medium bodied. Neither of us enjoyed this wine at all. Kristina asked Joe Donelan about the unusual nose. He did say the vineyard is very high up on a ridge top in Sebastopol, lots of hippies in that area. Interesting.

Summary:

The overall profile of the Pax Syrah's I found to be very concentrated with notes of smoky game meats. Not my favorite flavor profile, but the quality of these wines is undeniable. If you were going to try one Pax wine I'd seek out the Walker Vine Hill. All in all this was a fantastic event, the people at Pax Wine Cellars are very generous and passionate about their wines.

Cheers,

Chris