A Perfect Christmas Wine Pairing

Indulge in a delightful wine pairing for your Christmas dinner this year. The 2018 Amalie Robert “Waft the Fruit” (WTF) Syrah is astonishingly good. This exquisite bottle from Dena and Ernie’s Estate has a fascinating backstory, which we’ve shared below. This experiment yielded just 288 bottles of a truly exceptional and distinctive wine. We highly encourage you to find a reason to give it a try!

2018 Amalie Robert Waft the Fruit (WTF) Syrah $72

Dark, deep, and mysterious...this is a wine that demands your attention. In the glass the bouquet is filled with notes of black cherry, violet, French herbs, hints of olive tapenade and charred chocolate. There is great freshness and structure on the palate revealing flavors of cherry, blueberry, grilled bacon, and black pepper.

Only 288 Bottles Produced

The Story:

Waft The Fruit Syrah. Every once in a while we come across a barrel of wine that gives us a moment of pause, WTF. To capture the breadth, depth and balance of this wine, we chose to bottle this single barrel of Syrah separately. Welcome to our world.

This is something other. In winemaking, you can research and postulate all you want, but until you actually put 60 gallons of wine into a $1,200 barrel and wait a couple of years, you don’t really know.

Well, now we know. This particular cooper’s barrel was not ready to show us its magic after 2 years, or 3 years. Ernie became concerned at the 4 year mark, as that is the typical barrel maturation period of the most celebrated single vineyard Côte Rôtie Syrah wines.

But he wouldn’t let it go. And by spring 2023 we could finally Waft The Fruit! (Single barrel production, 24 cases produced)

Culinary Inclinations: 

We have said it before and will say it again. Grilled buffalo ribeye on the bone finished with a sprig of rosemary accompanied with braised winter greens topped with balsamic vinegar and garlic mashed polenta with crumbled bacon. An assortment of blue cheeses completes the afters.