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Bugay Cabernet and Syrah Member Reviews:
 2006 Bugay "The Empress" Cab
Big and bold, full of berry flavors. My wife and I loved this wine. What a smokin' deal at virtually half price from Wine Access!
-- Mark from San Antonio, TX
2006 Bugay "The Empress" Cab
A fantastic cab with great fruit, bouquet, body, and finish. Had it with roast lamb--wonderful combo. It's supple and thought-provoking; a memorable wine. After dinner we broke out sauternes and dessert but I decided to stick with the Bugay and finish it off.
-- Robert from Mercer Island, WA
2007 Syrah
This wine stands up to the most subtle French wine I've tasted. I don't believe I've had a Syrah that is this well mannered. Amazing. I bougtht too few bottles, sad to say.
-- William from Arlington, VA
2005 Syrah
Wow! Lots of black berries and cherries on the nose, along with leather, forest floor and game. The wine delivers on the palate what the nose promises and more, dominated by sweet fruit. The finish is extremely smooth and long. Extraordinary! 95+? Almost wish I'd mortgaged the house and bought more!
-- Ron from Rolla, MO
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The Western Face of Spring Mountain
You may recall the first time we heard John Bugay's name. It was 2009. We were seated on bar stools at the most talked about winery startup in the valley. In that horrific down market, Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts had blown away both Parker and Tanzer with a series of single vineyard Arnot-Roberts Syrahs, many garnering 94-point scores. The Arnot-Roberts winery was threadbare, hidden a couple hundred yards behind a sleepy espresso shop in Forestville. But the brilliant winemaking duo hardly needed the glitter of a fancy tasting room to blow us off our seats. At a time when most of the valley was wondering how to make payroll, Duncan and Nathan were selling $60 Syrahs and $75 Cabernet -- and not a buyer was blinking.
That mesmerizing tasting took us on an explosive olfactory tour of some of the greatest vineyards on the coast. It began with Griffin's Lair, then moved south to Lee Hudson's spread in Carneros. Quickly, we ascended the high slopes of Clajeux, before wallowing in the tight clusters of Alder Springs. Each bottle was deep, dark and dramatic, offering spectacular red fruit concentration, buttressed with marvelous, cool coastal structure. But, as we would soon learn, Nathan and Duncan have a flair for the dramatic. They'd saved the best for last.
The final red wine had been nursed from an improbable, rocky perch, high up on the western face of Spring Mountain. The color was deep purple, the aromas of cassis and small red fruits, the core at once fabulously concentrated, voluptuous, while subtlety restrained. The vineyard, Nathan explained, had been planted by John Bugay, and in the estimation of the most dynamic, young coastal Syrah-makers, Bugay Vineyard had the potential to be one of the greatest on the coast. Before we hopped off our barstools, Duncan had made the call that would lead us to the massive metal gate at the very top of Crystal Springs Road.
It wasn't terribly reassuring to see that metal gate open not so much up -- but out -- like the mouth of whale. But once we arrived at the Tuscan villa, parked our Nissan Sentra in a courtyard that could have housed three hundred cars of similar size, John Bugay -- clad in jeans and muddy work boots -- greeted us. His 4x4 was already humming.
We weaved through forest and meadow, bouncing over the rocky terrain, no longer questioning why Arnot-Roberts had ventured to the top of the mountain to secure just four tons of fruit. We watched as the fog lifted and the blue skies followed, then listened as Bugay described what went into the making of what many believe to be the most magical vineyard on this side of Spring Mountain.
The key to Bugay Syrah is the combination of rich, ripe succulence and superb acid backbone. The greatest growing seasons up here are stretched out by late season Indian summers, enabling the Bugay crew to take their time harvesting, allowing the Syrah to reach extreme physiological maturity. If one had to script the perfect growing season recipe, it would look much like 2006.
Over the course of the last two years, we've featured a number of brilliant Cabernets and Syrahs off of John Bugay's mountain stronghold. Ratings from buyers have been astronomical, with Bugay reds netting 227 5-star ratings, and an aggregate score of 4.03, as high as any sub-$50/bottle winery in WineAccess history. Today, we're upping the ante.
The 2006 Estate-grown Syrah is the finest Syrah we've ever tasted off this property. Purple/black in color, with explosive aromas of crushed red fruits and black plum, laced with sweet herbs, a hint of new wood cedar. The attack is pure hedonism, intensely concentrated, packed with blackberries and wild blueberries, silken and supple -- all bracketed by refreshing, cool climate, Hermitage-like vibrancy.
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Tasting Notes
2006 Bugay Vineyards Syrah Estate Sonoma County
"Deep purple color. Explosive aromas of blackberries and crushed red fruits, laced with sweet herbs, a touch of new wood cedar. Rich and intense with tremendous black fruit concentration, silken and saturated, all bracketed by remarkable high elevation vibrancy. Drink now for the sheer hedonism of it all -- or age for up to 5 years in a cool cellar."
-- WineAccess Travel Log
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*Important Shipping Information
- Orders will begin shipping the week of June 11, 2012.
- You will be provided with the exact shipment date during checkout.
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