WN: Havens 2006 Hudson T Block Carneros Syrah

I've posted on a couple of wines from Havens Cellars in the past, with the general feeling that I liked the style more than the results. With the new owners of Havens, Billington Imports, declaring bankruptcy, however, there have been a lot of opportunities recently to purchase Havens wines at less than 50% their original price. The Havens 2006 Hudson T Block Carneros Syrah is one I picked up to see if I'd like to purchase more.

Although Alice Feiring has discussed Michael Havens' use of micro-oxygenation in the context of manipulated California wines, suggesting they are homogenized fruit/oak bombs, these are not typical California wines. They're grown primarily in the cool climate of Carneros and show a medium bodied complexity that is decidedly atypical for Napa. Havens' top wines were modeled after the Merlot and Franc heavy wines of the Right Bank of Bordeaux as well as the Syrahs of the Northern Rhone. Moreover, they have a fantastic reputation for aging.

Havens sold the winery to Billington Imports in 2006, though he remained as winemaker. By mid-2008, however, the corporate suits had booted him from his namesake winery, most likely because he was focused on quality while Billington was looking to leverage the brand's reputation to help the bottom line. Re-blending what should have been de-classified wine may have been one friction point. Creating a lesser tier of wines sold as "H by Havens," which has been on the market recently, may have been another. Regardless, by 2009 Billington had imploded, taking a respected winery down with it. This looks like the sad case of an independent vintner with an appreciation of both history and technology losing out to idiocy and mismanagement. [Ed: See discussion below, several changes have been made to the text.]

But the question remains, are the wines any good? The 2005s and 2006s should have been made by Michael Havens in full before he was fired. The upper tier wines in particular should have been safe from Billington's meddling since they are vineyard designated and outside wines legally cannot be blended. That leaves the '05 and '06 Hudson Syrah, Bourriquot and Reserve Merlot, all from Carneros vineyards, as candidates for purchase. I tasted the '06 Hudson Syrah systematically:

Pop and Pour

Definite meatiness on the nose. Bacon fat? Pork? Ham? Call it what you want, it's that Syrah smoked meat funkiness. There's also pepper and herbs. Maybe a little high toned floral quality as well. Definitely showing well right out of the bottle, better than I expected.

The wine is very viscous, good mouth feel. Not sweet or jammy in any way, though. Definitely not a Aussie Shiraz style of wine. There is some bitterness due to tannins, but they're very soft tannins. Acidity seems to be well balanced. No heat on the finish. It's a dark purple, but not black like a Purple People Eater Syrah would be.

1 Hour of Decanting

Opening up to show more fruit. Blueberries and blackberries, mainly. There is definitely oak in use, but it is well integrated so it's complementary. The nose is constantly shifting, one moment it's smokey, the next smells of cloves. The finish is longer now, and delicious. Good before, even better now.

With Food (About 2 Hours of Decanting)

Had it with burgers. What can I say, but it works. Not a magical synergy, but the wine has enough heft to hold up to the meat yet doesn't overpower everything else. Red meat is it's friend more than say chicken, I'd think.

The wine is showing much more fruit now. Think a blackberry liqueur. But then it shifts back to gamy and floral aromas. The initial bitterness is gone, and the tannins are a bit sweeter now. It's a robust wine; not thin, not thick. And it definitely shows ripe cool climate Syrah flavors with more game, spice and pepper than jam. It's inspired my new mantra for Syrah: Ham, Not Jam!

Epilogue

The first two Havens wines I tasted had potential. This one delivered in the way I'd imagined they might if everything came together. Moreover, based on the structure and balance, I'd bet on this wine developing well with age. While the tannins have a definite finesse--perhaps this is a byproduct of micro-ox--there's also a phenolic 'bite' that suggests there's plenty of stuffing there. I can definitely see this wine as a $40 wine, but at less than $20 it's a no brainer. I'll be buying up more Havens on the cheap while I can. It strikes an interesting balance between the New and Old World styles that's right up my alley.

Pros: Complex, Medium Bodied, Balanced, Aromatic, Long Finish, Structured
Cons: None
Decant: Yes, very young and opens up
Price: $18 from Wine House
QPR: Excellent (out of Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good or Excellent with Fair denoting expectations were met for the price point)