Barefoot California Syrah
Price: $6
Maker: Barefoot Cellars
Variety: Syrah
Packaging: Bottle, natural cork
Our Rating: 8 out of 10
Barefoot California Syrah (no vintage) from is easily spotted on the shelf by its distinctive label featuring a Robinson Crusoe-style footprint. The wine has a deep, purplish red color and a faint, flowery aroma. Its flavor is dominated by currants and blackberries, with a rounded finish. It’s not a great wine, but is satisfying and inexpensive enough to crack a bottle open with hamburgers or pasta with no guilt feelings.
Barefoot Cellars has won some awards with this wine:
- GOLD Medal…International Eastern Wine Competition, Santa Rosa, CA and Watkins Glen, NY.
- GOLD Medal…Colorado State Fair Wine Competition, Pueblo, CO.
- GOLD Medal…San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Cloverdale, CA.
- 1st Place…Lake County Fair, Lakeport, CA
Absent a vintage, it may be hard to compare your results with the competitions, but for the price, how far wrong can you go?
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December 10th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
[...] When Barefoot Merlot made AOL’s Best Cheap Wines list, we knew we had to try it out. We’d tried a couple of their other reds in the last year, Barefoot Zinfandel and Barefoot California Syrah, and liked the Zin more. While I’m not sure that I’d put Barefoot Merlot in my top 5 list for cheap wines, it’s certainly a worthy entrant in the category. Immediately after uncorking, the wine seemed a bit bland; a short breathing period seemed to open up the flavors quite a bit. The aroma is mild, with weak berry and leather notes. The flavor is more assertive. Barefoot Merlot is medium-bodied, with blackberry and mocha notes, well-structured tannins, and a moderately lengthy finish. The balance in this sub-$7 is impressive. [...]