If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes greater than great, as is the case with today’s wine from Enkidu Wine.

NOTE: This mission was headed up by Spy Dog, a fully vetted Wine Spies field operative. Like all operatives, her identity is closely guarded. She can be seen here in a rare photograph on a covert mission to Northern California, where she spied today’s wine:

Mission Codename: A dog in the house of Gilgamesh

Operative: Agent Spy Dog

Objective: Humansit Agent Red while he visits some Sonoma County wineries – and retrieve a fantastic wine

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Enkidu Wines

Wine Subject: 2005 Odyssey Syrah

Winemaker: Phillip Staehle

Backgrounder:

Yes, I am a dog. But no ordinary dog; I am Spy Dog and I hang mostly with human Wine Spies agent, Agent White, down in our Beverly Hills enclave. Recently, though, I was called upon to humansit for Agent Red – and visit a few Sonoma County wineries with him.

My origins? When Agent White became a Wine Spy, I was quick to follow. You see, Agent White had me smelling wines and when I turned my nose up at certain wines that he also thought were real stinkers, he realized that I would make an excellent Wine Spy myself.

Soon after, White began taking me on missions to wineries. I let my skills shine through by showing him how much I knew about viticulture, winemaking and vineyard rodents. I mostly helped Agent White select new wines.

Today, I go on missions throughout California and I enjoy telling my human Wine Spies which wines are the best.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile (as described in less refined human terms):

Look – Deep and inky purple-to-pink at the edges, with thick, slow-moving legs with tight spacing

Smell – Black cherry with smoked orange rind, green olive, dark plum, and a wonderful earthy white pepper

Feel – Great mouthfeel on this wine. Its wet, cool, loose and grippy, with wonderful medium all-over-mouth tannins

Taste – Enkidu is right when they say that “the flavors mirror the aromas”, and I pick up slightly tart cherry, and blackberry. Yummy!

Finish – Exceedingly long, with tannins and flavors that linger on and on…

Conclusion (By Agent Red) – Spy Dog let me write this part of the review for our human readers: We have tasted some exceedingly great Syrah of late, and this one is no exception. This Syrah exhibits all of the qualities that I love in a great Syrah; wonderful mouthfeel, great flavors that don’t overpower, beautiful aromatics and the classic fruit and white pepper that I have grown to expect from the best California Syrahs. Upcoming, The Wine Spies will be choosing the Best Wines of 2007 (those that we tasted and featured here in 2007) and this wine makes the cut for judging!

Mission Report:

Spy Dog Reporting – Last week, Agent White flew up to Northern California in our Cessna Spy Plane. I sit in the Pilot’s seat, he rides shotgun. I let him do all of the flying because he loves it so much. Its fun, but I wish the plane had windows that rolled down so I could hang my head out.

Our visit was to include visits to local wineries, and some strategic briefings with our other Agents. Agent Red met us at the airport and, bless him, had a great biscuit for me. (note to Agent Red: Please tell Agent White to change to his brand of biscuits. His taste like neutral oak barrel staves! Eeeew)

Red had an immediate mission for us, but White needed to rest up after the flight. After we arrived at our N. Cal safehouse, I told Red that I’d be accompanying him on the mission and jumped back in the car. Agent White now secured, we were on our way.

Our first stop was at a famous winery. It was a moderately fun visit and Agent Red picked up a fantastic wine for a future review. After we left, my nose picked up a scent and I let Red know that I was on to something by barking loudly in the closed car. Clutching his right ear with one hand and driving with the other, Agent Red guided the car as I told him where to go. We ended up at a beautiful vineyard about 5km west of the town of Santa Rosa.

Agent Red opened the door and I bounded from the car, toward the center of the vineyard, where I acquired the object of my search. As I approached, the barking I heard confirmed my instincts – and my trusty olfactory senses; This vineyard had a Wine Dog – and I was about to make contact.

Sure enough, a yellow Lab came bounding up. After the obligatory exchange of credentials, I learned that his name was Enkidu and that he had a human that was a winemaker. After Agent Red caught up with me, Enkidu introduced us both to his Human, Phillip.

We learned that Phillip was the owner and winemaker at Enkidu Wine and that this vineyard was the Odyssey Vineyard where grapes for his Syrah are grown. I was impressed that a human would name his winery after a dog and I decided to have Agent Red procure some samples for this review.

Agent Red and Philip seemed to hit it off right away and they talked all about his wines. Enkidu showed me around the vineyard and we had a good time checking out the grapes and barking at squirrels. After a time, I got hungry and told Red it was time to go. Samples in hand, we returned to the safehouse.

Agent Red was very taken by the Odyssey Syrah and after my own detailed analysis I gave it my paw of approval. When a wine is great – and made from nature rather by recipe – I can tell with just a sniff. This wine impressed me instantly and I know that my human friends will really enjoy it – even if they can’t taste and smell all of the subtleties present!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Odyssey Vineyard can be seen in this satellite photo.