Taste-testing is a great benefit of winemaking: Epona 2018 Syrah-Malbec notes

...because you get to observe how a wine changes over time, even before it's released to the market.

The Syrah in this wine came from the Graves Vineyard, which is the southern-most in the state of Washington (Dallesport WA), near the Columbia River, and it's also one of the oldest. Planted by Mr. Graves, a BPA employee, a very long time ago (1970s?) and now tended by his son. The Malbec came from Noble Wolf Vineyard east of Lyle WA. Both grapes were fully ripe and in excellent shape; I picked them up in early morning and by noon was processing them on the Epona crush pad. Super-fresh treatment with high-touch winemaking all the way.

1. Youth: I'm learning why Syrahs (and Malbecs, too) need years of aging before they show their best. Some Syrahs don't come to market until they are 6-7 years old! This wine, upon opening is mostly shut down. The nose is faint and the palate is clunky, showing some nice red/blue fruits but with a sense of disjointedness and a bitter finish note.  An hour later, the nose is showing now--complex and awakening: Red/blue/purple/black fruits (yes-all of those, and I dare you to disagree), and herbs, and medicinals, in that order. On the palate, the wine is thick (good body) and acidic (good for food), with purple fruits and a coffee finish.
2. Then I put the leftover half-bottle of the wine into the fridge for four days. Sounds too long, right? But I suspected the wine was very, very early in its development, and 4 days on air provided a good test for what it might become.
3. Then, the wine was really good: The nose predicts ripe red/purple/black fruits with bolstering acidity and matching fairly high alcohol, and you can even smell the thick body too. In the mouth, it's very nice: rich, thick, but acidic too, with wonderful complex fruit and herb notes, and a nice finish.

I will definitely submit this one in competition, but not for another couple of years. Big hopes for this one! But patience is required. I plan to offer it next week, in order to get the hivemind's comments, and then either sell the rest, or hang onto it, as appropriate. One great thing about having a SUPERB wine buying club, is that you can access a wealth of great wine palates, in order to get the correct skinny on a wine and what to plan re that wine...