No Girls Wines was originally founded as a collaboration between Cayuse owner and vigneron Christophe Baron and general manager Trevor Dorland. The first release of the wine was with the 2008 vintage. Two wines, a Syrah and Grenache from La Paciencia Vineyard, were released. Over time the winemaking has transitioned from Christophe Baron to Elizabeth Bourcier.
I recall vividly when the first release email for No Girls was sent to existing Cayuse mailing list members. I hesitated in responding to the email thinking that this project sounded really similar to Cayuse. That hesitation has earned me a 3 year spot on the No Girls waiting list.
This past week I had the opportunity to try the ’09 No Girls Grenache side by side with the ’09 Cayuse God Only Knows Grenache. The wines have much in common. La Paciencia Vineyard is adjacent to the Armada Vineyard which is the fruit source for the God Only Knows. La Paciencia was planted in 2003 and Armada in 2001. Elizabeth Bourcier is now the sole Vigneron but her style is clearly influenced by her work with Christophe.
The No Girls Grenache had tremendous purity of fruit with flavors of cherry liqueur, strawberries and raspberries.
In contrast the God Only Know showed more of the gamy, meaty qualities I have always associated with Cayuse. There were secondary notes of umami, mineral, strawberries and raspberries.
Both wines are exceptional and should age well for at least another 3-5 years. If you need scores I’d put each in the 93-94 point range.
There is no question that the wines are distinct from each other. At the same time though it is not lost on me that they also have so much in common. This is just a single datapoint though. I suspect that over the coming years the No Girls will diverge from Cayuse as Elizabeth further develops her own style. If and when I am offered an opportunity to buy No Girls I will not hesitate this time.
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I’ve been able to try all three vintages of the No Girls Syrah and you can recognize the Cayuse terrior for sure but the styles to me are different. The aromatics on the No Girls are explosive. The overall style reminds me more of a Northern Rhone syrah with aromatic spices, pepper, plums and cured meats. But the hallmark mineral, red cabbage, ash and seaweed from Cayuse is there too. Delicious and really coming into it’s own every year. Glad I made the list for sure.