2020 Cayuse En Chamberlin. Well, I tried it. And I definitely won’t forget it.

I’ve been fascinated by Cayuse reviews over the last year. Their stuff gets a lot of praise, but for every three or four fans, I’d read a review from someone who hated it just as enthusiastically. For whatever reason, I was sucked in by a Reddit thread about someone who paid hundreds for a bottle of Bionic Frog and poured it down the drain after trying it. Someone chimed in and said it tasted like "a gutter clogged with squirrel sh**."

I have always been drawn to “funky,” polarizing flavors like Islay Scotch, Mezcal, heavy dark beers. I even order anchovies on pizza. I’ve loved every experience with Cornas and Northern Rhône wines I’ve tried. I will happily sit and drink a bretty Italian red that would probably be considered flawed by many people’s standards.

I was excited to find a couple bottles of Cayuse at a local wine shop recently. I grabbed a 2020 En Chamberlin for $139, which is up there with the most I’ve ever paid for a bottle.

We took it to a nice steakhouse, paid corkage, and had them decant it for 45 minutes while we started on oysters and champagne. Knowing that it needs air, I was hoping that would be enough.

When it arrived, I poured a glass of inky, dark garnet liquid. It almost had a “matte” look to it in the glass. My wife took a sniff and said, “Canned peas.” I said, “Yep, that and… dirt.”

On the first sip, it had a very briny, olive juice thing happening. But the fruit and acid I was hoping would balance that were only there in the form of something that tasted like flat Dr Pepper to me. I kinda laughed and said, “Well, it’ll go well with the steak, I think.” The finish was super long and reminded me of an imperial stout—like fermented dark chocolate. That was probably my favorite part. Otherwise, it wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat.

Kinda sad. I love the idea of this wine, but the style was just too odd for me. I’ll take it as a learning experience.