Black Sheep Finds Holus Bolus Presqu'ile Vineyard Syrah 2017
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#21 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wines of 2019
Presqui’ile Vineyard is planted on a extremely sandy ridge at the southwestern edge of the Santa Maria AVA. The combination of the moderate climate and relatively poor soils creates a Syrah this is lively, spicy and complex. The wine was fermented with 25% whole clusters to add to the texture and mouth feel of the wine. Dark purple color, reminiscent of violets with aromas of crushed black pepper.
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Cool-climate Syrahs are often a bit brawny and untethered, yet this version raises the elegance factor like few others. Snappy raspberry, crumbled hibiscus and whitepepper aromas are pinpointed and lean on the nose. Framed in a grippy tension, the palate combines black raspberry with rosemary, bay leaf and green peppercorns—endless sensory fascination. Editors’ Choice
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: When anyone in your wine life complains that New World Syrahs can't match up with top Old World efforts, point them to the 2017 Black Sheep Finds Holus Bolus Presqui'le. TASTING NOTES: This wine is active, biting, and authentic. Its alluring aromas and flavors of bright red fruit, savory spices, and lively minerality should pair well with braised lamb shanks. (Tasted: February 5, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Syrah Holus Bolus Presquille is another Northern Rhône look-alike and has lots of blackberry fruits, ground pepper, meat, and underlying herbal notes. Medium-bodied, nicely concentrated, with plenty of density and texture, it shows the focus and structure at the heart of the vintage and will benefit from short-term cellaring.
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The duo behind Black Sheep Finds are Peter Hunken and Amy Christine.
Peter got his start in winemaking in 2001 at Stolpman Vineyards and was the Assistant Winemaker there until 2006. He is also one of the founding members of Piedrasassi and Holus Bolus wines. During this time he gained experience working with Syrah, Grenache, Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Roussanne. After meeting Amy spitting wine over the winery drains in Lompoc in 2004, they founded Black Sheep Finds with the arrival of the 2005 vintage.
Amy's foray into the wine world began with a childhood dream to win an Oscar. While she waited for her golden statue, she worked as a sommelier at one of LA’s finest restaurants. This translated into a weekend jaunt to Santa Barbara where she met her future husband and fellow Black Sheep, Peter Hunken. A whirlwind romance involving a terrible, but cheap, apartment in Koreatown, countless hours of Ryan Adams and Damien Rice songs and bottles upon bottles of Muller Catoir Riesling turned serious. On a long hike in Santa Barbara in 2005, the idea of Black Sheep Finds was bantered about and just a few months later the first Syrah grapes for Hocus Pocus were being made into wine. Unlike the Oscar it all happened so fast.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
A lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.