PharaohMoans Syrah 2016
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The PharaohMoans 2017 Syrah exudes notes of black fruits, smoked meats and exotic spice due to the stem inclusions. The palate is lush and floral with great chewy tannin structure offering aromas of black licorice and boysenberry and plum compote. The aging potential is 10-14 years.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Syrah Westside is inkier colored and offers a brilliant, bloody, blackberry and blueberry-scented nose as well as complex bacon fat, tapenade, bay leaf, and violets nuances. This is another terrific vintage that shows the pure, elegant, layered yet full-bodied style that makes the 2016 vintage so special in Paso Robles (and California for that matter). Made from 100% Syrah that spent 18 months in 60% new French oak, drink this beauty over the coming decade or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Tasted from barrel, the 2016 Syrah (which is 100% Syrah this year) exhibits aromas of minty blackberries, bay leaf and tapenade, framed by a touch of toasty new oak. On the palate, it's full-bodied, richly tannic and a bit more taut and compact than the Grenache, with a tight-knit core of crunchy dark fruit. It'll be interesting to taste it from bottle.
Barrel Sample: 91-93
Other Vintages
2013-
Robert
Parker
PharaohMoans winery is a partnership between John Schwartz, owner of Amuse Bouche in Napa Valley, and Chef Bryan Ogden, recipient of the James Beard Award for best restaurant 2003. With their combined 35 years in the wine and food industry, they have teamed up with winemaker Guillaume Fabre to create world-class award-winning wines with a distinctive signature.
The vineyards and the PharaohMoans winery are located on the West side of Paso Robles near the Templeton Gap, a breach in the coastal mountain range where the cooling ocean breezes temper the hot summer days of northern San Luis Obispo County, and the resultant temperature swing from day to night can be as much as 40 degrees. The soils of this area are also well suited for vineyards, with limestone, clay, and rock-shell creating a lean environment for the grapes.
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.”
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.