Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 1,080 case 2013 Syrah Patrina, which is the entry level Syrah, sees a higher temperature during fermentation and roughly 20 days on skins, with periodic punch downs. Aged 22 months in two-thirds new French oak, it trumps most estates grand vin. Showing the forward, plush, sweetly fruited style of all of the 2013s here, with notes of smoked meats, violets, caramelized black cherries and cassis, with its oak component pushed all the way into the background, drink this full-bodied, pure, seamless Syrah through 2023.
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Wine Spectator
Complex and powerfully built, with distinctive blackberry and smoky meat aromas and layered, fairly dense flavors of dark plum, licorice and grilled herb that linger toward ripe tannins. Best from 2018 through 2028. 2,200 cases made.
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.”
California’s coolest wine growing area, Edna Valley excels in the production of high quality Central Coast wines like Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Rhône Blends and aromatic white wines. It has a cool Mediterranean climate and an incredibly long growing season, giving late-ripening varieties plenty of opportunity to develop great phenolic complexity.
Its northwest to southeast orientation creates a direct path for cool Pacific air and fog to penetrate the valley from the Los Osos and Morro Bay area inwards. Low hillsides of both calcareous and volcanic soils are home to much of the vineyard acreage of the Edna Valley.