Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Syrah Reva is classic in style, with its iodine, olive and salty, marine-like character front and center. Coming from the gravelly, sandy clay loam soils on the estate, it shows more textbook Syrah character with air (very northern Rhone-like) and has first rate complexity, gorgeous dark fruit and brilliant overall purity. Showing almost no evolution, with full-bodied richness, fine tannin and a balanced, fresh and lengthy profile, it will continue to drink beautifully for another decade or more.
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Wine Spectator
Dark, intense and concentrated, with beefy, peppery wild berry and herbal scents joined by hints of tar and tobacco. Focused and deftly balanced. Tannic yet smooth-textured, ending with dashes of espresso and cedar. Best from 2007 through 2012. 2,000 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.