Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The beautiful 2017 Syrah Reva has a more elegant, streamlined, layered style that's already drinking nicely. Ample red and black fruits, bacon fat, olive, violets, and briny mineral nuances all define this classic Alban Syrah, and it's full-bodied, with a seamless mouthfeel, impeccable balance, and ripe tannins. It's certainly the more discrete, understated red in the lineup, yet this is a wine that builds with time in the glass and has perfect tannins, a terrific sense of freshness, and a great finish. It will keep for 15+ years in cold cellars.
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.