Winemaker Notes
One of my first thoughts in setting up my winery was that I would not name wines for family. My first Syrah was dubbed Reva- which is my mother’s name, almost as a very organic afterthought. Within moments of unveiling that wine, my father asked, ‘So?’ I quickly realized that was shorthand for: “So when will there be a wine named for me?” If anyone deserves such a tribute, it is unquestionably my father. A practicing physician since the age of 21, part of the army aircorp during World War II, planning to retire now that he is 93, Sy is the care giver we all dream to find when the time comes that we are in need.
Atop the most distant peak from our winery and main vineyard there is a dense vein of flint that is mixed with chalk and sandstone. This soil produces the grapes that make Seymour’s: aromatics of Asian spices, and flavors of smoked meats, graphite, and licorice. This syrah is our most structured and broad.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The succession of prodigious Syrahs continues with the 2006 Syrah Seymour’s Vineyard (named after John Alban’s father). An infant in terms of development, it exhibits a smoky meatiness along with a forest floor character as well as its siblings’ colossal level of concentration, enormous, multilayered texture, and skyscraper-like mouthfeel. Remarkably, there is no sense of heaviness. Another tour de force in Central Coast Syrah, it should drink well for 30-40 years.
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Wine Spectator
This wine exhibits a broad yet tightly reigned-in range of roasted herb, tobacco, mineral, graphite, pepper and road tar flavors. Full-blown, intense and chewy, with stewed plum and wild berry flavors supported by dense, extracted tannins. A baby.
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.”
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.