Winemaker Notes
Pair with BBQ pork ribs, roasted lamb & chicken, ratatouille.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The keenly priced 2015 Syrah reveals spicy aromas of blackberry and cassis that mingle with notes of chocolate and lilac. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and lavish, with a generous, open-knit profile, low acidity and a rich, savory finish. A success in its style, drink it over the next 6 or 7 years.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The base appellation release is the 2015 Walla Walla Valley Syrah, which incorporates 13% Grenache. It too was brought up mostly in neutral oak. It's more upfront and open knit compared to the Les Collines and offers lots of plum, spice, and peppery herb aromatics, medium to full-bodied richness, and no hard edges. It's ideal for drinking over the coming 4-5 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a pan-Walla Walla Valley blend, with fruit coming from Seven Hills, Les Collines, Pepper Bridge, Summit View and Stone Valley vineyards. The aromas are brooding, with notes of dried herb, earth, blackberry, blueberry and flower revealing themselves over time. The flavors are dense and rich, backed by a squeeze of grainy tannins.
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Wine & Spirits
Fairly classic in its restraint and in its expression of bottle age, this syrah leads with scents of lavender and shiitake mushroom broth. While savory throughout, it has a chewy black-currant core of fruit that offsets the savor nicely. For grilled Hungarian sausages.
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.”
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.