Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Syrah Campbell Ranch comes from a very small, two-acre vineyard that is farmed organically. Deep ruby-purple in color, it was made with 75% whole clusters and without any new oak. The nose offers fresh blackcurrant, blueberry and Morello cherry fruit with layers of tar, prosciutto, dried flowers and garrigue. The medium to full-bodied palate offers Goldilocks ripeness and loads of flavor nuances. It has a firm, finely grained and fresh structure and finishes long.
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Wine & Spirits
A green-peppercorn rocket, this wine packs full-on richness and muscular purple fruit into a powerful throughline of flavor. It grows at a vineyard near Annapolis, on the far Sonoma Coast, where Steve Campbell farms 20-year-old vines on sandy Goldridge soil. The Anthill team—Anthony Filiberti, David Low and Webster Marquez—transforms that fruit into one of the most dynamic syrahs in California, clean and precise, a lovely coastal red with staying power. Best Buy
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.”
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.