Betz Family Winery La Serenne Syrah 2017
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
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Winemaker Notes
The 2017 La Serenne is a stunner from the moment it hits the glass with dark, coating, black-purple color. This vintage used almost 60% whole-clusters in the ferment, more than ever before. The aromatics reflect it: lavender, fennel, white pepper and tarragon join inky, blackberry purée, huckleberry and dark chocolate. The mouthfeel is luscious, velvety and round bringing smoky coffee bean and fresh herbs to the fore. A polished tannic backbone promises a long cellar life, but it’s hard to resist right now.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from the Boushey Vineyard in the Yakima Valley, the 2017 Syrah La Serenne is another beautiful wine from this team, offering perfumed notes of blue fruits, ground peppery, gravelly earth, and smoke. Fermented with close to 60% stems and aged in French oak, it’s medium to full-bodied, perfectly balanced, has a seamless texture and ripe tannins, all pointing to a brilliant Syrah that’s going to evolve for 10-15 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Dark purple colored in the glass, the 2017 Syrah la Serenne opens to a bouquet of flowers on the nose along with dusty plum, blackberry and subtle red and black spices. Medium to full-bodied, on the palate, the wine has a juicy yet dusty core with a ripe and evolving character, a supporting backbone of acidity and lingering finish with finesse, power and vibrancy. It's a delicious and impressive wine that will be a crowdpleaser for sure.
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Wine Enthusiast
Coming from one of the state’s top Syrah sites, this wine was fermented 60% whole cluster—more than ever before. The aromas are brooding, with notes of ember, whole blueberry, raspberry and assorted dried herbs. The palate is soft and brings coffee flavors with savory streaks throughout. An extended finish caps it off. This one is all about sophistication, but with a sneaky sense of intensity and enough structure to reward time in the cellar. It only ramps up with time open.
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By carving out specific vineyard blocks and being meticulous in the vineyard and cellar they are able to achieve the quality they aspire to, the result being highly-acclaimed wines that compete on the world stage.
As importantly over the years our winery culture has become a way of life in which everyone – our growers, winery team and customers are family.
Today, Betz Family Winery is headed by two families, committed to be true to their heritage, their family members and true to what Betz embodies: wines of dimension and pleasure that allow the character of Washington to shine through.
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.”
As the first recognized wine-growing region in the Pacific Northwest, Yakima Valley is centrally located within Washington’s vast Columbia Valley. The region also includes Washington’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, Otis Vineyard, planted in 1957, and Harrison Hill Vineyard, planted in 1963. Yakima Valley contains three smaller sub-regions: Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain, and Snipes Mountain and is ideal for both red and white wine production. In fact, Yakima Valley is Washington’s most diverse region, boasting more than 40 different grape varieties over about one hundred miles.
The cooler parts of the valley are home to almost half of the Chardonnay and Riesling produced in the state! Both are made in a wide range of styles depending on the conditions of the vineyard site.
But its warmer locations yield a large proportion of Washington’s best Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The finest Yakima Valley reds are jam-packed full of red cherry, currant, raspberry or blackberry fruit, as well as cocoa, herb, spice and savory notes, and exhibit a supple texture, great body, focus and length.