Winemaker Notes
Always powerful, yet elegant, this wine offers a combination of dark fruit such as blackcurrants and blackberries mixed with cedar box and white pepper with a full mouth-feel and complex aromatics. Allow yourself to taste the changes in the glass as this wine reveals all its secrets.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the two Syrahs, the 2017 Syrah The Initiation comes from the Soberanes Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands and was the first wine ever made under the Cattleya label. Deep purple-colored, it offers a Côte Rôtie La Mouline-like perfume of bacon fat, crushed flowers, gamey blueberries, and ground pepper. A powerful, full-bodied Syrah that has building tannins and thrilling purity, it’s a singular California Syrah that will stand toe to toe with the best out there.
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Wine Enthusiast
There is immense density on the nose of this bottling, with strong pâtes de fruits au cassis and elegant purple-flower aromas coming through in layer after layer. The palate is framed by firm but expansive tannins, coating the flavors of black cherry, roasted espresso cream and loamy soils. This is an extremely deep and unending wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep, opaque ruby-purple in color, the 2017 Syrah The Initiation opens with lovely chocolate notes and concentrated aromas of peppered meats, smoke, bacon fat and olive with rich, plush black fruits at the core. Full-bodied, lush, dense and savory, it has a frame of firm, pixelated tannins and is concentrated and dense but still with great freshness on the long, chocolaty finish.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and brooding, with rich and deeply structured blueberry, violet and bitter chocolate notes that build tension toward big yet polished tannins. Drink now through 2029.
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.”
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.