Winemaker Notes
88% Syrah, 11% Grenache, 1% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This bottling, from seven cool climate vineyards, makes a great intro into savory Syrah, showing all that peppery might without shoving it down the throat. Cracked peppercorn is redolent on the nose and palate, with the latter also showing raw lamb and beef char. The sip tends toward soy and leather, but with a core of dried blackberry fruit that's familiar to most palates. The texture is tightly woven.
Editors' Choice -
Wine Spectator
Elegantly complex and well-defined, with raspberry and pomegranate aromas and smoky accents that lead to lively flavors of orange zest, fruitcake spice and loamy white pepper. Drink now through 2026.
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.”
Ranging from cool and foggy in the west to warm and dry in the east, the Santa Ynez Valley is a climatically diverse growing area. The most expansive AVA within the larger Santa Barbara County region, Santa Ynez is also home to a wide variety of soil types and geographical features. The appellation is further divided into four distinct sub-AVAs—Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Los Olivos District and Happy Canyon—each with its own defining characteristics.
A wide selection of grapes is planted here—more than sixty different varieties, and counting. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir dominate in the chilly west, while Zinfandel, Rhône blends, and Bordeaux blends rule the arid east. Syrah is successful at both ends of the valley, with a lean and peppery, Old-World sensibility closer to the coast and lush berry fruit further inland.