Fess Parker Rodney's Vineyard Syrah 2008
-
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Your immediate impression of this Syrah is power. It’s a darkly colored, big, thick and intensely flavored wine, with furry tannins framing massive flavors of blackberries, teryaki beef, black pepper and smoky oak. Easily deserves its high score despite a certain rude assault.
Other Vintages
2020-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker
Established in 1989, the Fess Parker Winery has a long history in Santa Barbara Wine Country and is well known for its small-lot, hand harvested, vineyard-designated, and clonal selection Rhône and Burgundian varietals.
The winery specializes in estate grown Syrah, Riesling, and Viognier as well as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley AVA’s. Outstanding fruit sources, including some of the finest vineyards in the county, coupled with skilled winemaking, led by Blair Fox, form the foundation for the winery’s success. Fess Parker Winery’s estate vineyard, Rodney’s, received its SIP (Sustainable in Practice) Certification in 2020.
Now three generations in, the Fess Parker Family is proud to carry on Fess’s legacy of wine heritage and hospitality in Santa Barbara.
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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.