Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Syrah Williamson-Doré Vineyard brings more pure cassis and blackberry fruit as well as classic Syrah notes of cracked pepper, smoked game, and decayed flowers. Beautiful on the palate as well, this medium to full-bodied Syrah has fine tannins, terrific overall balance, and a great finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
There’s an intense peppercorn, iodine and smoked meat savory side to the nose of this bottling, with rustic elderberry providing the fruit tones. The palate’s rugged, meaty flavors of teriyaki beef are spiced with peppercorn and black plum on the palate.
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.”
Today it is an integral part of the greater Santa Barbara County wine region, but at one time the village, Los Olivos, was a stop on the Wells Fargo stagecoach line.