Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 2021 Syrah Williamson-Doré Vineyard is another compelling wine in this range from Foxen. Blue/purplish fruit, lavender, sage, mint, licorice and cloves all build beautifully in the glass. Savory, earthy undertones lend notable complexity. I admire the wine's freshness and imagine the fruit will emerge more fully with more time in bottle.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Cassis, leafy herbs, pepper, and violets notes shine in the 2021 Syrah Williamson-Doré Vineyard, a medium to full-bodied Syrah that has the vintage's fresher, focused style while still bringing beautiful fruit and richness, as well as polished tannins. It's one of the standouts in the lineup this year and is well worth seeking out.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Lovely aromas of raw lamb, soy and black pepper make for a gamy nose on this bottling. The palate is lively with black plum juice flavors that are layered in zesty thyme, bay leaf and cracked pepper touches.
-
Wine Spectator
Detailed and elegantly knit, this Syrah offers handsome raspberry, garrigue and savory pepper flavors that glide effortlessly toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2032.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The riper and more fruit-driven of the Foxen Syrah offerings, the 2021 Syrah Williamson-Doré Vineyard opens with blackberry, tar and menthol aromas. The palate is plush and velvety, concluding with a long, layered finish framed by subtly grainy, structuring tannins.
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.