Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Wow, from the first sniff of the 2016 Syrah John Lewis you know this is something special. Aromas of blackberry, black raspberry and dusty cherry skin burst from the glass with black peppercorn and red spice notes. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, structured and lifted, with a touch of sweet red fruit, presumably from a semi-carbonic maceration, showing elegance and ease on the mid-palate that is firm and focused, with a mineral tension of wet rock. A long and thoughtful expression on the finish continues to evolve on the aftertaste well after the wine has left the palate. It's an impressive wine, and with only 322 cases made, this is a safe bet for any Syrah lover. It's devastatingly beautiful.
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Wine & Spirits
Composed of fruit from Les Collines, Forgotten Hills and Red Willow vineyards, this wine marks the first time Greg Harrington harvested a wine under 13 percent alcohol (It came in at 12.8 percent.) It takes days to evolve, moving from lightly floral scents of rosemary blossoms to a deeper and more concentrated plumminess. The wine unfurls with a kind of disciplined elegance, the grape-skin tannins formidable but supple, the savory finish limned with whole-cluster spice and dry extract. This is years from peak expression; cellar.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Syrah John Lewis comes from the Les Collins, Forgotten Hills, SJR, and Red Willow vineyards and saw 86% whole clusters and 19 months in 11% new French oak. Reminding me of a Saint Joseph with its stemmy black fruits, peppery herbs, and subtle minerality, it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, firm tannins, good acidity, and a clean, lengthy finish. It's a good, even outstanding Syrah, yet is a shadow of what this estate has produced in the past.
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.”
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.