Winemaker Notes
A dark and brooding wine on the nose, showing primary aromas of fresh blackberries, Italian plum, and Teriyaki beef jerky. Secondary aromatics of anise, tarragon, black pepper, violets, and seared lamb. The Walla Walla Syrah has an umami characteristic that quickly gives it a sense of place. A mouth-coating palate, precise tannins, and a long finish with enough acidity to balance the overall weight of the wine. It starts with pure black fruit and reveals a gamey and peppery finish. Classic Walla Walla Syrah profile: combining the fruit of the New World with the earth of the Old World.
Blend: 97% Syrah, 3% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Refined and well-built, with a lively core of acidity and tannins that give focus to handsome blackberry, olive and smoked meat flavors, which finish on a firm note. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromatically lifted, the 2017 Walla Walla Syrah bursts with purple flowers, lavender, spiced plum, blackberries and black pepper with a subtle smoky flavor, dried herbs and wet river rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is nimble but offers layers of complexity with flavors of dusty dark cherry, black raspberry chutney and black pepper, showing a balanced structure with a dustiness at its heart. The wine delivers pleasure with lingering spice tones through the food-friendly finish, ending with lively tension and a seductive floral tone.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine has seen extended time before release—over four years. This is to its benefit. The aromas offer notes of olive, herb, whole orange and flower. The palate brings the acidic lift of the vintage. Like all the wines from this producer, it's meant for the dinner table. Pair it with braised meat.
Editors' Choice -
Jeb Dunnuck
Incorporating 3% Viognier and from the Les Collines and Holy Roller vineyards in Walla Walla, the 2017 Syrah Walla Walla saw tons of stems and spent 17 months in 4% new French oak. It's one of the larger production releases here and has a complex, stemmy style in its ripe red fruits, dried flowers, orange zest, and peppery herb aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, elegant and nicely balanced on the palate, it's another lighter, more medium-bodied, juicy effort from this estate that has wonderful complexity and elegance yet comes up short in richness and depth. Drink it over the coming 7-8 years.
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.