Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
The winery's usual bias to ripeness is in full evidence here, but so too is a wealth of very deep, well-focused varietal fruit and complexing elements of bacon, sweet smoke, loamy soils and a bare note of milk chocolate. While weighty and ripe, the wine is never jammy or fat, and it is solidly structured with a long way to go. It toughens at the finish as its abrasive tannins take hold and warn against early drinking. We can see where it might need a decade before settling down, but it has every sign that it will reward the wait.
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.”
High elevation vineyards—800 to 2,100 feet—on well-drained soils of red and brown clay loam, gravel and large rock outcroppings produce low yields of intense, high-quality fruit. Surrounded by Northern Sonoma County and overlapping Dry Creek Valley in its northwest corner, the Rockpile AVA produces some of California most powerful Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon based wines.