Winemaker Notes
Savory dark cherry and white pepper notes in the nose. Rich and full body is braced by a graphite and gravelly acidity – due to the older vines. This wine has the lowest alcohol and most natural acidity of all Kale wines
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Fresh but a little tight on initial nosing then opening to reveal more complexity and depth as it sits in the glass, Kale’s Hyde Vineyard Syrah offers up a layered mix of blackberries, forest- floor spice and faint, freshly ground black pepper all framed in a judicious bit of sweet oak. It is a fleshy, moderately full-bodied, neatly balanced wine whose fruit and spice flavors stay in very fine focus from front to back, and, if a rather classy look at the variety that very easy to like now, it teases with suggestions of more complexity to come and is well worth setting aside for several more 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.”
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.