Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Fresh blueberry and blackberry juice aromas meet with pepper and pressed lavender on the nose of this sleek bottling by Michael Larner, one of the Ballard Canyon appellation's loudest proponents. Black plum and dried black raspberry flavors show on the palate, which is layered with cracked pepper, cigar box and a minty lift on the lengthy sip.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
An outstanding, classy Syrah from winemaker Michael Larner, the 2012 Estate Syrah offers classic notes of ripe dark fruits, barbecue smoke, game and hints of olive in its medium to full-bodied, fresh, elegant and layered personality. It’s drinking nicely today, yet should hold through 2021.
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.”
Accounting for only ten percent of the greater Santa Ynez AVA, Ballard Canyon’s north-south orientation provides an ideal pattern of sunshine and martime fog for producing excellent Syrah. While Syrah is planted to half of the total AVA acreage, an additional third is dedicated to other Rhône varieties, red and white.