Winemaker Notes
LUKE 2022 Syrah is full-bodied with profound color, concentration of flavors and velvety elegance. The wine opens with bold notes of licorice, dark chocolate and spice followed by blackberry, blueberry and candied fruits. A lengthy finish highlights the richness of the wine.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Aromatically expressive and handsomely structured, this red offers precise flavors of blackberry and cherry framed by black olive, smoked meat and cracked pepper tones as this gathers richness on the finish. Drink now through 2032.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The striking and layered 2022 Luke Syrah delivers impressive palate density, channeling the savory depth and structure of the Northern Rhône with notes of dark blackberry, cracked pepper, smoked meat, and violet. Broad across the mid-palate yet finely structured, it carries both power and precision, finishing long with a savory, mineral edge. This is a Syrah that calls for baby back ribs done right—slow-smoked over hardwood, rubbed with black pepper, coriander, and brown sugar, then lacquered with a restrained, smoky-savory glaze rather than sticky sweetness. Finish them with a final flash on the grill for charred edges and a hint of caramelization. The wine’s peppery backbone and dark fruit will lock into the ribs’ smoke and spice, while its structure stands tall against the richness, turning a backyard classic into something seriously cool. (Tasted: February 17, 2026, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
The rich scent of ripe black cherries wraps itself around notes of sarsparilla, think burnt caramel and vanilla, and violets. This is a fuller-bodied wine, with robust tannins and flavors like, ginger, black tea and mulberries. While dark, this is no brooding Syrah. In fact, its acidity is quite lively and outgoing.
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.”
Distinguished by a broad, south-exposed, uniform slope and landlocked by the Columbia River to its south and Saddle Mountains to its north, the Wahluke Slope AVA of Washington holds 15% of the total vine acreage of the state and takes its name from the Native American word for “watering place.”
Incidentally the Wahluke Slope AVA has one of the hottest and driest climates of the state so irrigation is not only essential, but also allows complete grower control of vine vigor. On top of its arid and warm environment, strong summer winds blow across this broad slope and ensure both smaller leaf size and grape clusters. The result is top quality wines with great concentration, phenolic ripeness, body and depth of flavor.
Vineyards cover the AVA from 425 to 1,480 feet along the slope. Its deep soils of wind-blown alluvium and sand with a depth, on average, of more than 5 feet along the continuous grade allow optimal drainage for the vines.
Thriving varieties include Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.
Merlots are rich in sweet, ripe cherry, red currant, raspberry and cocoa. Syrahs tend to express black and blue fruit along with savory notes. Wahluke Cabernets are rich in stewed red and black berries.