Winemaker Notes
Blend: 98% Syrah, 2% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Doug Margerum’s redevelopment of this estate is leading to even better wines from his already star-studded portfolio. Starting with cohesive aromas of black cherry, boysenberry, pepper dust and charred lamb on the nose, the palate picks up with tense tannins that frame flavors of smoked meat, cracked pepper, crushed berry and crumpled thyme and rosemary.
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Vinous
The 2020 Syrah Margerum Estate Vineyard is dense, powerful and explosive. Dark fruit, leather, incense, gravel and cloves saturate the palate. This inky, full-throated Syrah offers tons of fruit and overall intensity, with plenty of structure to back it all up. The 54% whole clustered are pretty much buried by the intensity of the fruit.
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Wine Spectator
Refined and structured yet polished, with black cherry, floral orange zest, grilled fennel and pepper flavors that build tension toward medium-grained mineral-tinged tannins. Best from 2022 through 2030.
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.”
Today it is an integral part of the greater Santa Barbara County wine region, but at one time the village, Los Olivos, was a stop on the Wells Fargo stagecoach line.