Winemaker Notes
The Gibson Block is the heart of the McDowell Valley AVA. It is planted with some of the oldest Syrah and Grenache in California. This ancient, dry farmed mixed block next to the original Gibson Homestead has been producing grapes for over a hundred years. As a result of the vine age and miniscule yield, this wine is dark and intense. White flowers, dried orange peel, and a windswept garrigue of black tea, fig cake and Luxardo cherry floods the nose. A long wall of amaro-like texture fills the mouth, yet the feel is light and lively, and the finish is clean. Delicious with hearty fare now, and built to age.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Gibson Block Syrah comes from an incredible block of vines in McDowell Valley, planted more than 135 years ago. It's bursting with kaleidoscopic scents of wild berry preserves, Luxardo cherries and apricot plus touches of garrigue, potpourri, aniseed and game meats. The full-bodied palate is pleasantly rustic in style, its softly chewy tannins supporting concentrated fruit. It has plenty of refreshing acidity to balance and a tremendously spicy finish. Yum!
-
Vinous
The 2021 Gibson Block, old-vine Syrah and Grenache, is a heady, extroverted wine. Ripe dark-toned fruit, new leather, spice, dried herbs, gravel, incense and tobacco all saturate the palate. Readers will find a wine of textural intensity and stature to burn. Bright acids pull it all together on the finish to balance the wine's more extroverted qualities.
Starting with only a handful of purchased grapes in 1978, Marietta Cellars has been a standout winery in Sonoma and Mendocino since the very beginning. Founded by Chris Bilbro, a Sonoma County native with winemaking roots dating back three generations, Marietta rose to prominence with its revolutionary Old Vine Red, a California red blend that essentially created the category. The winery has slowly expanded its estate holdings over the past thirty years, evolving into a beacon for high quality, balanced Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Rhône variety blends. Now fully estate-based and organically farmed, Marietta has vineyards spanning 310 acres in the Alexander Valley, McDowell Valley, and Yorkville Highlands. Notable among their heritage plantings are California’s oldest Syrah blocks, planted in the late 1800s.
Scot Bilbro, Chris’s son, has brought Marietta into its next, incredibly exciting phase. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Viticulture and Enology in 2007, Scot joined the winery full-time, assuming the role of winemaker in 2012. Steeped in the history of the California wine country and the traditions established by his father, Scot combines his creativity and technical background in guiding the winery’s vision of viticulture and winemaking. Today, the fusion of traditional values and style with modern precision have culminated in the most highly regarded wines of Marietta’s four decade history.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
A continuous sloping bench land overlooking the Russian River, McDowell Valley reaches about 1,000 feet at its highest elevation. It is cooler than the surrounding, more northwestern areas of Mendocino County.