Winemaker Notes
This Rhone-style blend has a garnet color, highlighted with purple edges. Blackberry, white pepper, graphite, and hints of smoked meat jump out of the glass. The wine is medium-full bodied with fine grained tannins, offering a mouthful of crème de violette and black fruit.
Its weight and balance make it a perfect pairing with anything off the grill.
Blend: 94% Syrah, 3% Grenache, 3% Tempranillo
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Deep, lush garnet color with rich fruit nose; silky, lush and juicy with blackberry fruit and toasty oak; spice and good balance; if every Syrah was made with such finesse and style, it would be the most popular varietal.
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Wine Enthusiast
Lively aromas of black raspberry jam on French toast, dark hibiscus, tar and lavender show on the cool-climate nose of this bottling, which includes 3% each of Grenache and Tempranillo. The palate is vibrant with flavors of pepper, lavender and lilac, set against the richer black-raspberry and black-plum backdrop.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from the Santa Lucia Highlands and a long, cool growing season, the 2018 Syrah G17 has a Saint-Joseph-like bouquet of blackberries, peppery herbs, game, and bacon fat. Nicely textured, medium-bodied, and downright juicy, it’s a classic cool-climate Syrah with good acidity, a kiss of California fruit, and a great finish. It’s beautifully done, and I suspect a solid value. Drink it over the coming 4-5 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.”
A geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.