Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
One of the gems is the 2014 Syrah Bien Nacido, and it has the classic minerality, tapenade, violets and pepper of both the vineyard, and high-quality Syrah. Medium-bodied, fresh, elegant and lively, it shows off vibrant acidity and stunning purity. It will keep for a decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard is youthfully promising, wafting from the glass with a youthfully reserved bouquet of dark berries, grilled meat, tapenade and cracked pepper. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, with excellent concentration and a lovely core of crunchy fruit, but framed by fine-grained, polished tannins that lend this wine a certain elegance. It's still very primary, so I'd expect this to be long lived.
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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.