Winemaker Notes
This 2020 Roll Ranch Syrah is a big and lusciously fruity Syrah, a product of the hot and sunny vintage. The terrific thing about this bottling is the way it melds very ripe fruit with layered aromatics and piercing freshness. The nose is heady with fruity scents of berry pie, black cherries and framboise. There’s also that particular woodsy-spicy base note from thoroughly lignified stems, while violet liqueur and mint bring lift out of the glass. The palate is similar—a bombast of dark stone fruits and berries, round for a moment, but too driven to stay there. Halfway through it reveals its mineral spine and more of that warm stemmy spice, then it finishes with trebly raspberry and earthy cocoa.
Blend: 98% Syrah, 2% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
The 2020 Syrah Roll Ranch Vineyard comes from a warmer site not far from Ojai, and while I'm not sure about the blend of the 2020, this cuvée can normally include a little bit of Viognier. Its deep ruby/purple hue leads to a more medium to full-bodied, rounded, plush profile that includes red plum and blue fruits, sweet, velvety tannins, classic notes of peppery herbs, violets, and orange blossom, and a great finish. It's another prodigious, incredibly impressive Syrah that readers will love to have in their cellars. It will evolve for at least 15 years.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Adam Tolmach's mastery of this ranch shows how well grapes can grow in the Ojai area. Enveloping aromas of açaí, boysenberry and lilac lead from the nose into a floral palate of lavender and violet flavors that stay fresh through the finish.
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.”
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.