Winemaker Notes
This Syrah is truly a wine of place and the character of this wine is dictated by the cooler climate of the Los Carneros growing region. The cooler weather helps the Syrah to fully develop ripe fruit character while retaining freshness and incredible spice. The nose on the 2019 PlumpJack Syrah opens up with a range of fresh berries – blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, and cranberry. Just behind the fruit is beautiful warming spice – cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg – along with black and white peppercorn. There are additional layers of more earthy notes – damp soil, crushed granite, and cured tobacco. The palate is full-bodied, with a round, silky texture that is beautifully framed by firm yet supple tannin. This is a beautiful and complex wine.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is flat-out gorgeous, and I’d put this up with the best in the vintage. Full-bodied, deep, layered, and plush, with an incredibly sexy, layered style, it offers up a crazily complex bouquet of red and black fruits, iron, flowers, and olive tapenade. The tannins are completely integrated, it’s flawlessly balanced, and drinking so well today it’s impossible to resist.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and alluring yet well-built, with polished black raspberry, garrigue, espresso and black pepper flavors that build tension toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made from 100% Syrah, the 2019 Syrah has a deep garnet-purple color and a lifted perfume of roses and Morello cherries over a core of baked plums and cracked black pepper with a hint of charcuterie. Full-bodied, the palate delivers a solid frame of rounded tannins with just enough freshness and a long, peppery finish.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.