Winemaker Notes
The 2014 Syrah is loaded with sensuous aromas of blackberry, licorice and smoky cedar. Soft and lush on the palate, the well-balanced tannins give way to mouthfuls of red raspberry, blueberry and just a hint of vanilla that winds its way across the palate and lingers on a long, graceful finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2014 Baby Bear Syrah is 100% Syrah that spent 32 months in 60% new French oak. It has plenty of creamy oak as well as rich, beautifully pure notes of crème de cassis, crushed flowers, spice, and vanilla bean. With a full-bodied, rich, beautifully concentrated style on the palate, it's certainly modern, yet just sings with its purity and elegance.
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Wine Spectator
Polished and refined, showing a lively, savory side, with expressive blueberry and boysenberry flavors accented by smoky anise and cracked pepper notes that finish with fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2024.
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Wine Enthusiast
Barrel aromas are at the fore, with notes of vanilla, coconut shavings and baking spice in front of cherry. The flavors bring a sense of richness, with barrel notes speckled throughout. Coconut flavors linger on the finish. It's a very stylistic interpretation of the variety.
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 large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.