Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from the Lewis and Phinny Hill vineyards, the deep ruby/purple-colored 2019 Syrah Baby Bear has pure blackberry and almost cassis-like fruits as well pepper, game, and leather nuances. I love its purity, it's medium-bodied, and it has a great mid-palate as well as ripe tannins. Drink this terrific Syrah over the coming decade.
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James Suckling
Deep nose of thyme, incense, smoked meat, lavender and blackberries. Savory and chewy with a full body, firm and ripe tannins, and excellent concentration. Delicious already, but better from 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Precise and handsomely structured, with expressive currant, grilled anise and smoked pepper flavors that gather tension and richness toward fine-grained tannins
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Syrah Baby Bear is a fresh, succulent wine with classic spicy, floral and earthy notes. It is layered and complex and keeps me coming back for more! Spicy roasted meats, black pepper, spiced plums, roasted coffee bean and mocha flavors evolve with time spent on the palate, lingering long and making me craving steaks and chops from the grill. The Syrah aged for 34 months in new puncheons. There's nothing baby about this baby bear.
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Wine Enthusiast
Goldilocks was an expert on balance, recognizing when everything is “just right.” She would have loved this Baby Bear. Aromas feature juicy blackberries, lemon zest, honey and bacon fat—just the bear necessities. Blackberry jam, dark chocolate, beeswax and lavender flavors are equally ursine optimal.
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.