Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This bottling is the winery's most expensive wine, and usually its best. Production of the '08 was unusually low, resulting in amazing concentration. It's basically a detonation of cherries, raspberries, currants, cola and mocha. New oak is present, in the form of delicate toast and wood spice, but is balanced. So silky and delicious now, you can drink it, but the tannic balance suggests the cellar. Will evolve over the next 12 years, maybe longer. Cellar Selection.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A gorgeous bottle of wine, the 2008 Syrah Bien Nacido X Block 30th Anniversary was made with 100% whole cluster and aged roughly 20 months in 60% new French oak. Deep and layered, with meaty, masculine aromas and flavors of blackberry, coffee bean, smoked meats and olive tapenade, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, big tannin and integrated acidity. Give it 2-3 years and enjoy through 2026. Drink 2015-2026. Rating: 93+
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.