Winemaker Notes
Aromas and flavors of smoked meat, white pepper, green olive and grapefruit, coupled with a silky texture and savory flavor.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another Côte Rôtie look-alike is the 2015 Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard, which is loaded with exotic notions of salted meat, ground pepper, spring flowers, and assorted red and black fruits. From a site in the cooler Petaluma Gap, this medium to full-bodied, concentrated Syrah has integrated acidity, fine tannins, and a beautiful finish.
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Wine Spectator
Tightly focused and brooding, yet expressive, with blueberry, bitter chocolate and smoky pepper flavors that build structure toward refined tannins.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.