Winemaker Notes
The 2018 vintage is comprised of 80% Cole Creek Vineyard and 20% Rodgers Creek Vineyard. This Syrah is grown in the cool climate of the Sonoma Coast which offers a style reminiscent of the Northern Rhone regions of Hermitage and Cornas, with aromas and flavors of smoked meat, white pepper, green olive and grapefruit, coupled with a silky texture and savory flavor.
Blend: 92% Syrah and 8% Viognier
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This is an outstanding vintage of this wine: sinewy and seductive in black pepper, garrigue and brooding black fruit. Made from grapes grown at both Cole Creek Vineyard and Rodgers Creek, it is sublime in texture and complex in structure, with lasting layers of smoked meat, citrus and olive.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Syrah Sonoma Coast, containing 8% Viognier, is fresh and fragrant. Medium ruby-purple in color, it's scented of red and black currants, bacon fat, white pepper, lilac and bitter chocolate. The palate is medium-bodied with loads of powdery tannins and concentrated layers of fruit, with spice and floral accents that linger on the seamless finish.
-
Wine Spectator
A handsome red, polished and precise, with blackberry and currant flavors laced with crushed stone, smoky meat and black pepper. Finishes with refined tannins. Drink now
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.