Winemaker Notes
Red Car Sonoma Coast Syrah offers notes of pepper, blackcurrant and leaf tobacco.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Syrah Estate Vineyard is a youthful bright purple color and is fruity and savory on the nose with notes of lavender, fresh blackberries, compact wild berries, pancetta, and fresh spices. It saw 25% whole cluster, followed by aging in 500-liter puncheons for two years on the lees before going to bottle. Full-bodied, it remains light on its feet, with a supple texture and refreshing acidity. It has a fruity feel, but it’s dry. It’s appealing to drink now but will only improve over the next several years. This is a darn tasty Syrah that I would snatch up.
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Vinous
The 2022 Syrah Estate Vineyard is a powerful wine. It shows good depth in a medium-bodied style. A touch of new oak and slightly angular tannins peek out, suggesting there may be some depth in the fruit that was not fully achieved in 2022. I would prefer to drink this on the earlier side.
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.