Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Syrah Foothills Reserve wafts up with a darkly alluring blend of salt-cured meat with black olive, white pepper and grilled sage. This opens with a pretty inner sweetness, quickly contrasted by a salty wave of tart wild berry fruits, further elevated by hints of sour citrus. The mouth is left watering for more as the 2020 tapers off savory and lightly structured. The Syrah Foothills Reserve comes across as classic in every possible way.
Rating:96+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
Awesome aromatics of ripe red and black berries, smoked meats, spring flowers, iron, and bacon fat all emerge from the 2020 Syrah Foothills Reserve, a medium to full-bodied, concentrated Syrah with plenty of mid-palate density, a layered, mouth-coating texture, ripe tannins, and outstanding length. This intense, complex, incredibly impressive Syrah reminds me of a great Côte Rôtie from the likes of Jamet and Levet. Drink bottles over the coming 10-15 years.
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James Suckling
Blackberries, black olives, hoisin and peppered steak on the nose. Some spearmint and bitter chocolate, too. It’s full-bodied with well-integrated tannins. Dark and inky, with a peppery, smoky and meaty finish. Expressive and solid syrah. Unfiltered and unfined.
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Wine Spectator
Opens with garrigue and cured meat aromas, segueing to sleek huckleberry and cherry flavors that slowly reveal brooding structure at the core. Builds toward broad-shouldered tannins. Drink now through 2032.
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.”
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.