Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The inky colored 2014 Syrah Ballard Canyon Reserve was completely destemmed, aged 16 months in 67% new French oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered. This beauty gives up terrific notes of blackberries, licorice, smoked herbs, meat and a kiss of graphite to go with a full-bodied, concentrated, beautifully pure profile on the palate. It’s a top notch Syrah that savvy readers should seek out.
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.”
Accounting for only ten percent of the greater Santa Ynez AVA, Ballard Canyon’s north-south orientation provides an ideal pattern of sunshine and martime fog for producing excellent Syrah. While Syrah is planted to half of the total AVA acreage, an additional third is dedicated to other Rhône varieties, red and white.