Winemaker Notes
This reserve blend is created from a selection of barrels that represent the bolder style of Syrah. Abundant with aromas of boysenberry, blueberry, and hints of cinnamon, its dense fruit characteristics are complimented by complex flavors of anise, vanilla and dark chocolate.
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
12% Petite Sirah. The more obvious and forthright of the two Rusack Syrahs and a wine of considerable up-front appeal, this plump and moderately juicy effort exhibits a good deal of polish and fine composition. It is full-bodied and edges to slight fruity succulence in its mix of blackberries, pepper and creamy oak, and it is nicely balanced with temperate tannins affording it a proper bit of structural spine. It is, all in all, a well-crafted Syrah that does not require protracted aging and, if sure to improve for three or four years, it will make a tasty companion to steak, chops and roasts in the relative near term.
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Wine Spectator
Composed of 88% Syrah and 12% Petite Sirah, the 2015 Syrah has a deep garnet-purple color and youthfully shy nose of black cherries and red currants with touches of cracked black pepper, black soil, garrigue and Provence herbs. Medium-bodied with a very firm, chewy texture, it gives a good amount of peppery and spice-inspired flavors and a long, lively finish.
Rating: 90+
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.