Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The largest production cuvee, the 2013 Syrah Estate is a terrific value that has loads to love. Medium-bodied, fresh and elegant, with notable yet fine tannin, it gives up pretty notes of blackberry, ground pepper, chalky minerality and smoked meats. Buy it by the case and drink it over the coming 4-5 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Boisterous fruit shows on the nose of this wine from the heart of the newish appellation, presented in a specially made Ballard Canyon bottle. Olallieberry jam gains nuance from pulverized purple flowers. The palate begins with straightforward purple fruits then evolves into potpourri, incense and dried berries.
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.