Winery's Tasting Notes: "First, we need to talk for a minute about how great the Syrah grape is, especially when sourced from cooler-climate sites, even more so when said sites are well chosen, planted to excellent clones and meticulously tended. Cheap, bottom-shelf Syrah likely blew it for a lot of you, and syrupy, high-end Syrah may well have ruined it for many more of you. Understood.
"But here’s the thing: Great Syrah is freakin’ great wine! Everyone rightfully talks about how site-specific pinot noir is; well guess what? Syrah is totally the same in this regard. Case in point: Las Madres Vineyard. You saw this coming, didn’t you? Las Madres is cool climate, planted to excellent, characterful clones and farmed with pride. Roughly 12 wineries buy their grapes and bottle their own versions. Sit down and taste them side by side and this vineyard’s personality shines through in every wine.
"We ferment ours on the skins and stems with a bit of Viognier for killer aromatics and silky texture, leave it on the skins post fermentation for more supple tannins, and raise it in older used oak to preserve that wonderful Las Madres black olive/black fruit/pepper character. Man is it good, and the stellar 2016 vintage shines bright like the superstar that it is. There’s so much going on in the glass, it’s hard to convey in words. We always love an underdog, so let’s all raise a glass to great Syrah!"
"But here’s the thing: Great Syrah is freakin’ great wine! Everyone rightfully talks about how site-specific pinot noir is; well guess what? Syrah is totally the same in this regard. Case in point: Las Madres Vineyard. You saw this coming, didn’t you? Las Madres is cool climate, planted to excellent, characterful clones and farmed with pride. Roughly 12 wineries buy their grapes and bottle their own versions. Sit down and taste them side by side and this vineyard’s personality shines through in every wine.
"We ferment ours on the skins and stems with a bit of Viognier for killer aromatics and silky texture, leave it on the skins post fermentation for more supple tannins, and raise it in older used oak to preserve that wonderful Las Madres black olive/black fruit/pepper character. Man is it good, and the stellar 2016 vintage shines bright like the superstar that it is. There’s so much going on in the glass, it’s hard to convey in words. We always love an underdog, so let’s all raise a glass to great Syrah!"