Wine & Spirits - February 2021 - 35

Year's Best US Syrah & Rhône Varieties
that feels deep and dark. And yet the acidtannin structure shores up the wine with
remarkable grace and precision, so that it
still manages to be one of the raciest syrahs
in the Central Coast. -P.J.C. (W&S 10/20;
800 cases) §
521381

94 | Melville

$38

2018 Sta. Rita Hills Estate Syrah ^ This
radiates coolness in its scents of smoke and
pine needles, lavender and clove. The flavors
are rich blackberry compote, but the wine
has the acidity needed to deliver a precise
finish. -P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 2,948 cases) §
522316

93 | Samsara

$38

2018 Santa Barbara County Syrah ^ This
is the sum of compelling parts from both
warm and cool vineyard sites like Zotovich
and John Sebastiano in the Sta. Rita Hills,
and Colson Canyon in Santa Maria. Matt
Brady blended that fruit into a complex wine
combining savory notes of clove and licorice
with dark, tense fruit elements of blueberry
and carob. Over the course of three days the
wine truly blossomed, starting out brooding
and turned in on itself, becoming tactile and
fine-grained, relaxed and composed, ideal for
a lamb feast. -P.J.C. §
522031

92 | Bien Nacido
& Solomon Hills

$100

2018 Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido
Estate Reserve The XO Syrah ^ This reserve
tastes like a reserve: The fruit feels coddled,
with luxurious scents of cassis and black
plum. It's plush and sweet, while exotic
savory aromatics lend complexity-scents
of sea wrack, smoke, clove, flower petal and
dark perfume all woven together. All those
flavors should gain harmony with cellar time.
Age it and you'll have an impressive red for
bacon-wrapped tenderloin. -P.J.C. §
521339

92 | Chanin

$50

2018 Santa Barbara County Schock
Family Vineyard Syrah ^ Schock Family
Vineyard is just east of the Sta. Rita Hills
AVA, putting it on the warmer side of cool.
In 2018, it produced a smoky wine burled up
like morning fog. With air, the wine starts to
open, offering lean blackberry and currant
flavors framed in dusty fine-grit tannins.
Ideal for barbecued ribs. -P.J.C. (W&S
10/20; 100 cases) §
522040

92 | Foxen

$56

2017 Santa Maria Valley Old-Vines DryFarmed Tinaquiac Vineyard Syrah ^ Exotic
and lively at once, this wine is derived
from dry-farmed vines planted at Foxen's

home vineyard in 1989. It's seductive from
the outset with plum and black-cherry
scents lined with an alluring smoky-herb
component. The flavors are concentrated,
fleshy and deep, with an olive-skin savor that
suggests lamb as a pairing. -P.J.C. §
522172

92 | Montemar

$40

2015 Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara
McGinley Vineyard Syrah (Best Buy) ^
Despite the warmth of Happy Canyon's
growing season, this wine feels cool, sprightly
and lean with lively floral scents of violet and
lavender. Its flavors of purple berries feel like
a dark-blue beam of light, while fine, bottleaged tannins render the wine elegant and
composed. -P.J.C. §
521444

92 | Piedrasassi

$26

91 | Beckmen

$68

2018 Santa Barbara County P.S. Syrah
(Best Buy) ^ All black pepper, olive and
smoked meats when first poured, this wine
is wildly expressive and relentlessly savory. A
modest core of fig and currant flavor keeps all
the savor on point, finishing firm and spicy,
ready for thin-sliced Ibérico ham. -P.J.C.
(W&S 10/20) §
519306
2017 Ballard Canyon Block Six Purisima
Mountain Vineyard Syrah ^ With a woolly
scent, this is meaty and tarry, with seductively
fine tannins and the bloody intensity for lamb
shoulder. (W&S 4/20; 375 cases) -P.J.C. §
522039

91 | Foxen

$50

2017 Santa Maria Valley Tinaquiac
Vineyard Syrah ^ Composed mostly from a
newer planting at Tinaquiac, vines planted
in 2008, this wine is slightly more precocious
than its old-vine counterpart (reviewed in this
issue), with dark-plum and bay-laurel scents
intermingling, and forward, vibrant, juicy
red fruit flavors. Succulent and satisfying,
for sous-vide pork tenderloin finished on
the grill. -P.J.C. §
522189

91 | Samsara

$75

2017 Santa Barbara County OM Syrah ^
Samsara's top wine feels like it's far from
peak expression. It's a reticent, tightly
coiled, cool-weather syrah fruit housed in
a compact frame and it will take some time
to unpack. An Earl Grey spice from wholecluster fermentation overlays scents of tar
and leather; the palate delivers dark, spiced
mulberry fruit, hints of ash and sweet oak,
all compelling but in need of integration. For
the cellar. -P.J.C. §

91 | Zaca Mesa

$54

2016 Santa Ynez Valley Mesa Reserve
Syrah ^ Blended from young estate blocks,
this wine is redolent of chocolate and fig.
The flavors are dark and brooding, reflecting
the heat of the mesa where this vineyard is
situated. Broad and fully padded, like a
linebacker in a tutu, this wine has substantial
tannins that feel fine-grained and on point;
for tri-tip. -P.J.C. §

522298

91 | Zaca Mesa

$48

90 | Beckmen

$65

90 | Foxen

$48

2017 Santa Ynez Valley Chapel G Syrah ^
From a high-density block planted in 2008,
this wine gets warm-climate syrah right,
reveling in dark fruit and spice scents like
carob, fig, olive and clove. The flavors are
savory, but wine is really a study in texture,
warm spice and silky, dusty tannins-an
enveloping texture for barbecue. -P.J.C. §
519303
2017 Ballard Canyon Clone #1 Purisima
Mountain Vineyard Syrah ^ As dark as a
Moroccan olive, this wine has a fig-jam
richness to go along with its light-bending
color and persistent tannins. It's ideal for
something charry off the barbecue, like lamb
chops. (W&S 4/20; 383 cases) -P.J.C. §
522038
2017 Los Olivos District Williamson-Doré
Vineyard Syrah ^ Scents of mulberry and five
spice give an impression of mulled juice at
first. The flavors seem muted, but still convey
plummy intensity, the texture elegant, with

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2021

35
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Wine & Spirits - February 2021

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