This is the first bottling from the new SLH vineyard. I’ll have to ask Adam or Mike O to plot the site but I believe it is south of Rosella’s, which puts in closer to Monterey than the other SLH vineyards like Garys’, Rosella’s, Pisoni, Susan’s Hill, etc. I have yet to taste Mike O’s version under Carlisle but as for Adam’s version below, which I worked through over the past couple nights, it is very good. I have a soft spot for SLH syrah, and I buy it consistently year after year. The wine below, at least in my impression, is more like the Susan’s Hill than Rosella’s, which I find odd as it sits close to the former. However, the way the wine sets up, the flavor profile, it’s more Susan’s in feel. What I enjoyed is the brighter streak I mention in the wine that comes through. Really nice and understanding this is a 2010, like the Copain Baker Ranch some us worked through this week, lots more time for the wine to settle, and in the instance of this Novy, that settling will I think advance the wine even further. Very good and and easy add to my Novy annual purchases when released.
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2010 Novy Family Wines Syrah Sierra Mar Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (3/16/2012)
This is an early look into this wine, a new SLH vineyard for Novy. This reminds me more of Susan’s Hill, of that SLH reference, as opposed to the Garys’ and Rosella’s. Listed alcohol 14.1%. Exhibits a dark color, nearly opaque. Aromatics are quite floral, some funk and brown spice from what I guess is some new oak. A generous, tarry palate of dark fruit, creosote, baking spice and licorice. Has a good stroke of opulence. This ranges into the dark and heady flavors I like about syrah in this spectrum. A day later, drinking at room temp, a note of metal shaving/graphite comes through the aromatic. The core of the wine is brighter too, with a nice note of blue fruit-like acidity coming through, along with that same licorice note. This is really very nice, and through the youth of the fruit and some of the remaining new oak, a really nice wine is starting to unfold. in fact, with the acidity I mention, there is a lean attribute in the wine’s finish that is quite nice, as it joins with the same acidity. Funny, I finished yesterday the 2010 Copain Baker Ranch syrah, and this is a bit of spectrum distance from that wine, but I like them both, which is the diversity of syrah that appeals to me, as well as my ongoing appreciation of what Adam does with SLH fruit. I buy all of the SLH cuvees that Adam makes every year, this one will be an add to that mix going forward.
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