What a great bottle. This is the kind of CA syrah I keep in the cellar, to help add contrast to say the Wind Gap syrahs I love so much, even the Allemand. I find that I still need spectrum of styles, yet this is not out of bounds nor too much to enjoy. Yes, it’s dark, stuffed well but there is lots of terrific structure, intenstiy, color and satisfaction here, it’s why I drink the wines of Lucia and Novy, the SLH wines coming off the bench there. To Jeff and Mark, great job.
2012 Lucia Syrah Susan’s Hill- USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (12/3/2014)
This has been open about 3 hours. It needs that level of air, as there is stuffing here. As expected, inky and staining in the glass, really dark. Low oak signature, mainly seen through a note of char, some light vanilla but the fruit and stuffing in this vintage really blankets whatever amount of new oak Jeff put on the wine. As with the color, I would expect some stems/whole cluster, and there is some black olive that appears, although less than say the earlier vintages that Jeff has made. Some purple flower, dark, minerally fruit, charcoal and tar. There is a lot of youth here and the wine can use another day of air or a few years of softening time, yet, don’t mistake my comment: I really like this wine, it’s got a long runway ahead of it. I’ll need to source more and lay a few down, then drink over the next 5-7 years. Much like say the darker and structured versions of Copain James Berry, this is like those wines. Strong.
Some beautiful wines. Well made. But for the sake of everything that is holy, please don’t open the Saxum. It’s way too young. let that rest for at least four years. I have found that they really come together around years 6-7.
I called the Pisoni family around 9am EST expecting to leave a message on the company voicemail to request an apt. To my surprise someone answered and when I said I was surprised he simply responded “we’re farmers, we get up early”. Even though it didnt work out to arrange an apt he spent 20 mins giving me recommendations for other wineries and restaurants in the area. They put out some great wines and seem like good people.
