I’m curious as there’s such a huge a range of expressions of Syrah, from sumptuous Sonoma examples to super interesting juice coming out of Eastern Europe. What are some standouts for you?
Anything coming out of Santa Barbara County.
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Cabot
Cabot
Cayuse
Lagier Meredith
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Checking my notes, I seem to drink a lot of syrah from the Rhone and Australia.
Horsepower
Cayuse
Reynvaan
K Vintners
Arcadian (but they’re gone and I’m down to a couple bottles)
Scherrer
Sine Qua Non
Dehlinger
Carlisle
Saxum (blends)
Colgin - their syrah is my favorite bottling of theirs, but it still isn’t worth the price
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Holus Bolus makes some fantastic Syrahs from the Santa Rita Hills. Deeply savory wines.
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Got booted off the list probably for a post on this board but it would be hard not to add Alban to this list.
Andremily - gotta add this one.
Saxum for sure as well.
A guy named Mike Officer made some excellent syrahs as well.
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Tensley Colson Cyn
Andrew Murray’s co-ferments
Alban Reva, Seymour etc
Various Whitcraft and Drew offerings
Various Ojai Vineyard offerings
Melville Donna’s
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Cayuse, Kobayashi and the occasional Reynvaan pick-up.
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Rattlesnake Rock from Big Basin
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Alban Vineyards consistently makes incredible wines that for some reason remain under the radar. From the entry wine (Patrina $50) to Reva ($100) and then the tiny allocated ones (Seymour $200), every wine hits. I’d had them aged 20yrs and they hold up great too. My sweet spot is around 10-15 years of age. Worth getting on the list for John Alban’s semi-annual letter alone.
Sign up and tell John, that Peter sent you
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I think people would be surprised the number of wineries who monitor this forum…
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Checking CT, aside from France/Australia/US I’ve had syrah from 3 countries:
South Africa - a 2013 syrah (5 bottles apparently) from a small producer called Black Elephant we visited once in Franschhoek and really enjoyed
Jordan - The 2010 Zumot Shiraz Saint George, two bottles while in country and one we brought back from the trip. No big recollection of this, but if we liked it enough to bring it home (especially at its ~$11 price), we clearly got some enjoyment out of it
Croatia - 2010 Benkovac Syrah Korlat - Drank in November 2017 (which implies I purchased it in Systembolaget), no note but an 84 point rating, so presumably very uninspiring
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I don’t even remember what I said about them. I had a shipping snafu where autofill put in the wrong addy and I had to rescue the shipment at UPS’ warehouse.
Not to be overlooked are the excellent Bedrock Syrahs as well.
Tom
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I am always disappointed in the lack of South African wines that make it too the states. I’ve had some awesome Syrahs from Stellenbosch and other areas
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Kobayashi for sure
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Memorable ones:
Copain Halcon
Bien Nacido X or Z Block; various producers including Qupe
Different Zaca Mesa bottlings including Black Bear
Stereophonic Autre Fin (Sebastiano Vineyard)
Les Cretes La Tour Valle d’Aosta
Went to a Macchiole tasting & Scrio was very nice
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Pax.
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I don’t think it gets much better than Rhys Horseshoe Vineyard Syrah.
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