2022 SYRAH WATCH HILL VINEYARD

I am so glad that we chose to craft a single vineyard Syrah from this esteemed vineyard over a decade and a half ago. This is among my top 2 favorite vineyards to harvest Syrah from each vintage. Critics have been praising this wine since our first Watch Hill bottling. More importantly, you all have really seemed to appreciate this wine as it always sells out every year. Each vintage, we co-ferment up to 6% Viognier and employ up to 25% whole cluster fermentation. We ferment the wine in small open top tanks and then age the various lots for 18 months in French oak barrels (33% new). This yields an impossibly dark (nearly black) color, with neon tinges at the rim, pointing at the cool climate origins. Right now, the wine has notes of blue and black fruits, cherry cola, cranberry, French Oak, vanilla, blueberry pie, white pepper, purple flowers, charred bacon. The ideal drinking window for this Syrah is 5 - 15 years from release. The 2022 Vintage is an extremely classy and layered Watch Hill Vineyard Syrah.  The wine is ripe, but extremely poised, polished, and balanced with a moderate tannins that persist long after you swallow the wine. I just cannot wait to see where this beauty goes in the future. It truly feels like there is a long life ahead, so do not be afraid to lose this in the cellar for a while...

"The 2022 Syrah Watch Hill Vineyard (95% Syrah and 5% Viognier, 15% stems) is a touch more piercing, with vibrant blue fruits (blueberries, plums), ground black pepper, violets, and scorched earth-like aromas and flavors. It too is medium to full-bodied, has a concentrated mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and beautiful overall length. If the Roasted Slope is more Côte Rôtie, this is more Hermitage with its more structured style. Both are sensational wines."  95 Points Jeb Dunnuck