2021 SYRAH WATCH HILL VINEYARD

As you all must know by now, this is perhaps my favorite Syrah vineyard and thus my favorite wine to release each year. 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 (25% 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 2021 Vintage Syrah Watch Hill Vineyard is a riper, more generous wine with rich balanced tannins that persist long after you swallow the wine. I just cannot wait to see where this beauty goes in the future...

"The 2021 Syrah Watch Hill Vineyard sees slightly less Viognier and is a co-fermented blend of 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier that’s all from a site in the Alisos Canyon. Fermented with 15% stems, it has more red and blue fruits as well as vibrant floral, cracked pepper, and underbrush notes in its medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated, pure, focused style. Its tannins are ripe and polished, and it has good yet integrated acidity as well as a great finish. It's a beautiful wine to enjoy any time over the coming decade."    95 Points   Jeb Dunnuck

"The 2021 Roasted Slope is incredibly polished and elegant. Silky and perfumed, with a gorgeous presence, the 2021 is impressive right out of the gate. Crushed flowers, mint, blood orange, red-toned fruit and rose petal are beautifully delineated in this vibrant, mid-weight Syrah. Give the tannins time to soften."    95 Points    Antonio Galloni for Vinous