Alturas Yorkville Highlands Syrah

Phenomenal.

Brutal. Better than most. #syrah #coolclimatesyrah #coolclimate #mendocino #mendocinowine #california

Certainly a big boy, this wine is fruit forward but plenty of structure. Best thing though was as a pairing to an overdue catch-up.

Always good. It has what I look for in Syrah -- complexity, meatiness, dark fruit but not at the expense of the other elements.

Whole cluster Cote-Rotie comes to Cali.
With some air, this big beast smooths out.
N: Black plums, Charcoal, hummus, smoke, roses and cherries.
P: Dark fruits, charcoal, tar, balanced acidity, fills your mouth.
Only 13.2°
A keeper.
thanks @Firstbottlewines

If you like Northern Rhône, I dare you to find me a California Syrah that you’d like better. This is a sun-kissed version of a good Côte-Rotie - take out some of the rusticity and replace it with fruit, and you ha e this mineral driven wine with a mouthful of flowers, white pepper and violet. A little bacon and meat and olive are missing, to my tastes, and these are somewhat more present in the Alturas bottling. But this is on the elegant side. Good long term upside here.

Beautiful wine, bugger than you would expect. Bright berries, grippy tannin.

Whole cluster barrel sample.

Smooth elegant and lovely. Archetype of cool(er) climate Syrah. Insane QPR. One winery to watch.

May need to rate this again after 30 minutes... Dark plum, raspberry, savory, white pepper, rock dust & just a little floral (white)... Finish is long & tangy, like goji berry tea; it's still opening