Left Bend

Santa Cruz Mountains Syrah

9.110 ratings
9.62 pro ratings
Santa Cruz Mountains, San Francisco Bay, California, USA
Syrah
Lamb
Top Notes For
Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.1

Second of the two Left Bend reds sent over to us from Gary. Love the labels on these wines and the name of this vineyard, 'Vanumanutagi' which is a Samoan word meaning "Vale of the Singing Bird". Trust us this wine sings! Bright ruby red with purplish hues. Nose started off a little tight with just red cherries and a slight perfume, but as it opened up over the next few hours it developed some cinnamon, vanilla, baking spices and some light lead. Strong acidity on the palate, makes us this it is definitely packing a punch and can last. The strong acidity hides the alcohol well. Moderate tannins (6/10) and moderate body carried by the acidity. Strong attack of red fruits and cherries. As it had some time to breathe the palate developed some baking spices, slight caramel and herbs, all very subtle. Slightly drying finish from the acidity with a little wet rock feel. A ton of potential with this wine, we drank this on day one, two, three, four and it kept opening up and its body held together. With a few extra years this will definitely score a few more points. Drink now till 2026.

Second of the two Left Bend reds sent over to us from Gary. Love the labels on these wines and the name of this vineyard, 'Vanumanutagi' which is a Samoan word meaning "Vale of the Singing Bird". Trust us this wine sings! Bright ruby red with purplish hues. Nose started off a little tight with just red cherries and a slight perfume, but as it opened up over the next few hours it developed some cinnamon, vanilla, baking spices and some light lead. Strong acidity on the palate, makes us this it is definitely packing a punch and can last. The strong acidity hides the alcohol well. Moderate tannins (6/10) and moderate body carried by the acidity. Strong attack of red fruits and cherries. As it had some time to breathe the palate developed some baking spices, slight caramel and herbs, all very subtle. Slightly drying finish from the acidity with a little wet rock feel. A ton of potential with this wine, we drank this on day one, two, three, four and it kept opening up and its body held together. With a few extra years this will definitely score a few more points. Drink now till 2026.

1 person found it helpfulMay 5th, 2016
Richard Hanke

Great mouth feel, nice tannins

Great mouth feel, nice tannins

Dec 28th, 2013
Richard Hanke

My fav

My fav

Oct 20th, 2013
April Wang

Butter biscuits, dark cherries, cinnamon

Butter biscuits, dark cherries, cinnamon

Nov 1st, 2015
April Wang

Funky, all spices, cherry, prunes.

Funky, all spices, cherry, prunes.

Nov 1st, 2015
Satoshi Fukuroe

酸味があるけど普通

酸味があるけど普通

May 26th, 2015
Bryan Chiang

Bryan had this 9 years ago

Bryan had this 9 years ago

Aug 2nd, 2015
Catherina

Catherina had this 9 years ago

Catherina had this 9 years ago

Oct 31st, 2014
Randy Erickson

Randy had this 10 years ago

Randy had this 10 years ago

Apr 5th, 2014
Emily Listmann

Emily had this 10 years ago

Emily had this 10 years ago

Mar 26th, 2014