Castelli-Knight Ranch Syrah

Smoked meat!

(Guess I’m racking up some vintage reviews of this…) ‘14 in ‘23. white pepper, green pepper, black pepper, black berry, celery salt, black plums wet tobacco. Aging well.

Floral purple flowers and iron rich red meat. Yum!

Mixed pepper, mixed red and black fruit. Was tart to open and then evolved beautifully. This will age! Rated 2016 last night 2018 tonight (feb)... Update, (2nd bottle of 2018, now late may): Those tart aromatics are piercing, rose water, lavender. It’s an intense wine. Medium bodied with light tannins. Very little oak influence. I think the cranberry and subtle white pepper will age and this wine will be nice for a long time.

A year later, even better- beef blood, iron, brandied cherries, plum, Five spice, strawberry, green peppercorn, sunshine on a forest floor. Macerated.

Lavender, strawberry, beef tallow, pencil. Asian 5 spice. Very good!

Stunning New World Syrah. Super aromatic- loads of lavender and violets and a black pepper aroma so fresh that it might have come straight out of a grinder. Smoky and gamey components coming through with a copious amount of juicy black fruit on the mid palate. New oak influence adds a subtle layer of sweet baking spices. There’s a wonderful push-pull, yin-yang dynamic going on here. Masculine and elegant all at once. Already showing remarkable finesse, and will surely evolve into a wine one of impeccable balance.

You know it. I know it. We all know it. If you don't know it, Pax is the absolute master of Syrah, and this is his best. More peppercorn spice than I have ever seen on any wine. Let this guy breath for 5 hours. 2011 vintage is stellar.

Pax is max: yum

Savory, delicious even it's youth. Needed several hours to open up