#8 Syrah 2019

The 2019 No. 8 is a blend of 88% Syrah, 9% Mourvèdre and 3% Viognier, made with 45% whole clusters. Fruit comes from several vineyards including White Hawk, Larner, Harrison-Clarke and Alta Mesa. It was matured for 22 months in 65% new French barriques and 35% used barriques. Opaque ruby-purple in color, it is bursting with pure scents of blueberry liqueur, black cherry jam, aniseed, coffee beans and soaring violet perfume. The full-bodied palate is powerful, with a firm frame of rounded tannins, gentle bursts of fresh acidity and a very long, very fragrant finish. This structured yet elegant Syrah offers loads of latent accents that hint at further development in bottle, and this will be very long-lived in the cellar. 840 cases and a few magnums were made. It will be sold as part of a three-bottle box set ($330), and magnums will be sold as part of a box set with the 2019 Andremily Mourvèdre. (EB, 5/22)