2018 Roar Rosella's Syrah, Santa Lucia Highlands

The 2018 Syrah Rosella's Vineyard was aged 16 months in 30% new French oak. It has a deep ruby-purple color and cassis fruit with notes of crushed peppercorns, mint leaves and bitter chocolate. The full-bodied palate is concentrated and ripe but light on its feet with great freshness and lift and a long finish. It's drinking well now but should age well in bottle over the next 10+ years.

There are a tiny 12 cases of the 2018 Syrah Rosella's Vineyard, which comes from a mix of the Alan and Bien Nacido clones and was brought up in just 30% new French oak. This cooler site has produced a peppery, spicy Syrah with lots of white pepper, cured meats, spring flowers, and graphite-like aromatics. These carry to a medium-bodied, elegant Syrah that's still tight and relatively closed on the palate, yet it shows beautiful purity and elegance. Give bottles 2-3 years and it's going to evolve for a solid decade. It tastes like a Côte Rôtie made in California.

Opaque, bright-rimmed ruby. Powerful, spice-accented aromas of fresh black and blue fruits, candied violet, olive and licorice, along with an exotic spice nuance that builds steadily in the glass. Sweet, palate-staining cassis, boysenberry, salty olive and star anise flavors become livelier with air. Impressively concentrated but vibrant as well, thanks to a core of smoky minerality. Finishes sappy, seamless and impressively long, with slowly building tannins and repeating florality.

En smule tilbageholdende næse. Sort peber og både hindbær og brombær vinder frem, ligesom vanilje sætter sit præg. Silkeblød, cremet tekstur med højintens koncentration. En fyldig sag med modne, fine tanniner og en herlig friskhed. Flot balanceret vin.