Edmunds St. John North Canyon Road Syrah, 2015

The color is dark blue-red, typical for Syrah. Nose is fresh, and really savory; there’s some smoke, and a bit of the iron (from Barsotti), lovely floral and spicy notes from the Fenaughty portion (and greater precision as well). On the palate, flavors are similarly precise, structure is both firm and wonderfully elegant, tannins juicy and fine, gorgeous texture. Finish is quite long and simultaneously refreshing. Likely to develop for at least a few decades. As fine a Syrah as we’ve ever bottled.

When we began to work with Syrah from the Barsotti Ranch, it was my hope that the expression of Syrah from granite might provide a complement and counterpoint to the Syrah fruit grown at Fenaughty Ranch, a couple miles to the west, where the soil is a clay-loam, of volcanic origin. Fenaughty has always had a distinct personality that seemed to lean in the direction of perfume, and tenderness, at times maybe a little on the blowsy side. Just to get a clearer picture of what Barsotti might bring to the equation, I bottled an all-Barsotti Syrah from 2014, and was struck by its firmness, its mineral core, by what seemed its deep structural ferocity.