Best Syrah Worth Seeking Out (for the money)

IntoWine asked our panel of experts to share their recommendations for the best syrah for the money:

Syrah seems to be ubiquitous these days but in fact it’s still an uphill battle for this grape to get the recognition it deserves. If syrah is new to you, the Liberty School Syrah ($14) is a great place to start. With plenty of blackberry, plum and boysenberry fruit and an appropriate oak and acid balance, this syrah avoids being a fat fruity wine with no finesse. Instead it’s surprisingly mature with soft tannins. I drank this with Cajun spiced quail and the beauty of this wine is that it can pair with so many foods. I wonderful go-to syrah and a terrific price point. - Michael Cervin, Wine Judge, Restaurant Critic, and IntoWine Featured Writer

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The best Syrah for the money is, in my opinion, the best Syrah made in California and that is the Saxum Bone Rock from the James Berry Vineyard in Paso Robles. Unfortunately, this is usually only available from their mailing list (sign up) or by paying exorbitant pricing on the secondary market. Yet, if you can, try a bottle. It currently costs about $75. It is a beautiful expression of Syrah with black raspberry fruit, grilled meat scents and bacon fat. Every time I have served this wine it has been the best wine served that evening. Really worth trying to track down a bottle. - Loren Sonkin, IntoWine.com Featured Contributor and the Founder/Winemaker at Sonkin Cellars.

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Owen Roe "Ex-Umbris" Columbia Valley Syrah - The first vintage of this wine I experienced smelled like crisp rosemary grilling on the fat of lamb shanks. Extreme fires in 2005 amongst the vineyards of the Columbia Valley created a very abnormal Syrah for Owen Roe. I was warned but I was a tourist at the time and liked the bottle. Smoke taint in the vineyards often baffles grape growers, viticulturists and winemakers. Sometimes completely detectable in the vineyard, often arising during crush when the smell of ash overcomes must but nearly always surfacing as a vile and vintage damaging catastrophe. By the time I uncorked the 2005 vintage nearly 2 years later, I sat nearly speechless contemplating what I believed was a grilled smorgasbord of meat and herbs. Yet the palate offered spicy bing cherries and fresh blackberry. The finish was long and vivid with hints of dark chocolate. The 2007 lacks the fire elements but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And for $20 dollars you’ll have plenty of money left to buy firewood. - Michael Whitehead, IntoWine Featured Writer

Rhone Valley & Spanish Rhone-style Wines Tasted at the 2008 Hospice du Rhone Events

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. Last month we reported on American Rhone-style wines we tasted at the 16th annual Hospice du Rhone events in Paso Robles, California from May 1 to 3, 2008. We noted that this event was an opportunity to consider Rhone-style wines from a fresh perspective because, unlike most tasting opportunities, these events included Rhone-style wines from the Rhone Valley itself (51 wineries), elsewhere in France (4 wineries) as well as from Spain (4 wineries), Australia (17 wineries), South Africa (6 wineries), Chile (2 wineries), Argentina (1 winery) and the United States. While this was a California-dominated event, and while many of the Rhone Valley’s best producers weren’t represented, there was still sufficient European and other entries to make for interesting comparisons and contrasts.

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2008 Hospice du Rhone Events: Highs & Lows of American Rhone-style Wines Tasted

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. The 16th annual Hospice du Rhone events in Paso Robles, California from May 1 to 3, 2008 was an opportunity to consider Rhone-style wines from a fresh perspective. Unlike most tasting opportunities, these events included Rhone-style wines from the Rhone Valley itself (51 wineries), elsewhere in France (4 wineries) as well as from Spain (4 wineries), Australia (17 wineries), South Africa (6 wineries), Chile (2 wineries), Argentina (1 winery) and the United States. The American wines were mostly from California (144 wineries), but a few examples from Arizona (2 wineries) and Washington State (5 wineries) were also included. While this is a California-dominated event, and while many of the Rhone Valley’s best producers aren’t represented, there is still sufficient European and other entries to make for interesting comparisons and contrasts. The events included two general tastings and a series of focused seminars.

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America’s Best Rhone Style Red Wines: 11th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting Reviewed

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. Last month we discussed the white Rhone style wines offered at the 2008 Rhone Rangers tasting event at Fort Mason in San Francisco on March 18. This month we turn to the reds, of which we tasted 50. Among those we tasted were some old favorites and some wineries or bottlings with which we were not yet familiar. We don’t pretend that we tasted a representative group of wines, because our sample was skewed to wines we have loved in the past and others about which we have heard positive comments.

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Top Ten California Syrahs - 2016

I tend to taste and drink a lot of wine over the course of a year. I am in a few tasting groups, sometimes the wines are consumed at various local wine store tastings and a number drunk with friends and family.

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Northern Rhone Red: The Original Syrah

It’s summer, which means that for three months we say goodbye to rich, heavy red wines and welcome into our repertoire zippy whites and crisp roses to sip on the porch while soaking in the sun. That’s what most of the country does, at least. But not here. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, whose summer comes in the fall and spring, whose spring comes in the winter, and whose winter comes in the summer (and whose fall never comes).

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Best Syrah Worth Seeking Out (for the money)

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Rhone Valley & Spanish Rhone-style Wines Tasted at the 2008 Hospice du Rhone Events

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America’s Best Rhone Style Red Wines: 11th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting Reviewed

Top Ten California Syrahs - 2016

Northern Rhone Red: The Original Syrah