This is our wine so this review is biased. The wine was included in a blind tasting of Santa Barbara Syrahs with my tasting group. I suspected this was it but wasn't sure (it was narrowed down to two wines). It was quite a relief that this did not finish last and in fact, finished 4/10 with 1 first and 2 third place votes (I had it in 3rd). Blind - my thoughts are: Inky purple in color. The nose has black raspberries, coffee, white pepper and slight earthiness. On the palate, this has balanced but juicy acidity. Layers of black raspberries and earth with some meat/pepper notes. This is drinking very well now. Probably should drink these up in the next five to seven years. Once it had been revealed, i was pleased with the showing as it confirmed by (biased) thoughts on the wine at this point.
