2019 Jaffurs Syrah, USA, California, Santa Barbara, Wine Review

My first time trying this vintage. One of my go to value wines every vintage. Ownership changed hands a few years back and they haven't missed a beat. Purple in color, opaque and bright. The nose is great with black raspberries, roasted meat, slight black olive and black pepper. Full bodied. On the palate, this has a great texture. Rich but with suppleness. Lots of black raspberry fruit over spice and slight earthiness. Medium tannins. This is obviously young but should drink well for the next seven to ten years. It drinks well on its own and will work well with roasted or grilled veggies, fowl or meats.

Grade:

A-

Score:

Vintage:

2019

Current Price:

$30.00USD

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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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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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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2020 Jaffurs Syrah, USA, California, Santa Barbara, Wine Review

Vintage:

2020

Score:

Grade:

A-

Current Price:

$30.00USD

I tend to buy a case of these every year and drink them all young. They would last longer, but at least it helps me keep my hands off of the single vineyard wines. There has been a change in the ownership of the winery but the wines seem to be consistent. Purple in color opaque and bright. The nose is great with black raspberries, cedar, black pepper, slight black olive and char. Full bodied. Good balance. This is a riper style of Syrah but not over the top. On the palate, lots of black raspberry fruit with some char and black pepper. Nice finish. Drinks great on its own and would

Heidi Peterson Barrett: Napa's Wine Diva on Winemaking, La Sirena, and the Legacy of Screaming Eagle

Heidi Peterson Barrett As arguably the most celebrated, respected, envied, and in-demand winemaker in America today, Heidi Peterson Barrett is one of only a handful of winemakers who can legitimately lay claim to "superstar" status. Her wines at both Dalle Valle and Screaming Eagle resulted in multiple 100 point scores from Robert Parker (Parker himself dubbed her the "First Lady of Wine") and helped redefine both the meaning and value of "cult" wines. She rocked the wine world at the 2000 Napa Valley Wine Auction as a 6-liter bottle of her 1992 Screaming Eagle sold for $500,000, in the process setting a world record for the highest price ever paid for a single bottle of wine (a vertical offering went for $650,000 at the 2001 Napa Valley Wine Auction). Heidi Peterson Barrett is currently winemaker for Amuse Bouche, Paradigm, Revana, Barbour, Lamborn, Fantesca, as well as her own label La Sirena . I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Heidi to talk about winemaking, her own La Sirena label, and the legacy of Screaming Eagle.

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2019 Jaffurs Syrah, USA, California, Santa Barbara, Wine Review

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2020 Jaffurs Syrah, USA, California, Santa Barbara, Wine Review

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