Eberle Winery, Paso Robles (California) Syrah 2011

How can so many people claim to be disappointed in Syrah when there’s an example like this wine from Eberle Winery that never, ever seems to disappoint? That is a question that I can pose, but cannot answer. What I can do is to say: Find this wine, and taste it, and take it to the table, and taste it again, and then try to tell me that Syrah only works in the Rhône or in Australia.  The wine shows a delicious core of ripe red berry fruit that never turns candied nor overtly sweet, and there’s also a spicy edge that really works beautifully with the other flavor components. Exceedingly subtle wood is barely evident but offers almost invisible bracing, and there’s a general purity and harmoniousness to the wine that is very impressive…on account of being rare for Syrah from California and presumably very difficult to achieve. Platinum Award winner at the 2013 San Diego International Wine Competition.