Terlato Family Vineyards, Dry Creek Valley (California) Syrah 2004 ($35): In 2005, approximately 270 new wineries opened in California. Terlato Family Vineyards was one of them. 
As start-ups go, however, this new winery was hardly new. Its owners, the Terlato family, have been major players in the wine world for more than 50 years. Its director of winemaking, Doug Fletcher, has been making fine wine in California over four decades. You could say that this new Syrah coming from this “new” winery was generations in the making.
Tony Terlato, the scion of the family, is chairman of Terlato Wine Group and Terlato Wines International in Chicago–formerly known as Paterno Imports–and his sons, Bill and John hold the respective positions of President/CEO and Executive VP/Chief Administrative Officer of both companies. Some of the greatest wines of the world have passed through Paterno Imports’ network before finding their way to wine lovers all across the U.S.
Terlato Family Vineyards is based in Healdsburg, in Sonoma 
County, and sources grapes from both Sonoma and Napa. The winery’s flagship wine is its Pinot Grigio made with Russian River Valley fruit; that the winery proudly makes a Pinot Grigio is not surprising considering that Tony Terlato introduced Americans to Pinot Grigio as longtime importer of the Santa Margherita brand. My own favorite wine in the line, however, is this sleek and sophisticated Syrah, from Dry Creek Valley.
I’m a fan of the lean, concentrated, compact style of Northern Rhone reds more than the hugely powerful style of, for example, Barossa Shiraz. I like freshness and focus of flavors more than soft, plump ripeness. For years I have been largely disappointed in California’s Syrahs–with some notable exceptions such as those of Qupé, Rosenblum, Hyde de Villane and a few others, of course–because I have found baked fruit flavors in the wines and a dullness of spirit. But this is a Syrah that’s fresh, lean, concentrated and flavorful. My style.
This 2004 Syrah is obviously very young, and will benefit from time. It opens slowly in the glass, its aroma ultimately showing concentrated notes of blackberry, herbs, spiciness and a slight note of smoky oak. The palate impression is fairly full-bodied and soft but with a depth of fresh acidity and a lean frame of firm but not aggressive tannin. The wine’s flavors are ripe–but not at all overripe–small, black fruits and spiciness. They are not intense; obviously the intent here was to craft a complete wine, not just a wine with a flavorful hit. The wine carries long in the mouth, and its long finish shows concentrated black fruit.
Winemaker Doug Fletcher oversees winemaking for all the properties that Terlato Wine Group owns or manages, which include Chimney Rock, Rutherford Hill and Episode in Napa Valley, Alderbrook in Sonoma County and Sanford in Santa Barbara County. “It was our first Alderbrook Winery Syrah that gave us an indication of Dry Creek Valley’s Syrah potential,” he explains. “It isn’t big and jammy like some Shiraz in Australia or even what is happening with Central Coast Syrah. It is more like wines from the northern Rhone.” Winemaking for this wine involves the use of open-top fermenters, punching-down of the grape solids for gentle tannin management, and oak barrels which are 30% new.
Terlato Family Vineyards professes to make ‘world-class wines…that are authentic expressions of their regions, with the intention of serving gastronomy.’ That last phrase explains another aspect of this Syrah that I like: it is well balanced enough to work beautifully on the table.
92 Points