An exceptional California Syrah, certainly the best I have tasted this year, this wine tastes ripe but balanced, and offers significantly more than just plum-like fruit flavor. Lurking beneath that forward fruit is a leathery, earthy undertone, not unlike a fine Syrah-based wine from the northern Rhône Valley. The Golden State rendition is brighter and more opulent than its French cousins tend to be, but it is equally complex and hence compelling. First-rate!
Trione, Russian River Valley (Sonoma County, California) Syrah 2010
By Paul Lukacs