($56) Medium ruby. Knockout nose combines blackberry, minerals, violet, graphite and licorice, along with a distinctly rocky quality. Rich and quite purple in flavor, hinting at blackberry and violet pastille; very backward and evolving slowly. Extremely tactile, even saline, and not at all an overly sweet style of syrah. Finishes with powerful tannins and sneaky length. Still an infant, but a fascinating sample. Behrens uses mostly 350- and 500-liter barrels to age this wine.

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The inky/blue/purple-tinged 2002 Syrah Alder Springs Vineyard Homage to Ed Olivera reveals aromas and flavors of blackberries, blueberries, creosote, and acacia flowers. Heady, full-bodied, and viscous, with tremendous opulence as well as fleshy fruit, this mind-blowing Syrah may be even better than my numerical rating suggests. Already showy, I would opt for drinking it over the next 5-7 years.

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