2016 The Tribe Vineyard Syrah

The 2016 Syrah The Tribe is largely in the same mold with a gamy, meaty, backward profile. Smoked meats, earthy dark fruits, ground pepper, and wood smoke are all present in this medium to full-bodied, concentrated Syrah that’s going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and cruise for 15-20 years.

This has such impressive, silky black fruit with interwoven spices and subtle, meaty nuances. The intensity of fruit is dialed-up in this wine. There’s a very pure, bright fruit core here that pushes out of the mid-palate with a lot of energy and stony, graphite-like notes. This has a wealth of dark berries on offer. Such length and balance. Planted at 8,500 vines per hectare. Drink or hold. Best from 2022.

(from an Alban massale selection of Syrah planted at a density of 3-1/2 by 3-1/2 feet in 2009, the 2015 Horsepower wines were bottled in December of 2017) Good medium red. Musky black raspberry, truffle and game on the nose, lifted by high notes of mint and herbs. At once tactile and penetrating, displaying more punch and inner-mouth Floral lift than the Sur Echalas vineyard Syrah. But this juicy wine is still youthfully imploded. Finishes firmly tannic, with black pepper and spice notes and a persistent saline character. Very promising. (13.6% alcohol)