2019 Broken Stones Syrah
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Tasting notes
A full-bodied red with blackberries and dried flowers, such as lavender, as well as some black pepper. The nose takes you down to the center palate, which has tannins that are polished and spread across the wine. It’s finely pixelated and long. Wet earth comes out at the finish. Tar, too. Brooding and waiting to come out. Balance with strength. 60% syrah, 20% graciano, 11% mataro, 7% grenache and 2% carignan. Pause to think about it as you drink it. Drink or hold.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2019 Broken Stones is a blend of 60% Syrah, 20% Graciano, 11% Mataro, 7% Grenache and 2% Carignan. Medium ruby-purple, it has gregarious scents of cassis, white pepper, aniseed and violet. The full-bodied palate is intense and expressive, seamless and silky, with pretty floral perfume lingering on the extended finish.
Glass-staining ruby. Lush and expansive on the deeply perfumed nose, displaying intense black and blue fruit, incense, cola, Moroccan spice and violet oil scents and a smoky mineral flourish. Broad, weighty and alluringly sweet, offering palate-coating blueberry, cassis, cherry-vanilla and fruitcake flavors sharpened by a spicy suggestion of cracked pepper. Finishes extremely long and spicy, with a repeating blue fruit note and rounded tannins adding shape and subtle closing grip. (JR)
The more Syrah-dominated 2019 Broken Stones (60% Syrah, 20% Graciano, 11% Mourvèdre, and the rest Grenache and Carignan) sports a deep purple hue as well as incredible black fruits and notes of ground pepper, smoked game, scorched earth, and truffle. It’s another pure, blockbuster styled wine from this estate that has some early charm yet the class to evolve for 15 years of more. One of California’s unquestionably superstar estates is Heather and Justin Smith’s Saxum Vineyards, and you won’t find any finer examples of Rhône variety wines anywhere in the world. The proprietors of James Berry Vineyard, located in the cooler Willow Creek District of Paso Robles, the Smiths have seen incredible changes over the past decade, and they’ve traded their small, old-fashioned, yet perfectly adequate cellar for a brand-new cave and state of the art winemaking facility. And while changes of this magnitude can often result in hiccups in either the style or quality of the wines, that’s certainly not the case here. I think the wines have never been better, and given the scores I’ve awarded in the past, that’s saying something. Today, the Smiths release multiple cuvées, and while the focus in the past might have been the estate James Berry Vineyard, the portfolio includes numerous new vineyard sources and cuvées, most focusing on single vineyards and even specific blocks inside of a vineyard. This report looks at the 2018s and 2019s, and in a nutshell, these wines epitomize what I consider greatness in wine; the ability to offer both hedonistic and intellectual pleasure; intensity and richness without heaviness or any sensation of weight; singular profiles; and the ability to improve with bottle age. In addition, the purity and precision this estate can achieve are incredible, and certainly, many estates and winemakers in Paso Robles need to be tasting these wines to understand why they’re great and what is possible from these incredible limestone soils. As a critic, it’s always a challenge to try and understand why wines show differently and why one estate can produce brilliant wines and others struggle. Given the prodigious wines the Smiths release year in and year out from different vineyards (and now even from different winemaking facilities), it’s become increasingly apparent that the quality coming from Saxum is due to the genius of Justin Smith. After being lucky enough to taste these wines every year for well over a decade now, I can say that no one in California does Rhône varieties and blends better. I’ve written this many times in the past, but I’ll say it again, this is one of the few mailing lists worth being on.