2015 Syrah Eddie’s Patch

Seemingly more Hermitage-like compared to the more Côte-Rôtie styled 2016, the 2015 Syrah Greywacke Vineyard Eddie's Patch offers in-your-face notes of blue fruits, graphite, ozone/lite gunpowder, and background meatiness. It’s a deep, serious wine that has a stacked mid-palate, plenty of tannins, and a great, great finish. It’s certainly one of the top Syrahs in this report, as well as from anywhere in California. I still remember tasting with Andy Smith while I was writing The Rhône Report and I was thrilled to be able to sit down and go through all of his wines on this occasion. Stylistically, Smith makes a fresh, vibrant style of wine, yet I never find them lacking for depth and or texture. Looking at the Chardonnays, these are made in a reductive, age-worthy style and the clear majority have distinctly Burgundian profiles. These are beautiful wines that, at least to my palate, surpass the quality of the Pinot Noirs, which are slightly more variable. Nevertheless, the top Pinot Noirs are certainly up with the crème de la crème of the region. While Andy favors a tight, age-worthy style of Chardonnay, the Pinot Noirs are made in a slightly more forward style. In addition to the Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, DuMol also produces a handful of world-class Syrahs, as well as one of the top examples of Viognier coming out of California. Both the 2015s and 2016s reviewed here are terrific wines, with the 2016s showing slightly more balance and elegance, but you can’t go wrong with either vintage here.

The 2015 Syrah Eddie's Patch Greywacke Vineyard is a dense, powerful wine that brings together considerable fruit richness with the more mineral notes that are so typical of this site. A big, powerful Syrah, the 2015 is going to need at least a few years to come into its own. This is a decidedly potent style.