2015 John Lewis Reserve Syrah

Another tour de force, the 2015 Syrah John Lewis offers more lavender, violets, and minerality, as well as incredible black and blue fruits. This peppery, meaty, rich, full-bodied effort has building tannin, awesome purity, and integrated acidity, and it's certainly one of the finest Syrahs in the vintage. It's more tannic than the Lagniappe Cuvée and is going to benefit from short-term cellaring, with two decades of overall longevity. Bravo! This vintage comes from a single block in the Les Collines Vineyard, in Walla Walla, isn’t destemmed, and spends 19 months in 7% new French oak puncheons. The team of Greg Harrington and Brandon Moss continue to keep Gramercy Cellars near the top of the hierarchy in Washington State. While they started out with a focus on Syrah, today they produce a brilliant lineup of both Rhône and Bordeaux blends. The 2016s, which were tasted from barrel, were surprisingly fresh and lively, and I suspect harvested on the earlier side. It will be interesting to see how these come together in bottle. The 2015s are a step up and are some of the finest I’ve tasted from this team.

(fermented in concrete tank with 100% whole clusters, then aged in old puncheons): Full ruby-red. Deep aromas of black raspberry, blueberry and olive tapenade reminded me of a darker Côte-Rôtie. Then surprisingly tight in the middle but with a faint sweetness to its ripe purple fruit flavors. This is considerably more closed today than the Deuce but may well ultimately surpass that wine.