2010 Stolpman Angeli

(a selection of the best 300-liter barrels): Bright ruby-red. Kaleidoscopic nose offers scents of dark berries, smoked duck, mocha, brown spices, brown sugar and espresso; for the second consecutive vintage I was reminded of Guigal's La Landonne. Lush, fat, seamless and very deep, with harmonious ripe acidity framing the pliant dark berry and spice flavors. The powerful, extremely long, fruit-driven finish coats the palate with dusty tannins and a note of violet face powder. Wonderfully harmonious and vibrant wine, and distinctly lower in alcohol at 14.1% than the outstanding 2009 (15.3%). (ST)

Blackberries tar, graphite, smoke and licorice burst onto the palate in the 2010 Syrah Angeli. It is an especially jammy, full-bodied wine endowed with tremendous depth and richness. I find less varietal character here than in some of the other Stolpman wines, but the Angeli is well balanced, within the style. The Angeli was made with fully de stemmed fruit.

The 2010 Syrah Villa Angeli possesses a striking bouquet laced with flowers, crushed rocks, blackberry jam and new leather. The use of whole clusters and Viognier gives the Villa Angeli an attractive lift that the other Stolpman Syrahs don’t have. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. Stolpman is one of the larger estates in the Santa Ynez Valley. The property spans 220 total acres, 150 of which are under vine. This is a solid set of wines, with a number of highlights. At the same time, I feel an identifiable house style has yet to emerge. This is most evident in the Syrahs, which are all over the map in terms of their personalities. For example, use of stem inclusion is driven by the qualities of each individual site, rather than by an overarching philosophy. While that sounds great in theory, it can lead to wines that are stylistically very different from each other. Still, the best Stolpman wines are compelling. In 2010, the heat spikes that were so challenging for Pinot Noir were less of an issue for Syrah, as the grapes were much less further along in their development, and the skins were thus more resistant to the conditions. Winemaker Sashi Moorman reports that some sorting was necessary to remove sunburned fruit, but that dehydration was not a major issue. Moorman also notes that as the vines have gotten older, the berries are smaller and therefore the grapes are sturdier, which requires less irrigation, a phenomena he first noted when visiting Saxum’s James Berry Vineyard just before harvest a few years back. Vintage 2011 was much less kind here. Frost lowered yields by as much as 40%, but that is a story for next year. Tel. (805) 688-0400