2015 Gramercy Cellars Syrah Lagniappe

The 2015 Syrah Lagniappe offers up a rich, extravagant bouquet of ripe plums, blackberries, bay leaf, black olive and cola. On the palate, it's full-bodied, rich and layered, with an ample core of succulent fruit that largely conceals fine-grained, chewy tannins that only assert themselves on the finish. It's one of the riper, more powerful wines in the Gramercy Cellars range this year. Like the Forgotten Hills Vineyard bottling, it will reward several years of bottle age and will also be worth following for a decade thereafter.

Always one of my favorite releases from this estate, the 2015 Syrah Lagniappe is 100% Syrah (mostly from the Red Willow Vineyard in Yakima, with 5% from the Forgotten Hills Vineyard just south of Walla Walla). Deep ruby/plum-colored and loaded with Côte Rôtie-like (Côte Blonde?) notes of black raspberries, crushed flowers, tapenade, and crushed flowers, this beauty is medium to full-bodied, seamless, and silky on the palate, with incredible finesse and elegance. It's going to benefit from 3-4 years of bottle age and knock your socks off over the following decade or more. It’s unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. 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.

(all from Red Willow vineyard; made from a clone that Harrington believes originally came from Hermitage, while the John Lewis is 100% Phelps clone, which is rumored to come from Guigal in Côte-Rôtie; vinified with 100% whole clusters): Healthy ruby-red. Tight, high-pitched scents of blueberry, blackberry, mint and minerals. Distinctly dry but rich on the palate, conveying a strong impression of berry ripeness. Serious tannins spread out to saturate the palate, but the long, rising finish maintains brisk fruit intensity.