2015 Gramercy Cellars Syrah Columbia Valley

The keenly priced 2015 Columbia Valley Syrah is a beauty, bursting from the glass with notes of plummy fruit, licorice, black tea, rose hip and tapenade. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, layered and complex, with a succulent core of fruit complemented by considerable savory nuance, fine-grained tannins and a long, tangy finish. Follow it over the next 6 or 7 years, perhaps longer.

Coming from sites in the Columbia Valley, the 2015 Syrah Columbia Valley spent 19 months in 10% new French oak. It's a terrific Syrah that has classic ripe dark fruits, tapenade, peppery herbs, and meaty aromas and flavors. Rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced and long, it's a smoking value that will appeal to both old and new world Syrah lovers. 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.