2013 Betz Family Syrah La Côte Patriarche
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Tasting notes
(14.5% alcohol): Deep, dark glass-coating ruby to the rim. Outstanding purity to the aromas of blackberry and violet face powder; I might have picked this blind as a top Côte-Rôtie. Wonderfully plush and concentrated, conveying superb inner-mouth perfume to its flavors of dark berries, spices and flowers. Finishes with big but sweet, spicy tannins and lovely aromatic persistence. From high-altitude, pre-flood soils.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate
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Impenetrable inky colored (even by Betz's standards), the 2013 La Cote Patriarche is another blockbuster from this team, and probably the greatest Syrah I've tasted from them. Coming all from the Red Willow vineyard and some of the oldest Syrah vines planted in Washington, it has seriously intense blackberry, wet gravel, licorice and smoked meat aromas and flavors to go with a full-bodied, massive, rich and concentrated style on the palate. A tour de force in Washington State Syrah, it will have 20 years or more of overall longevity.