2018 Foothills Reserve Syrah
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Tasting notes
The 2018 Syrah Foothills Reserve lifts from the glass with a zesty mix of mentholated herbs, smoked meats, black currants and olive brine. This is round and soothing on the palate with pepper-tinged black fruits that cruise along a core of zesty acids, as exotic florals cascade throughout. It leaves a briny dark fruit concentration, as a salty flourish slowly tapers off. This is a pure pleasure to taste.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck
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The 2018 Syrah Foothills Reserve begins with a more serious nose with a firm, mineral dustiness that wafts from the glass, followed by elements of red and black peppercorn, worn leather, roasted herbs, smoked meat and a dark-fruited essence at its core. Medium to full-bodied, the Syrah is spicy and has a chewy core of mineral tension that gives way to a soft element of smoked blackberries and plums with buttressing tannins across the mid-palate. The wine concludes with a long-lingering finish that offers up a slightly hot and spicy aftertaste. I recommend giving this an extra chill before serving. The wine rested for 14 months in 15% new oak. Only 5,400 bottles were filled.
The 2018 Syrah Foothills Reserve is a top Côte Rôtie look-alike, boasting a ruby hue as well as gorgeous notes of black raspberries, game, charred meats, spring flowers, and pepper. Gorgeously complex aromatically, it’s medium to full-bodied and seamless on the palate, with polished tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. All Syrah aged 14 months in 15% new French oak, drink it over the coming 10-15 years.
Medium ruby-red, the most saturated of these Syrah bottlings. Explosive scents of musky black raspberry, mocha, cured meats, olive tapenade, gunpowder, rosemary and cocoa powder. Plush, savory and suave on entry, then concentrated and alive in the middle palate, with dark raspberry fruit complicated by smoked meat, dried herb and black olive flavors. A classic Rocks Syrah with firm but integrated tannins and building spicy persistence. This would be perfect with a bloody steak right now. This seamless, deep midweight showed stronger olive and herb elements with 24 hours in the recorked bottle but maintained its texture and fruit. (14.4% alcohol)