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Crushed stone, berry and lead pencil. Flintlock and iodine, too. Full-bodied, very tight and focused with incredible depth and intensity. Sculpted and intense. Incredible. Silky and tight tannins. Great finish. Reminds me of the 1978 La Chapelle. This needs three or four years to come together.James Suckling | 100 JSLastly, Colgin only makes a tiny amount of Syrah, but it’s consistently one of the greatest expressions of the variety in California, as well as the world. Their 2019 Syrah delivers the goods and brings a Côte Rôtie-like opulence and elegance as well as full-bodied aromas and flavors of blueberries, violets, smoke game, bouquet garni, and spring flowers. Pure, seamless, and perfectly balanced, you can safely put this up with anything out there. Enjoy bottles over the coming 15 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDSporting a deep garnet-purple color, the 2019 IX Syrah Estate hops up and down with its showy, flamboyant scents of chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries and preserved plums, before bursting into a gorgeous perfume of bouquet garni, candied violets, tar and roses, followed by unsmoked cigars with a waft of Sichuan pepper. The generous, full-bodied palate offers beautifully rounded, pebble-like tannins with invigorating freshness and so many fragrant layers that linger with edifying persistence. An absolute diva of a wine!Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98+ RPThe 2019 Syrah IX Estate is deep, plush and super-expressive. The Colgin Syrah is so unique, as it is much a wine of place as it is a varietal Syrah. Huge fruit and captivating aromatics make a strong opening statement. All the elements simply fall into place. In 2019, the Syrah is simply exceptional. All that said, readers need to cellar the 2019 for at least a few years, as today the fruit remains very front and center, and true Syrah notes have not yet started to emerge.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGPotent and polished, with deeply structured blueberry, smoked meat, licorice and fruitcake spice flavors that gather richness and tension toward broad-shouldered tannins. To be released November 2022. Drink now through 2032. 400 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WS

The 2019 Syrah Armada Vineyard comes from a higher density planting just beside the estate, and it’s always a more dense, backward wine. Darker, black fruits, smoked meat, ground pepper, iron, and just subtle bloody, meaty nuances emerge from this beauty, and it’s medium to full-bodied on the palate, with building, firm tannins, wonderfully integrated acidity, and a great finish that makes you salivate due to its sense of salinity and minerality. It needs plenty of air if drinking any time soon but is another tour de force in Rocks Syrah! It has 20-25 years of prime drinking ahead of it.Jeb Dunnuck | 98+ JDRich, juicy and lush with a ripe dark red and black-fruited core of fruit, the 2019 Syrah Armada Vineyard offers dusty purple flowers and savory elements with notions of smoked meat. Medium to full-bodied, the Syrah is firm, focused and refined while offering wonderful savory and umami essences as the generous wine gains in complexity. Still firm and with a taut mineral tension, the wine subsides with a spicy and lingering finish that will benefit from a couple more years of bottle aging to release its tight grip. Be patient and give it time.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPA lovely nose of plum, gravel and sweet tobacco. Wonderfully balanced and supple on the palate. Medium-to full-bodied with gentle tannins. Cool profile. Rather graceful expressions of red fruit and cocoa. So charming. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 95 JSThe aromas are fruit forward for this area and producer, with notes of plum and red fruit, along with olive, peat, sea salt and spice. Medium-bodied, textured flavors follow, with spice notes lifting the finish.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WE

The 2019 Syrah Il Padrino Bien Nacido Vineyard comes from further north, in Santa Maria, and it was mostly destemmed as well and spent 19 months in close to two-thirds new French oak. More Jamet-like notes of ripe blackberries, smoked game, ground pepper, and spring flowers define the bouquet, and it’s full-bodied, with a perfectly balanced, multi-dimensional texture, incredible tannins, and a great, great finish. This is another brilliant, magical Syrah from Lato that flirts with perfection.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 2019 Syrah Il Padrino Bien Nacido Vineyard is stunning with its quiet intensity, elegance and detail: blueberry pie, lilac and violet, prosciutto and mint chocolate define the nose. The medium-bodied palate is light on its feet, velvety in texture and seamlessly fresh, although it takes significant time in the glass to really unfold. Wow! It deserves 3-5 years to unwind in bottle and will be long-lived in the cellar. Drink Date 2024 - 2034 Robert Parker The Wine Advocate | 98 RPThe 2019 Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard Il Padrino is silky, perfumed and gracious right out of the gate. This is an especially airy Syrah from Bien Nacido. The tannins are so harmonious, they are barely perceptible. A touch of Viognier in the blend adds lift to varietal dark and savory flavors. The Bien Nacido Syrah is terrific.Antonio Galloni | 95 AG