Region: Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County, California

Varietal: 100% Syrah

Tasting notes: The 2015 Red Car Estate Vineyard Syrah offers beautiful aromas of ripe red currants and blackberries which are joined with nuances of black olive, leather, beef blood, violets and hints of spring flowers all soaring from the glass. Silky smooth through the mid-palate, with lots of dark fruits, plum, crushed berries and earthy flavors. The mouth-watering acidity and offers a wonderful sense of freshness as it finishes long and vibrant. This Syrah should go on to offer a drinking window of a decade or more.

Producer: Red Car was founded in 2000 when Mark Estrin, Carroll Kemp and Richard Crowell produced 50 cases of wine from a single ton of Syrah grapes in a Culver City garage. In a nod to their Los Angeles roots, the new venture was named Red Car after the trolley line that ferried riders across the region for the first half of the twentieth century. In 2004, they purchased 125 acres of land and began developing vineyards in the wild coastal ridges north of Sonoma County’s Bodega Bay, a region now known as the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA. Here, the interplay of warm sunshine, cool Pacific breezes and sandstone soils could yield the age-worthy wines of structure and complexity that had captured their imagination.

Vineyard and Winemaking: One of the original Rhône Rangers, Red Car has been producing Syrah longer than any other varietal. Today, it is at the forefront of the style evolution in California Syrah. Restraint, naturally high acidity, true Northern Rhône Syrah perfume, and silky tannins are important components in Red Car’s Sonoma Coast Syrah along with native yeast fermentation, moderate stem inclusion and being aged in 500L puncheons for 18 months. Sourced from stand-out Syrah vineyards in Northern California, the Red Car Estate Vineyard in the Fort Ross – Seaview AVA and the Vivio Vineyard in Bennett Valley from the Petaluma wind gap, this wine showcases Red Car’s commitment and passion towards handcrafting wines of balance and finesse.