Voss Vineyards

Syrah is fast gaining in popularity and rightfully so. When made correctly, it can be a compelling wine with brambly deep red fruits and a backbone of earthiness that is the grape’s signature. This Voss rendition is just such a wine.

It’s rich without being cloying, and it’s interesting and thought-provoking by supplying the punch of slightly bitter tar in the end. It’s made for short term drinking, say now through the next six years or so.

The fruit, with the added addition of 2 percent Viognier (typical in the Northern Rhône), comes from Voss’ Rutherford estate and from another source farther south. The wine was aged for 15 months in mostly American oak (80 percent), of which only 40 percent was new. The remainder fermented in French wood, of which 60 percent was used. The alcohol is 14.5, but is well-integrated; 2,367 cases were produced and the price is right -- $19.

Reviewed January 17, 2006 by Alan Goldfarb.