WTN: 2017 Pax Sonoma Hillsides Syrah

[David M. Bueker]

2017 Pax Syrah Sonoma Hillsides (USA, California, Sonoma County)
Just opened a bottle from my 53 degree cellar. The wine was shipped to me in cold weather, and has been in the cellar since I received it.

Deep red/purple color. Aromatics are road tar, dark berry and herb. Some floral tones come through on the palate, likely from the whole cluster. There’s a hint of orange zest on the finish. I don’t detect much of any carbonic character (unlike how grapey this was on release). It is a fairly high acid wine, but not at all volatile. I can easily see why even this pristine bottle would bother some folks. It’s showing a lot of acid. I personally like it.

I can see how this wine would be controversial, even from my bottle. Given that it has very low/no added SO2, there could be lots of variability due to storage, shipping, or other handling issues.

David, I recently tasted another high acid Syrah over the course of three days, while I was in New York, visiting accounts and pouring our '14 Barsotti Ranch Syrah, each day with a fresh bottle. The first of those days the wine seemed so hard to me, and I was worried about the response from my customers. The 2nd day, it seemed considerably more forthcoming, though the acidity still seemed prominent. The third day, it was actually singing its own harmonies. One customer I saw that day had a BD calendar, and she told me that the first day had been a root day, and the third a flower day. FWIW. And, of course, who knows what might have been different in me?

[David M. Bueker]

I have about half the bottle left to sample tonight. We'll see. Today is a flower day, as was yesterday starting in the late afternoon.