2017 Pax Syrah Sonoma Hillsides - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (2/8/2021)
One year ago I opened this wine, and found it spiky and rather disjointed. Flash forward exactly one year, and it's evolving into a different animal. Still a bright wine with no shortage of acidity, it also brings forward a depth of savory character, as well as crunchy fruit. Put it alongside fatty food (it was Super Bowl Sunday after all), and the acidity acts as a foil, and cuts through the richness. The only place where it struggled was when there was a notably spicy component, but that's not a real surprise. Time was a friend to the wine. I had initially decanted it due to reports of significant sediment, and the more air the wine took on the more the savory element deepened. The counterpoint of a very savory character and an almost citrusy acidic profile might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. This is so much more aggressively bright than the 2016 that it is hard to see them as stablemates.