Big, bold and broad-shouldered, the 2019 Syrah Grand Ciel offers a firm, fresh nose with a rocky and dusty blackberry essence and subtle notes of graphite and baking spices. Full-bodied, firm and focused, the palate reveals fine-grained tannins and a long, spicy and textural finish. It’s still tight and just a baby, so give it another two to three years in the cellar before opening. Your patience will be rewarded. Enjoy with food.

The 2018 Syrah Grand Ciel begins with picturesque dark fruit tones that exude from a firm core of spiced plums, black peppercorns and lavender with a dusty black cherry skin essence. Medium to full-bodied, the wine offers a fine mineral tension with a juicy focus and a pleasing petrichor note that sways into focus across the mid-palate. The wine continues to a long-lingering finish with persistent flavors of brown baking spices from the 42% new French oak. This is fantastic juice!

The 2016 Syrah Grand Ciel is a pure expression with a black-fruited core of aromas on the nose, with rich and firm spices, black pepper and just-ripe black plum and cassis. Full-bodied, the wine is still firm and rigid with expressive blackberries on the palate, with a density to the mid-palate. The wine ends with grippy tannins and a structured, lingering spice on the long finish. It's youthful and still hard at present. Give it some time to come around in the cellar. Only 300 cases were made and which will blossom with cellar age.

The 2015 Syrah Grand Ciel is a killer bottle of wine that’s made in decent quantities. It offers a dark, full-bodied, incredibly pure style as well as classic Red Mountain notes of scorched earth, graphite, dark chocolate and black and red raspberry fruit. There’s some tannin on the finish, but they’re ripe and polished; it has terrific mid-palate depth and plenty of length, all suggesting it’s going to evolve gracefully.

Sporting a deeper, more purple and opaque color than the Signature Syrah, the 2014 Syrah Grand Ciel is a single vineyard cuvee that's 100% Red Mountain Syrah, all from a single clone, aged in barrel. It offers impressive notes of black fruits, espresso roast, cured meats and tapenade. These flow to a full-bodied, nicely concentrated Syrah that's nicely balanced, has good mid-palate density, plenty of texture and a good, yet surprisingly short finish for this cuvee. It's enjoyable today, yet I'd hold bottles for a year or two and hope it develops more length.