Chocolate covered strawberry, French vanilla, black forest cherry. Baked black currant, crushed lavender, boysenberry pie. A gorgeously dense and highly extracted core of blackberry preserves, blueberry, and lava cake broods with muscular yet perfectly polished opulence as notes of black tea, fresh sage, and thyme impart a well integrated and intriguing herbal edge. Dark floral tones of violet oil and potpourri boldly make their presence felt while nutmeg, clove, and brown sugar lead a flashy parade of pronounced baking spices. Hints of burning incense, espresso, and cigar tobacco emerge to reveal wonderfully smoky and roasted qualities that integrate seamless with mild savory notions of bacon fat, iron, and peppercorn. Tremendously weighty, rich, and powerful on the palate while remaining magnificently structured and serious; exhibiting inky and teeth-staining concentration within a presentation that is unabashedly big yet thoroughly balanced. Full bodied and intense with assertive tannin backed by nicely elevated acidity. This 2018 Viking Vineyard Syrah by Patland Estate Vineyards is a wonderfully robust and commanding red from Napa Valley.

While Napa Valley is primarily known as the source of much of California's most premium Cabernet Sauvignon, this legendary region also produces a wide range of high quality wines from a diverse selection of international grape varieties. This bottling, crafted by Patland Estate Vineyards using Syrah sourced from the Viking Vineyard in Coombsville, beautifully showcases the potential of Rhone varieties in what is currently a heavily Bordeaux-centric region. This wine powerfully booms in the glass with intense black, blue, and red fruits enhanced by clean herbs, chocolaty dessert tones, and beautifully spiced and smoky notes. Although dense and deeply concentrated this wine is surprisingly approachable now, and will continue to improve with at least a half decade or more of bottle age. Well done.